‘Atlantis’ blends reality with animation

Katherine Tolford, Enjoy!

BURBANK -- Producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise and Gary

Trousdale journeyed to the center of the Earth and beyond to discover the

lost city of Atlantis.

As the creative force behind Walt Disney Picture’s new animated film

“Atlantis: the Lost Empire,” they made several expeditions to research

the film’s look and story. The trip they took -- 800 feet underground

exploring the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico -- helped reassure the trio

that they could create their own version of the fabled city.

“We were worried, but once we saw the rooms in the caverns and how

huge they were, it gave us the confidence to create this big underground

civilization,” said Hahn, a Glendale resident, who in his 25-year career

with Disney has worked on “The Lion King” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

The caverns’ subterranean trails provided inspiration for the film’s

approach scenes to Atlantis.

The fictional Atlantean crew, led by Commander Rourke (James Garner)

with linguistics and cartographic (mapping) assistance by Milo Thatch

(Michael J. Fox), travel to the otherwordly Atlantis.

The creative trio, who also worked together on “Beauty and the Beast,”

chose to set the story in 1914 to capture the optimism of the machine

age.

They did a bit of time travel to achieve this look, studying World War

I-era clothing and machinery at a Maryland museum.

Many of the film’s vehicles, such as the explorer’s submarine and

steam-powered trucks, were inspired by this research.

“During that time, man was having a love affair with technology,” said

the 45-year-old Hahn. “We thought we could do a rusty, sheet-metal look

to make a perfect visual contrast with an Atlantean sleek, magical look.”

To help balance the industrial feel with a more expressive look, the

production crew journeyed outside Disney to the comic book world of

artist Mike Mignola (of “Hellboy” fame). They combined his bold, graphic

style and his use of shadows and silhouettes with the classic Disney

style (this process coined the phrase “Dis-nola”).

A total of 350 animators, artists and technicians worked on this

production, which took four years to complete.

Mignola also supplied some innovative story ideas.

“Mike has a great story mind,” said Trousdale, who lives in

Northridge. “He threw in lots of ideas like the flying stone fish

vehicles that require the human touch of sticking a crystal in them to

make them go.”

Mignola’s ideas also helped the production team enhance the balance

between computer animation and hand-drawn animation.

“An action set demands wonderful, emotional characters -- there’s

nothing better than a hand-drawn image,” said Hahn, whose animated films

have received 17 Academy Award nominations.

“But you can’t just have a hand-drawn character jump into a

computer-generated vehicle -- they need to feel like they belong

together.

“It’s a hybrid of the best of computer graphics with character

animation. It was a challenge because they don’t often look good

together,” he said.

THE HAHN FILE

NAME: Don Hahn, Glendale resident, producer “Atlantis: the Lost

Empire.” He also produced “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Beauty & the

Beast” and “The Lion King.” He served as an associate producer on “Who

Framed Roger Rabbit.”

FAVORITE DISNEY CHARACTERS: Captain Hook and Cruella De Vil. “A movie

is only as good as its villain.”

FAVORITE DISNEY FILMS: “Jungle Book,” “101 Dalmatians.”

FAVORITE DISNEY FILM HE WORKED ON: “‘Beauty & the Beast,’ because

working on it was like catching light in a bottle -- to have the right

people in the same place at the same time.”

SCARIEST DISNEY FILM: “‘Pinocchio’ because a boy’s worst fear is to

smoke a cigar, shoot pool and turn into a donkey.”

ON WHY PEOPLE ARE FASCINATED BY THE LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS:

“There’s something endlessly fascinating about a Utopian Eden-like

society that had it all worked out -- that lived in harmony and was

technologically advanced. It also vanished in a day and night without a

record. A Utopian society that vanished from the face of the Earth is

always a news item.”

-- Don Hahn, “Atlantis” producer.

“It has a primal pull on people. It’s like the story of Eden. It’s

like we had a paradise on Earth and we lost it -- we’d risen to a

technological ideal and then lost it. Also, everyone loves a mystery,

they think if they look hard enough they’ll find the secret.”

-- Kirk Wise, “Atlantis” director.

“There could be a hidden world right under your feet -- caverns big

enough to put a whole city block in. Things like this are found all the

time. Who knows what’s under there? And, who knows what’s in them? It’s

not quite implausible.”

-- Gary Trousdale, “Atlantis” director.

“There are probably six different archeological sites across the globe

that say Atlantis was found here. You had an immense superpower that

harnessed semi-nuclear power -- they were intellectually advanced -- and

abused power. They basically self-destructed.”

--John Pomeroy, “Atlantis” supervising animator for the character Milo

Thatch.