10 Comments
Oct 30Liked by Animation Obsessive Staff

Glad this film was able to truly come to light through this piece! Would have been cool to see Bacher's infinitely 00's designs come to the screen alongside such a classically inspired story, but glad we're getting to see it here. Some of those designs really reminded me of Disney's short film Lorenzo - don't think there was any actual overlap between the productions but something must have been in the air!

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Nov 1·edited Nov 1Author

Thank you! We're glad about it ourselves -- being able to publish a behind-the-scenes look at 2000s-era Disney like this is a real privilege. And you're definitely right about Lorenzo. That film uses a similar 2D/3D style to the one floated for Fraidy Cat, and it seems likely that there was crossover of some kind. (Joe Grant, to name one, touched both projects.) Plus, Harald Siepermann once said this in an interview:

"... the cat that I did later somehow turned out in Lorenzo! When I saw Lorenzo, I saw a lot of references to one of the cats that I had done for Fraidy Cat. That’s just the Disney way of going through the archives and looking for what’s there, you know." https://animatedviews.com/2008/enchanted-interviews-chapter-four-harald-siepermann-and-troy-quane/

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Nov 1Liked by Animation Obsessive Staff

Hah my theory confirmed! Who knew?

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Oct 29Liked by Animation Obsessive Staff

That was a fantastic and absorbing read, very well written. What a heartbreaking story. All the years of emotional and creative energy spent on such a promising vision and it never gets quite across the finish line. The talent roster is staggering, so many gifted artists too. Thanks for this story, it’s one I’ll remember.

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This is an absolutely wonderful comment to get -- thank you! It means a lot. We'll definitely be sending this one to David.

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Nov 6Liked by Animation Obsessive Staff

Articles like these always have a bittersweet energy. It's wonderful see the creative passion shine through these previously unseen film art, but quite sad to see it go to the dumps even after millions of dollars have been poured into due to corporate interests changing.

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For sure. And it's such a common story -- major companies throw away an enormous amount of money developing projects that never come out. Not all of them would be hits if they did get made, but the system is pretty broken: artists get strung along for years and their work never gets seen, and companies lose money they'll never get back. Many, many Hollywood artists have been in situations comparable to Piet's. We were glad that we got to offer a window into that world with this article.

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Oct 28·edited Oct 28Liked by Animation Obsessive Staff

Wow, incredible in-depth piece. Thank you so much for sharing! I had never heard about this film or the history behind it, although I do have the "Dream Worlds" book. Great writing here, really played out like someone was telling me a riveting story. Hope to see more from this team again :)

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Thank you for the very kind comment -- we'll be sure to show David! Glad you enjoyed the piece so much. Putting this one together was an odyssey in itself, and it's great to have it out there.

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deletedNov 6
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Thank you so much! It's fantastic to hear that you liked it.

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