Robert Zemeckis says that Disney won’t make a movie based on Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman’s script for Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2.
Released in 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was directed by Zemeckis. Loosely based on 1981’s Who Censored Roger Rabbit? novel by Gary K. Wolf, the film, which combines both live-action and animation, was written by Price and Seaman.
According to Zemeckis, Price and Seaman previously wrote a script for Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2; however, Zemeckis doesn’t believe Disney will ever make the movie.
What did Robert Zemeckis say about Roger Rabbit 2?
The Back to the Future and Here director told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, “Here’s what you have to know: The current Disney would never make Roger Rabbit today. They can’t make a movie with Jessica [Rabbit] in it. There’s very little — the Seaman and Price sequel script isn’t ever going to see the light of day, as good as it is.”
Referencing the the Disneyland attraction Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Zemeckis added, “Look what they did to Jessica at the theme park, they dressed her up in a trench coat.”
Zemeckis said that the original Who Framed Roger Rabbit was made during a time when “Disney was ready to rebuild itself.”
He commented, “I say, ‘I’m making Roger Rabbit the way that Walt Disney would have made it.’ The reason I say that is because Walt Disney never made any of his movies for children. He always made them for adults. That’s what I decided to do with Roger Rabbit.
“…One time we did a test preview with just moms and kids, and I was terrified because these kids were like five or six years old. They absolutely were riveted [by] the movie. I realized that kids get everything. They get it. I think the thing that Walt Disney never did was he never talked down to the children in his movies. He treated the kids like they were adults.”
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is currently streaming on Disney+.
