22 unknown facts about the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit": Bob Hoskins' hallucinations and Jessica's intimate features (12 photos)

One of the most famous films by director Robert Zemeckis hit theaters in 1988. At the end of the year, the film was second only to Rain Man in box office receipts.





1. The film's script is based on the fictional universe of Gary Wolfe, first described in the novel Who Cut Roger Rabbit? (1981) and developed in the 1991 sequel Who F-F-Framed Roger Rabbit?.

2. Bob Hoskins said in an interview that after the first meaningful viewing of the film, his youngest son Jack did not speak to him for two weeks. He could not forgive his father for working with star cartoons and not introducing them to them :)

3. The title of the film implies a question, but the official title of the film is purely narrative. Why? In Hollywood, "questioning" titles are considered to attract bad luck.



4. Charles Fleischer voiced not only Roger Rabbit, but also Benny the Taxi and two ferrets from the Cartoon Patrol: Psycho and Greasy.

4.1. In the original script there were seven ferrets - exactly the same number as the dwarfs from the well-known "Snow White" of 1937.

4.2. To better get into character, Fleischer wore the costume of this cartoon character during the voice-over.





5. Bill Murray was the main contender for the role of Eddie Valiant, and he was unanimously chosen by Zemeckis and Spielberg. Surprise! They were unable to contact the actor because of his unusual way of communicating with the outside world (he receives all business proposals on his answering machine and calls back if he is interested). Murray himself, upon learning about this, screamed and cried in frustration - he wanted to play this role so much. However, the actor still receives business proposals through his answering machine.

6. Jessica Rabbit's songs are performed by Betsy Brantley and we only see her name in the credits. Although the rest of this character was voiced by Kathleen Turner.

7. Director Raoul was played by the famous producer Joel Silver, who is called the godfather of the new wave of action films of the 80-90s ("Commando", "Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon", "The Matrix", etc.).

8. Betty Boop is voiced by Mae Questel, the original voice of this cartoon character from 1931 to 1938.



9. Despite the participation of George Lucas's computer special effects studio IL&M in the project, all animation was created using classical techniques.

10. Pay attention to Jessica's breasts (sorry :): they rise at the moments when normal breasts fall and vice versa. Yes, this is how lead animator Richard Williams wanted to highlight the character and attract the viewer's attention. Did he?

10.1. In 1994, Variety magazine dug up a juicy detail in an inconspicuous shot featuring Jessica. Pause the film at the moment when Benny the Taxi crashes and Jessica flies out of the car. If Basic Instinct had come out before Rabbit, one might assume that the animators were inspired by Sharon Stone's iconic scene. But it turns out the opposite :)



11. Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) never blinks.

11.1. Two British actors, Tim Curry and John Cleese (Monty Python), self-nominated for the role of the judge. The first was rejected by Zemeckis as too scary, and the second as too funny.



12. The fall of the cartoon pelican leaving the studio at the beginning of the film was a result of difficulties with maintaining the balance of the bicycle in the frame. It was assumed that the pelican was simply riding past the camera, but the technicians simply could not hold his vehicle for that long :)

13. Have you noticed that the Ink and Paint club has only human visitors, and the service staff are cartoons? This is a reference to racial segregation at the famous New York nightclub, the Cotton Club.

14. The final song, "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" from "Looney Tunes" was performed by the film's choir of bunny boys (326 people in total). They also created over a million drawings.1

15. This is one of the most technically challenging scenes in the film:



The animators had to synchronize the lights and shadows with the room's environment. Rumor has it that since then, the "Bump the Lamp" production meme has been circulating among Disney employees, signifying the colossal amount of effort required for a fleeting scene.

16. The "syrup" that cartoons are dissolved in (turpentine with acetone and benzene) is actually a working chemical used to remove drawings from celluloid (transparent plates in traditional animation).

17. Steven Spielberg persuaded Warner Bros. to "lend" several of his characters, including the iconic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, to Disney's archrival, Rabbit. Nine years later, Warner Bros. approached Disney with a similar request for their "film cartoon" project, Space Jam, but was refused. Since then, the studios have never collaborated on animation.

18. One of the photos in Roger's wallet shows him and Jessica on a date at the iconic Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles. On the wall hang friendly caricatures of the film's creators - Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Richard Williams and others.



19. Eddie Valiant goes to Toontown through the same tunnel that Biff and Marty use in another Robert Zemeckis film - "Back to the Future Part II". This is the Mount Hollywood Tunnel in Los Angeles (on maps).



19.1. There's a whiff of gossip online that a scene from Blade Runner was filmed here, but a simple comparison of the width of the roadway immediately casts doubt on that theory.

20. After filming finished on Rabbit, Bob Hoskins took a year off from taking on new roles while he recovered. He says that after six months of working 16 hours a day with imaginary characters, he began to hallucinate and begin to suspect a mental disorder.



21. Where did Eddie get his cartoon revolver? The sign on the case sheds light: "Thanks for getting me out of jail. Yosemite Sam." And he said he doesn't work for cartoons...



22. Budget - $50.6 million, box office receipts - $351.5 million. And four Oscars for editing, sound and visual effects, as well as a special award from all the rabbits for special achievements in cinematography.