There is a word for the atmosphere at Walt Disney Productions, and it is not "frenetic" or "driving" or any of the other terms usually associated with the hurly-burly of the film industry. The word is quiet. Very, very quiet.
No signs announce the studio’s Burbank presence to the outside world, and a walk down Dopey Drive or Mickey Avenue reveals not the customary legions of hustling deal makers, only neat trees and neater lawns, an unreal slice of small town Americana complete with park benches for the weary to rest on.
In a sense, the tranquility is ironic because this has been a year of unimagined frenzy and rancor in the field of animation, which Disney pioneered and has dominated for decades, and more than a little of that fury is directed at the House That Walt Built. Two new animated features have just been released (see Movies, page 85), and the creators of both films insist that the last thing they want is to be associated with the tradition of Disney animation. “We created a whole new approach," insists Martin Rosen, producer-director of Watership Down. “We are different from any other film."
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