RABBIT PUNCHING

Sssssssh. The super-secret folks at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment don’t like to talk about “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” a live-action-animation co-production with Disney Pics.

But, heck, it’s based on a book, Gary Wolf’s “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” It’s all about this cartoon character who hires a private eye (Bob Hoskins) to clear him of a murder rap.

Besides, sources in the animation world are starting to chatter, especially about the film’s supposed highlight: a duet between Donald Duck and Daffy Duck.

(For the first time, Disney cartoon characters will appear with characters from other studios, also including Betty Boop, Popeye, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and planned for release in June, the animation has been done mostly in London, where Disney took over the Richard Williams Studio and reorganized it as Disney Animation U.K., Ltd.

Disney has also recently set up a second animation unit in Glendale (in the building that was used as the airport in “Casablanca”)--several blocks away from the studio’s main animation facility--where Zemeckis is adding additional animation as he edits.

Outtakes wondered why the animators weren’t all working under the same roof. And why “Roger” isn’t using animators who are working on Disney’s forthcoming “Oliver and the Dodger” and “The Little Mermaid.” Disney’s veep of feature animation, Peter Schneider, offered only “no comment.”