Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Aladdin. The Beast. Pocahontas. Professor Ratigan. Tarzan. All drawn to life by Glen Keane, who — while working for Disney since 1974 — has earned a reputation as one of the world's greatest animators. To acquire his services, it takes a special character — and opportunity — that appeals to him.
Keane was in Paris, animating the Apeman on Tarzan, when he received a call from John Musker and Ron Clements — the directing team behind The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules. Their latest project, Treasure Planet, was an outer-space adaptation of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The pirate, Long John Silver, would now be a cyborg of flesh and steel, with the idea that his organic side would be hand-drawn, while his metallic parts would be computer-generated. Keane was intrigued, not only by this approach, but by the character himself.
"John described this moment where Silver is torn between either saving the treasure or saving the life of Jim Hawkins," Keane recalls. "There's a [Bible] verse that says a lot to me: 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be, also.' And I just felt like, 'This really speaks to me. This moment.' So I wanted to do that character.
"I could have gone off and started developing my own picture [Beethoven's 9th Symphony], which is something I've wanted to do for a long time. The problem is, any time I'm about to do that, Ron and John come along with something I can't say no to. Tarzan was another case. So I put my own project on the back burner once more — as I think I have for the last four films — and decided to dive in and try to figure out Silver."
Silver Linings
This time, the co-directors offered Keane a truly formidable task. 'For me, the whole challenge was amplified because they wanted Silver to be this blend of CG and traditional animation," Keane says. "And having just finished Tarzan, where Tarzan was surfing the Deep Canvas jungle and interacting with CG in a close way, I was really excited about this idea of having CG and hand-drawn in the same character. So that's what pushed me toward it."
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