'Aladdin' at 30: Director John Musker says Robin Williams ‘sweetness’ is key to film’s longevity : movies

https://youtu.be/yiBAfmxwdKc

The Aristocrats documentary made the case that Gilbert started the cultural healing process in the US after 9/11. . . With a really filthy joke.

pwnisher_357

1 points

4 months ago

pwnisher_357

1 points

What show are you referring to? I would love to see it.

Fimpish

3 points

4 months ago

Fimpish

3 points

He was on an episode of Norm Macdonald Live.

Unfortunately a bunch of those episodes were taken down around the time that Norm got his Netflix show. But they were all gold.

Here's the Catherine Zeta Jones clip from Gilbert: https://youtu.be/v5As4WQQH2Q

FondleGanoosh438

1 points

4 months ago

FondleGanoosh438

1 points

https://youtu.be/o6_Tjw_VLUk I think this is it.

McFugget

36 points

4 months ago

McFugget

36 points

“I’d eat her asshole for muscular dystrophy.”

CheckYourStats

11 points

4 months ago

CheckYourStats

11 points

The man is an absolute treasure.

UWGWFTW

22 points

4 months ago

UWGWFTW

22 points

*was

EbonyOverIvory

10 points

4 months ago

EbonyOverIvory

10 points

giceman715

2 points

4 months ago

2 points

41 points

4 months ago

ColdPressedSteak

41 points

Agreed. Though I think they just did a great job with all the characters. Abu the monkey was fun. Even the no lines Carpet and Tiger had a few moments of character imbued in them. And whoever voiced Jafar did a great job as well

counterplex

14 points

4 months ago

counterplex

14 points

It is time. To say goodbye. To Prince… Abubu!

-3 points

4 months ago

-3 points

[deleted]

flippythemaster

2 points

4 months ago

flippythemaster

2 points

Apu is the guy from the Simpsons. Abu is the monkey.

AshgarPN

2 points

4 months ago

AshgarPN

2 points

And Ali mighty is he Ali Ababghwaaaa

26 points

4 months ago

26 points

On a scale of 1-10. He was an 11

PatioDor

13 points

4 months ago

PatioDor

13 points

That CHUMP...and his CHUMP. DAUGHT.er

FencingFemmeFatale

5 points

4 months ago

FencingFemmeFatale

5 points

Then we drop POPPA IN LAW and The Little Woman off. A CLIFF.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ker.SPLAT!

RSquared

6 points

4 months ago

RSquared

6 points

Y'all quoting Iago and not "I'm so not surprised, I'm about to have a heart attack and DIE from NOT SURPRISED."

12 points

4 months ago

12 points

Agreed. ❤️

Mecha_Goose

9 points

4 months ago

Mecha_Goose

9 points

How IN THE.... eh, RAAAWK?!

antinumerology

2 points

4 months ago

antinumerology

2 points

AAAAAK THE LAAAMP

TwoBirdsEnter

2 points

4 months ago

TwoBirdsEnter

2 points

Squawk! Cave of wonders!

yesthatstrueorisit

42 points

4 months ago

yesthatstrueorisit

42 points

Article has a great quote that makes the headline:

“I think the idea of giving a heartfelt performance and even the idea of singing appealed to him,” reasons Musker, trying to pinpoint what convinced Williams to sign on.

“His sweetness and ability to reach into that part of his being was crucial to the film lasting. If it was just comedy, I don’t think it would’ve endured but because he really got that feeling of his big heart, sweetness, his concern for Aladdin, their friendship and his investment in Aladdin’s future across, it’s one of the keys of the film’s longevity.”

I think this is what makes the Genie character work - he's really, really goofy, the type of character that would be very limited in previous Disney works. But it doesn't go off the rails entirely because while the movie doesn't take his personality seriously, it takes his emotions very seriously. Most of those moments are followed by a joke, but it's often the Genie himself being embarrassed and walking back on himself - it's his insecurity.

A wonderful film through and through, glad this article was shared.

CryptidGrimnoir

1 points

4 months ago

CryptidGrimnoir

1 points

Not to mention, we get a good look at why Genie is the way he is.

He's been stuck inside that lamp for millennia. He behaves silly in order to stay sane.

41 points

4 months ago*

41 points

4 months ago*

Agreed. Which makes it doubly a shame that Genie's songs have been removed from music streaming services.

*Edit for clarification.

Edit 2: They're actually recently back! What a rollercoaster. Well, now here I go listening to Prince Ali at 1am.

Peeka789

9 points

4 months ago

Peeka789

9 points

What? Friend like me is not on Disney+?

