The director of the Disney animated classic “Mulan” is excited to learn and share his decades-worth of knowledge with Filipino artists in an upcoming design conference.
Tony Bancroft, who also worked as an animator for “Aladdin” and “Lion King,” said he is interested to see the works of younger artists who grew up in a generation of new technologies.
“We can, as professionals, come to inspire and help educate the next generation. It’s great to be able to give back. I just love to meet new artists,” he told ABS-CBN News in a sit-down interview Thursday.
Bancroft, along with international visual artists Even Amundsen, Goro Fujita, Jana Schirmer, and Armand Serrano, will headline Icon Manila 2017 at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde on Friday.
The 49-year-old American said he is looking forward to meeting the next-generation artists in Manila because he already had a good experience working with Filipinos.
“Alex Niño, he’s a famous Filipino comic book artist. We hired him for ‘Mulan,'” the former Disney animator recalled. “He really helped create the world of ‘Mulan.'”
The ‘Mulan’ experience
Bancroft said ‘Mulan’ was his first directing gig. It came exactly 10 years after he entered the animation industry, after working as an animator for “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Lion King.”
“It was a lot of pressure…. When I was an animator, it was all fun and games, a lot of fun and that sort of thing… As a director, it’s a roller coaster ride,” he recalled.
Bancroft said it took the team 4 years to finish “Mulan” because of the extensive research they have to do not only on Chinese culture, but also all the Asian elements needed for the animated film.
“My gosh! It was an incredible experience! I mean, I’m a big white guy, obviously it’s a Chinese story. So we spent a good year and a half just diving into Chinese culture,” he said.
“We had to really understand her world, where she came from. Also, the history of China in that era, the different dynasties that we’re trying to portray in Mulan,” he added.
Working with Lea Salonga
One of Bancroft’s most memorable experiences working on “Mulan” is his encounter with a fellow Disney legend, Filipina Lea Salonga, who sang for the 1998 animation film.
“I love Lea! She’d already done ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘Les Mis’ and some of these great triumphs of her career. Even though she was young and so talented, she was also very professional,” he recalled.
The man behind “Mulan” said it was very smooth working with the Filipina Broadway legend who would “come in and just knock down the songs.”
“She just lifted that character up in such a resonant way, from the very first note that she hit. It was very pure and wonderful. People don’t even know what Huns are, but they just love that,” he said.
Bancroft was referring to the Disney hit song “I’ll Make a Man out of You,” created by Matthew Wilder and lyricist David Zippel, where Lea Salonga also sang as Mulan.
No Disney princess: Mulan’s legacy
Bancroft said he is proud of what the character of “Mulan” came out to be after years of working on the well-beloved ’90s film.
He said he and the team wanted Mulan to be a unique Disney character that would inspire women to be strong and independent.
“I wanted to create a Disney heroine that wasn’t like the other Disney heroines that needed a man to help her out or to get her out of a situation,” he said, stressing that Mulan is no Disney princess.
Disney already included Mulan in its list of official “princesses” franchise, along with Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Snow White, Cinderella, Pocahontas, and Jasmine (Aladdin), among others.
“They deemed her a princess, but not for me. I don’t think she should be a princess,” he said, pointing out other Disney heroines either come from royal families or end up marrying a prince.
This non-royalty yet strong and independent aspect of Mulan’s character, he said, is one of the things that make her unique and iconic among the women who grew up in the ’90s.
“By doing that, I was just really honored to see how she developed to be, not only my kids’, daughters’ icon of a strong female Disney heroine, but also of the new generation,” he said.
Disney secrets
During the interview, Bancroft shared two things kids who grew up watching the ’90s Disney films may not know at all, but may be of interest.
The first one is about “The Lion King”, one of the highest-grossing and most popular Disney film, where he worked as a supervising animator.
According to Bancroft, “Lion King” was created around the same time as “Pocahontas,” and the studio thought that the latter would be the one that’s going to make it big.
“Lion King was like the ‘B project.’ ‘Lion King’ was like… ‘Oh, yeah, if it breaks $50 million then will be happy.’ Stuff like that,” he said of the film featuring animals, instead of prince and princesses.
“They had no expectations of it until the trailer came out and it started with that opening song,” he added, singing the intro of the film’s theme song, “Circle of Life.”
Of course, “Lion King” ended up garnering a total of $968 million, making it the 29th highest-grossing film ever, and the 7th highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Another piece of trivia Bancroft shared was about “Mulan.” He and his co-directors tried to play with the color of the dragon Mushu’s tail, which was red, except for one scene.
Bancroft said the artists originally wanted Mushu’s tail to be purple, like a bookend to the dragon’s purple horn-edge. But an executive thumbed that down and ordered them to make the tail red.
“He forced us to change it to red, and the directors, myself and the co-director, never really liked that choice. And so for one scene, as a kind of rub to him, we made his tail purple,” he said.
“Hardly ever anyone noticed this but if you’re looking for it. It’s clearly there. I’m not gonna tell what scene it is. You have to look for it in the movie,” he added.
Bancroft was with Disney for 12 years before leaving in 2000. He now produces independent animated films, which he said are “smaller but impactful.”
His new film, “Animal Crackers,” is set to hit the theaters this year.
The animated film’s all-star cast include Sylvester Stallone, Emily Blunt, Danny Devito, and Sir Ian McKellen, who sang in the movie.
Re-published from ABS-CBN News
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