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Veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja, who has given his considerable talents to the creation of such classics as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and The Lion King, shares his insights into one of his favorite characters, Madame Medusa, and the work of Milt Kahl, the Disney Legend who created her.

Mare Davis. who worked for Walt Disney Imagineering at the time when The Rescuers was produced, once told me a story about Milt Kahl and Madame Medusa. “Milt came by to visit me at my office’’ Marc recalled with a chuckle. “He looked at me and said, ‘My Medusa will blow your Cruella out of the water!’ Marc, being the generous man he was, wasn’t the least bit offended. He knew there was room for more than one amazing villainess in Disney films.

In fact, The Rescuers art director, Ken Anderson, had thought of “reusing Cruella” for the movie. But when Milt Kahl saw the early character concepts depicting Cruella with two alligators, he strongly disagreed. To him, Medusa needed to be unique, and he went to work to design and animate her unlike any other villain.

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