"DG: The Black Cauldron took 10 years to produce. What were the greatest ideas that were discarded through production?
RR: The story went in many different directions. They even had the writer, Lloyd Alexander come in and do a screenplay. They brought in another writer to do a screenplay But with Disney's animation approach at that time, the storyboard was key. It was more of a collaborative effort.
Then Pete Young took that one and went to a room by himself. Pete died when he was still on that project. He was just a young guy in his late twenties.
He went in and brought lots of things and got people excited.
but [the challenge] was more in trying to find the approach to that film and to that story that would meet the Disney qualifications. The conflict was always about how far to push the darkness in it. in attempt to find a middle ground, it was probably too scary for kids but not too scary enough for the teenage market. I don't know that the balance was ever found, but it was an attempt to move off of the sweetness but still having the sweet qualities of Disney in there, with a love story, and Gurgi."
"DG: Why did you end up up not using the script by Lloyd Alexander?
RR: As often the case, animation is such a visual thing. The Lloyd Alexander script was extremely long, too long, Condensing the story into a seventy-five minute story was extremely difficult for him."
Excerpt from
Wielding the Two-Edged Enchanted Sword
Starlog Magazine, #101, 1985-12 pp. 40-41
Alexander had very little creative input into the Disney adaptation of The Black Cauldron “When the Disney Studio began working on the story treatment several years ago, they invited me to work with them,” he says. “I wanted to, but I knew that I didn’t have the skill. So, I wished them the best of luck, told them to have a good time and kept my hands safely off.
"So many authors are eager to sell movie rights, but complain when it doesn’t turn out the way they expected. That’s ridiculous! The Disney writers and animators are every bit the artist that I am. It would be silly for me to get in the way of their creative process.
"I haven’t seen the film yet, so I don’t know how good a job they’ve done. The bits of animation that I have seen are spectacular. The colors and detail are incredible — it’s vin-tage Disney of the 1930s and ‘40s.”
So, Lloyd Alexander waited for the official release of The Black Cauldron to view the first film adaptation of one of his books. “I suppose that if I flew out to California they would have arranged a screening for me. But to be honest, I would rather wait. Otherwise, it’s like peeking at Christmas presents early. I prefer to open them slowly and savor them. Because once you get them open, you have to wait another whole year for next Christmas.”
from Chris Baker’s flickr photo of his 1997 response letter from Lloyd about the petition to get The Black Cauldron on video
"Dear Chris Baker:
Many thanks for your fine letter. It's surly the best compliment that any writer would hope for.
That's a fascinating idea. an online petition for a re-release of Disney's version of The Black Cauldron: or, for that matter,
even a videotape. (I'd buy a few myself) Yes, I'm certainly all for it: however,
I mustn't add my name to the petition: it would be a sort of conflict of interest.
Even so, I was delighted by your comments: and very deeply touched, and send appreciation and all warmest greetings.
Lloyd Alexander"
Jim Korkis’ Animation Anecdotes #144:
Author Lloyd Alexander was interviewed by Scholastic Inc. before he passed away in 2007 and one of the questions the students asked was his feeling about Disney’s animated feature “The Black Cauldron” (1985)
based on his books.
Alexander replied: “First, I have to say, there is no resemblance between the movie and the book. Having said that, the movie in itself,
purely as a movie, I found to be very enjoyable. I had fun watching it. What I would hope is that anyone who sees the movie would certainly enjoy it,
but I’d also hope that they’d actually read the book. The book is quite different. It’s a very powerful, very moving story, and I think people would find a lot more depth in the book.
There is a very good possibility of other movies. Disney, again, is interested in an animated movie of ‘Time Cat’. This could happen in the next several years. Time Cat should be a lot of fun as an animated movie
– I just hope I’m around to see it.” Time Cat is about Gareth a talking cat who can visit nine different points of history (his nine lives, basically).
