1969 interview with Lloyd Alexander

Happy New Year of 2020!

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the last book of The Chronicles of Prydain: The High King.
it was Published in 1969.

In the same year the books series author Lloyd Alexander did an interview for Imperial International Learning's  Meet the Authors.

Milt Kahl's lecture at CAL Arts

                                       Excerpt from Milt Kahl's lecture at Cal Arts 1976.
               here he talks about the then in pre production of Disney's The Black Cauldron.

Lloyd Alexander

                         
                           Documentary about Lloyd Alexander produced by Jared Crossley

          If you like, you can also check out his blog  http://lloydalexanderfilm.blogspot.com/


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.”

https://www.dix-project.net/item/3149/starlog-magazine-issue-101-wielding-the-two-edged-enchanted-sword



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"

https://www.flickr.com/photos/c-bake/507315170/



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).

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-144/

Story Development on The Black Cauldron

 pre production Starts on the film The Black Cauldron




Lengthy  Excerpt From Mouse in Transition by Steve Hulett 

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/untold-tales/mouse-in-transition-cauldron-of-confusion-chapter-10-102743.html

(also available on Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Transition-Insiders-Feature-Animation/dp/1941500242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523328439&sr=8-1&keywords=mouse+in+transition

"The studio had owned the rights to The Chronicles of Prydain, a five-book series by Lloyd Alexander, for a decade, and lots of animation staffers had worked on it.

Don Bluth had taken a run at the property when he was being groomed to be the next Woolie Reitherman,

and Tad Stones (his showrunner career at Disney Television Animation still ahead of him) wrote several treatments.


But as The Fox and the Hound wrapped up, studio chief Ron Miller was getting serious about having a top-flight, big-budget animated feature produced from the material, something that would rival Sleeping Beauty.


I heard rumors through Studio Gossip Central (otherwise known as Pete Young’s room) that the studio didn’t want to leave the writing assignment to some green nincompoop (me),
 and was seriously considering bringing in an experienced British screenwriter.


In the meantime, Vance Gerry had been recalled from an extended leave that he’d requested.
He was asked to go through the books and put together “beat storyboards” that would visually outline plot, action, and various set pieces.

Mr. Gerry, on top of being a brilliant storyboard artist and designer, was also fast.
(Story veteran Ed Gombert, no slouch in the talent and speed categories himself, once said to me, “Vance gets more boarded in a day than most of us get up in a week.”)
 True to form, Mr. Gerry quickly had a rough continuity in hand and was pinning story sketches to corkboards at a merry clip.

Like I had done in the early days of The Fox and the Hound, I showed up uninvited to offer gag ideas, character ideas, and bits of business. Vance liked a few of them and worked them in.
It wasn’t long before he had a first pass up on boards and was showing the results to Ron Miller and a chosen few from the animation department’s hierarchy.
Vance had taken sections from the first couple of books, set up his principle players (Taran the pig keeper, Dalben the wizard, Eilonwy the Princess, Fflewddur Fllamm the minstrel,
 and Gurgi the hairy little beast) along with supporting cast, and set the plot in motion with his usual flair and efficiency.

                                           


He made the villain—the fearsome Horned King—into a big-bellied Viking who had a red beard,
fiery temper, and steel helmet with two large horns. Vance thought having a bigger-than-life villain with an explosive personality would get the most out of the scenes he was in,
 and was a sure-fire way to enliven the feature.

Pete Young was the next board artist onto the project,, and sequences started to get fleshed out. The front office finalized its deal with writer Rosemary Anne Sisson to write a script.
 I was disheartened that I wasn’t the scribe chosen for the job,
 but I could understand management’s position: They weren’t going to let some novice be the lead writer on a project that was going to be done in wide-screen 70 mm (the first since Sleeping Beauty)
 and would cost way more than the twelve million bucks shelled out for The Fox and the Hound. Ms. Sisson had a distinguished track record and pedigree. I had a dog picture.

The first director assigned to The Black Cauldron was CalArts alumnus John Musker, who had until then worked on the first floor with the likes of Henry Selick,
 Bill Kroyer, Jerry Rees, and other CalArts grads. John was assigned a couple of sequences inside the first act, and went to work expanding them."


No mention of Mel Shaw and Burny Mattinson?

The Duckwalls, Woolie,Frank and Ollie pitch a Movie

bloggers note: this post (original titled "Frank and Ollie pitch a movie") is revised due to more info not yet discussed on the internet.


excerpt from Walt's People vol 11:

Disney Historian Didier Ghez: We Haven't spoken about The Black Cauldron. Ron Miller asigned you as the producer of The Black Cauldron. Did he give you a choice when he did that?

Producer Joe Hale: No, not really, The Black Cauldron had been put in story by Woolie and he worked pretty closely with Frank and Ollie on it.
The three of them were kind of working together trying to come up with something a little different.

The wife of Don Duckwall had read The Black Cauldron series and suggested it. Don brought the books to Woolie and he liked the idea.

https://www.amazon.com/Walts-People-Talking-Disney-Artists/dp/146536840X/ref=pd_ybh_a_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SY40CBEW0CEH54HMB32T

Bing Translate of of a Norwegian-Bokmal interview with Ollie Johnston:
I think we got back on the right track with Bernard and Bianca-it had a lot more heart than Aristokattene and Robin Hood. So, on two good friends (1981) we worked only in one year,
the most on the screenplay section and to establish gåsykluser and such for the characters. They did not have enough people on the production and I don't think the script was as good as it should.
Then they destroyed the Taran and the black cauldron (1985). Indeed, it was Frank and I, who persuaded the Studio to bet for the project, but the leadership at the time didn't appreciate what the film could offer,
and everything went from each other. It was horrible for it could have been just as good as snow white.

http://www.norskanimasjo...hnston_et_intervju_del_1

Welcome

I started this blog out of anticipation of Disney possibly going to do the Prydain series as part of their slew of remakes. 

'Chronicles of Prydain' Movie: Disney Acquires Rights to Develop - Variety