Saturday, May 2, 2009




On Monday the 27th of April, the Marc Davis lecture on Animation took place at the Academy headquarters in Los Angeles.It turned out to be the most popular animation evening so far and really was a whos who of the industry.Concluding the over 3 hour long program of lectures, film clips and panels was a video message from Dick Williams.First almost timid and humble, he said he wished he could have been at the actual event. Starting to talk about Milt Kahl though, he quickly showed his usual passion . He acknowledged that knowing Milt and having been able to call him from time to time, was a highlight of his life.
Apparently, he always tried to make the never humble Milt admit to being the World's greatest animator.Milt kinda grumbled and didn't commit.Dick recalled the great friendship between Milt and Marc Davis, a kind of admiration society for two.Once they had an argument and Milt shouted after Marc... you cant even draw your own A$%. Marc returned to Milt's office a little later with a giant drawing of exactly that.On one occasion, Dick showed some 20 minutes of Thief footage at the Lucas ranch and had invited Milt to come along. After the screening, some Lucas people excitedly inquired about who had made this and were told that it was Dick's work. They proclaimed him to be the World's greatest animator and Dick turned to Milt and said " No, that is the World's greatest animator" to which Milt kinda nodded. Dick got his admittance of greatness finally when he talked to Milt in '87 and finally made him say that he indeed was the best animator.Two days later, he passed away. Dick freely admitted crying a lot and he said it was especially sad when he realized he cried over the fact that he would no longer be able to call the great man and chat.
It was a fitting and heartfelt tribute from one artist to another. A perfect ending to that evening and a chance for us to see Dick, albeit on video, and be part of this celebration.

14 comments:

diego cumplido said...

great story, lame orthography.

Andreas said...

better than the other way round

Holger said...

Well put Andreas. Haha...

Holger said...

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibi
tions/events/2009/kahl.html

On the left. Video Highlights/Watch

Holger said...

There is another aspect to this story. Roger Rabbit was in development at the time and because of this screening at Skywalker Ranch Spielberg and Zemeckis became aware of Williams' talents. They offered him the job and the success of Roger Rabbit eventually got the ball rolling on the financing deal to finish the Thief.

Maurice said...

Really great story about Dick's opinion on who was the greatest ever animator.

What's the label??

Anonymous said...

Here's an article which has a reveal on how much frames sketched out for his new film per minute.

http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/imagineanimation.pdf

It looks like he's got 42 minutes done. I remember zooming into the photo in a seperate version and it appears that the film is about a gopher.

Anonymous said...

Richard Williams has an interview coming up on French TV on August 30th:http://www.catsuka.com/news_detail.php?id=1245871854

I hope he reveals his new film during that interview. Can you post this news and make sure the interview hits the 'Net? When it does, can you post that too?

Anonymous said...

There's a reprint of The Animator's Survival Kit coming January 7 2010:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animators-Survival-Kit-Richard-Williams/dp/0571238343

Could this be a preparation for a project from Richard other than Circus Drawings or the secret feature?

Anonymous said...

Update on the revised edition:http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Revised-Principles-Classical/dp/0571238343/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

Looks like it was moved up to December 8 2009. Sounds like they're promoting Circus Drawings.

Anonymous said...

Look at this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_and_the_Cobbler

It says another re-edited version is coming to UK and Europe called The Tale of the Three Golden Balls. It lists new voices, including Tony Jay as the narrator But FYI, Tony Jay is dead. Did he record the voice before he died in 2006? This could be another one of Wikipedia's tricks. I rhymed like Zigzag. LOL.

Anonymous said...

The Wikipedia edit has been reverted. I guess I was right about this being false information all along. Take a look at the IP that made the edit and an edit about The Weinstein Company:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.142.53.111

Now look at this info about the same IP:http://www.ip2location.com/86.142.53.111

It says the IP is from London, England, where Richard's studio used to be before the seizure. Richard now live in Bristol, also part of England. I'm sensing the person who edited it was either Richard or one of his former animators trying to get revenge against Hollywood.

Anonymous said...

Had Williams screened his Thief footage for Kahl at, say, the Castro Street Theatre, Lucas and Spielberg probably would never had become aware of Dick and he wouldn't have landed the Roger assignment.

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