Originally Posted By Monkey Beast Why do you think there has never been a movie based on the life of Walt Disney? I think it would do well and could win several awards.
Originally Posted By mawnck Walt was constantly placing his company in imminent danger of bankruptcy. He had several nervous breakdowns. He was probably a racist. He testified before HUAAC and in so doing destroyed the careers of quite a few good animators. He drank, he smoked, he cussed. He fired people on a whim. Now, none of that changes the fact that the guy was one of the greatest storytellers of all time, and I'm not posting it to downgrade his memory or tick people off. The guy wasn't perfect, so what? Geniuses never are. But because of the goodness-and-light public image which has been so carefully built up, and which so many people have blindly bought into (see the posts that will undoubtedly follow this one), you can't put any of that into the movie. So what's left? More specifically, what's left that won't bore audiences to tears? He didn't cheat on his woman, he didn't get in trouble with the law, the only drug he abused was alcohol . . . there's nothing left to make a movie about. All that's left is "and then he moved to Hollywood. And then the bad distributor stole his character. And then he made a hugely successful cartoon. And another one. And another one. And another one. And then one that wasn't successful. And then another one that was . . ." They've made plenty of nice, happy documentaries about the guy, none of which have been anything close to a best seller. Get you one of those.
Originally Posted By DlandJB I tend to agree, although it wouldn't be inconcievable to take a period of Walt's life (like the early years leading into the creation of Mickey) and dramatize it. But then who should produce it? One would think that Disney productions wouldn't do it, because it would be dismissed as self-serving. No one else would touch it because why promote Walt? What kind of cooperation would they get from the Disney folks? As a student of history, I think maybe a bit more time needs to go by too. Any true portayl of Walt would have to be less than flattering in parts -- he was a tough guy. He was complex. (And I think we do our heros a great dis-service by expecting them to be more than human anyway) But I think it would likely appear to be more critical than kind and would likely be dismissed as sour grapes. I worked on a documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright a number of years ago. There was no denying his genius, but he was not a nice man. I'm not really comparing those two men, but I think time helps to filter through those personal flaws and see that genius is still genius even if the package is less than perfect.
Originally Posted By basil fan Maybe this idea won't fly with anyone, but if someone was a genius but not a nice man, then I'd rather enjoy his genius work than learn about his non-niceness. Beyond Experiment 62 <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/stitch.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ disney/stitch.html</a>
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <The guy wasn't perfect, so what? Geniuses never are.> Ya know what? According to everything I've seen in interviews and articles and books, Jim Henson was. Never a bad action or word from the guy, this professed even from Muppeteers he worked extremely closely with. That amazes me...and makes me wish Mr. Disney were the same way, but alas...I love both these men, it's just interesting how one had several bad things said about him from colleagues/workers over the years, and the other was like an angel among men.
Originally Posted By Imagineer This I would like to see a docu-drama about Walt and his brother Roy Sr. during WW2 and how the government took over the studio. It will probably never get made but it could be about the war first and how they contacted Disney to help with the war effort.
Originally Posted By Kansasteen I really dont think he was a racist,and yea, he fired people, but it was out of his grand-scheme, he also had people there from 1927 until the day he died
