The trailer for Waking Sleeping Beauty is now online at Apple. The documentary, which is financed and distributed by Disney, looks at the company during the turbulent period from the 1980s to early 1990s. But according to filmmakers and critics the film is no white-washed version of events. Read on to see what director Don Hahn said about the film recently. And check out our previous report for more info. Waking Sleeping Beauty opens on March 26th in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago.
Don Hahn: “Peter Schneider came to me a couple of years ago wanting to tell the story of the animation renaissance of the ‘80s and ‘90s at Disney. So many books and articles had been written about this dynamic and challenging period in Disney history, but we felt the story hadn’t been told with candor and in a way that captured the joy and struggle of the art form. We lived it, and we wanted to tell the story from our perspective — basically put the audience in the rooms and at the tables where we sat, in as realistic a way as possible. To accomplish this, the film is crafted with archival footage, home movies, and raw caricatures most of which have never been seen before. The end result captures the perfect storm of people and circumstances that led to what John Horn of the L.A. Times proclaimed to be ‘the biggest comeback story in Hollywood history.’
For anyone that works in the animation industry, they will probably recognize a lot of faces in the film, and hopefully learn something new about this fascinating period of Disney history. For those who worked at Disney during that time, this is really their story and a celebration of their work.”