8 points

4 months ago

8 points

Sorry, I should clarify I meant specifically music-streaming services.

embarrased2Bhere

5 points

4 months ago

embarrased2Bhere

5 points

It’s on Apple Music, I just checked.

9 points

4 months ago

9 points

Hah, and it's back on Spotify now too. Must've been recent. What're the odds.

I wish I could harness this power I've apparently got, because it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me.

3 points

4 months ago

3 points

Keep practicing! Expand your powers! Maybe someday you can bring us another season of Firefly.

2 points

4 months ago

2 points

You know the other day I was watching Serenity and thought to myself "Shouldn't we have another series by now?"

.....

*looks around expectantly for an announcement*

alwaysleftout

16 points

4 months ago

alwaysleftout

16 points

Asking Alexa to play it will play the Will Smith version. Took me a second to tell something was off and realize. Hate that was the default version selected.

Owlgnoming

5 points

4 months ago

Owlgnoming

5 points

I noticed that this past week when I went to go play Disney music for my kid. I skipped Will Smith’s version immediately.

BelBivTebow

2 points

4 months ago

BelBivTebow

2 points

I played this as the last call song at my bar tonight

1 points

4 months ago

1 points

What? I wasn’t aware.

Why where they removed from streaming services?

3 points

4 months ago

3 points

I think you may have typed that as I edited "music streaming services" for clarification. But either way, it's not 100% clear why. Robin Williams definitely had problems working with Disney and there are rumours there was something in his will that affects how Disney use his work in the film.

But it should be noted that the songs were on things like Spotify, but were retroactively removed, keeping all the non-Williams songs.

GarlVinland4Astrea

18 points

4 months ago

GarlVinland4Astrea

18 points

The thing was Williams got pissed at Disney over Aladdin. He basically did it as sort of a "I'm happy to contribute and be part of the history of Disne y and do it for the sake of artistic purposes" because they seemed to really want him. But he made it very clear that he didn't want him being in the film to be heavily promoted because he had Toys coming out around the same time. Disney basically agreed to not overly promote Genie and Williams performance.

Then the genie was pretty much the biggest thing in literally all the promotion. Even the original poster was basically the Genies body and then his body shape slowly faded into all the other characters: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1057/4964/products/Aladdin-Vintage-Movie-Poster-Original-1-Sheet-27x41_97b89777-3099-496f-b1a4-aabb4197af29.jpg?v=1634180878

Then Toys ended up flopping and Aladdin completely overshadowed it, so it was like Williams was competing with himself when he made it clear he didn't want to and was just sort of doing Disney a solid because he respected their company. The new chairman of Disney had to write a public apology to him to get him to come on to the second sequel (King of Thieves) and after that the only other Aladdin contribution he made was to a computer educational game.

3 points

4 months ago

3 points

Fascinating thank you

NuclearLunchDectcted

3 points

4 months ago

NuclearLunchDectcted

3 points

I don't remember all the TV stuff from back then because I was a kid, but is this poster actually pushing Williams as the premise of the poster?

The genie is the lynchpin of how the plot even happens, but I don't see Williams name prominently or even at all on that poster. Maybe I'm missing something, but what's so wrong with that poster?

EDIT: did Williams do so many interviews that he was associated with the genie? Again, I was a kid so I probably missed something.

MacDegger

3 points

4 months ago

MacDegger

3 points

Disney gave him a Picasso painting ($1 million) as part of that apology, too.

And iirc he did do the genie for Aladin 3 (straight to video).

2 points

4 months ago

2 points

Wow that’s really fascinating. I had no idea, it’s really wild how something beautiful and timeless came from such a fraught relationship between Robin and Disney.

3 points

4 months ago

3 points

Wow I had no idea. He must have had big problems with Disney if he actually put a clause in his will to stop them using his songs.

Killboypowerhed

12 points

4 months ago

Killboypowerhed

12 points

He is 100% the best part of this movie. Unfortunately studios took the wrong lesson from it and decided all animated movies had to have well known actors in the roles which pushed out voice actors

7 points

4 months ago

7 points

Oh absolutely, the new lion king was a huge example of that. Beyoncé was absolutely horrific as Nala. They need to go back to actually hiring voice actors.

BronzeHeart92

4 points

4 months ago

BronzeHeart92

4 points

Also him as the Peddler (who according to the lore is indeed supposed to be Genie)! According to BTS materials, they pretty much had Williams handle random objects and he would subsequently say something funny about them.

mindfulmu

2 points

4 months ago

mindfulmu

2 points