With the release this month of the 25th Anniversary Edition of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” speculation continues about whether the animation gods will give serious thought to a sequel of the live-action and classic animation Academy Award winning movie.
The internet has been buzzing like Marvin Acme’s biggest selling hand buzzer about director Robert Zemeckis returning to Toontown to pick up where Roger Rabbit and the rest of “toons” left off. Much of the talk about a “toon” reunion was fueled in January during Zemeckis’ London red carpet premiere of his movie “Flight” starring Denzel Washington. When questioned about a “Roger Rabbit” sequel, Zemeckis’ producing partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey confirmed that the film was moving forward.
Starkey said the sequel “is going to get made. Trust me. Yeah, we have a great script and we’re just trying to pull it together and see if we can pull it off, but we’re ready to go. If somebody says ‘go,’ we’re there.” During the same red carpet, Zemeckis, when hounded by the Roger Rabbit question, replied “no, there won’t be a sequel.”
About a month later, in an interview with MTV, Zemeckis confirmed that “there is a script and its good,” but would not offer up any details as to why the project is in suspended animation and not moving forward. In that same interview the director speculated that “if I were do to the sequel, it would be done just like the first one. It would look the same, except, we would obviously present it in 3D in its release, but I would do all the animation hand drawn” commenting that it would be a period piece like the original set in Hollywood in the 1940’s.
“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.”
-Jessica Rabbit
Perhaps actress Kathleen Turner knows her former director better than his producing partners. In an interview Turner, who breathed life into the lungs of Jessica Rabbit, said she would be intrigued to bring her sexy and sultry character back to life but added, “yeah I don’t know if that’s really going to happen.”
“I don’t think Bob Zemeckis is going to do it because he said it was one of the hardest jobs he ever took on.” Turner said Zemeckis was “creating the technology of integrating animation and live photography” during the entire production of “Roger Rabbit” more than 25 years ago.
Turner says that she is not sure the director is up to the painstaking level of involvement that she labeled “meticulous and endless work.” However she is not ruling out a return to the character if as things go in Hollywood, projects are mysteriously resurrected out of the dead script pile. “If it was Bob, I would say yes.” Turner previously worked with the filmmaker in 1984’s “Romancing the Stone.”
So for now, fans of Roger, Jessica, Eddie Valiant, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Baby Herman and the rest of the “toons” will have to settle for the 25th anniversary Blu-Ray Combo Pack complete with hours of extra bonus features including digitally restored Roger Rabbit shorts, a mini-documentary, deleted scenes and the making of the movie featurette.
“C’mon Roger, let’s go home. I’ll bake you a carrot cake.”
-Jessica Rabbit
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