Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 79

MOVIES SUNDAY, JUNE 29 1997 PAGE F9 STAR TRIBUNE Ss.culss' got DVito's goat 'Phil' looks like actor and animator (owoWofolSf fUTUT 1 "-i "i 1 ninMnininininininJo yii 1 Photo by Michael AnsellDisney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Eric Goldberg, right, director of "Pocahontas returned to the drawing board to create the character of Phil, left, a cynical satyr In "Hercules." By Jeff Strlckler Star Tribune Staff Writer Danny DeVito can't take offense at the playful way animator Eric Goldberg turned him into a goat in "Hercules." That's because DeVito can't be entirely sure whether the artist is poking fun at the actor or at himself. According to the animator, "I designed him as a caricature of Danny, but by the time I got done everyone was saying, 'It's Short, balding, admittedly a little "soft around the middle," a self-professed ham and, like DeVito, a New Jersey native, Goldberg added with a laugh, "Hey, I know this guy. I like this guy-" He liked the guy so much that he traded assignments when he found out that DeVito had been hired to provide the voice for Phil, Hercules' mentor.

The co-director of 1995's "Pocahontas," Goldberg had gotten the prestigious assignment of drawing the villainous Hades, second only to Hercules in profile. But that didn't look like as much fun. "There's always a little baseball trading that goes on," said Goldberg, who likes to specialize In wacky sidekicks. John Musker and Ron Clements, who shared the film's directing and writing duties, quickly approved the swap because Goldberg had animated the genie in "Aladdin" for them. "John and Ron wrote the role specifically for Danny the same way they did for Robin Williams with the genie," he said.

He wanted to work with DeVito because of the actor's co-medic talents, he said. The physical similarities between himself and DeVito were just a pleasant coincidence. "In animation, it doesn't matter how you look, "hesaidduring a visit to the Twin Cities to promote the movie, which opened Friday. "Guys can animate gals, gals can animate guys, old people can animate young people and short people can animate tall people. You can do whatever you want." Woods sizzles As it turns out, Goldberg probably would have been happy with Hades, too.

After he was hired to do that character's voice, James Woods talked Musker and Clements (who also collaborated on "The little into letting him try an over-the-top, one- MiltiililMfii ftld.iilJufVifii liner-for-every-occasion approach. "The way the role of Hades was written, it was really toned down," Goldberg said. "Then Woods got in there and went totally the other way with it. That's one of the great things about animation: You can get an actor in the recording booth and ask him to just riff with it. It's the perfect medium for improvisation because all the voices are recorded first" and then the drawing is done.

Flexibility is one of the keys to the success of the Disney animation empire, Goldberg said: "It's a very fluid process. We like to say that the paint never dries at Disney." But that flexibility also slows the creative process. During the production of "Hercules," there were 28 versions of Phil, 27 of which ended up in the garbage can. Having to redo your work and then redo it and redo it and redo it can try the animators' patience, Goldberg admitted. "But there's no other way to do it.

You can't speed up the process and still get the results." Computers help, but not nearly as much as an outsider might think. Other than providing some of the backgrounds and setting the depth-of-field focusing, there's very little computer-assisted animation in "Hercules." "It's hand drawn exactly the same way it was when Walt Disney made he said. "I was a big fan of 'Toy but that movie was working with a subject that lent itself to computer animation. And people can tell the difference. There's a certain warmth to hand-drawn animation that's unmistakable." Animation's reawakening Goldberg, 42, always knew that he wanted to be an animator.

At 4, he was drawing his own Woody Woodpecker flip books, and by 13 he was using his parents' home movie camera to make cartoons. But when he reached college graduation in 1977, there was a serious question about where he would find work as an animator. "The state of animation was not very good in this country," he said. "This was the era of 'The Black There really wasn't much choice: If I wanted to do anything creative, I had to leave." He went to England, which had become something of a haven for animators (among them Don Bluth, who had left Disney, and Ken Harris, a Warner Bros, veteran). Goldberg eventually launched his own studio to make TV commercials.

Meanwhile, animation had found new life back in the United States, thanks in part to the success of 1989's "The Little Mermaid." In 1990, Musker, who'd gone to school with Goldberg's wife (an artist who splits her time between animation and book illustration), called his London studio and offered him the job of designing the genie for "Aladdin." Goldberg jumped at the offer, and not just because it was a chance to return to the United States. There's something about working for Disney's animation department that still awes him. "You feel that you're part of a legacy," he said. "I'm not trying to be pretentious. In fact, it's just the opposite: It's very humbling to feel that in some small way you are contributing to this great line of films." Oak Rtdgp Bluja, uHiH Tammif WifnEtta Sunday, July 13 at 4 p.m.

Tickets $24.95 or $34.95 'I; Openings Critic's choice We all needed a movie like Ttiy Best Friend's Wedding Wednesday: "Men in Black" "Out to Sea" "Wild America" i ElkitlLll BrLOthuru. UHtK Johnruj. RuenA. Friday, July 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets $18.95 or $26.95 Movie review line I U.n,,..

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CLulx Benefit Concent, Mary Sue England, Killer Hay Seeds, and Molly the Makers. Sunday, August 17 at 4 p.m. Tickets $10.00 Chicago- Sunday, August 24 at 4 p.m. Tickets $24.95 or $34.95 7 I uiK (TlattAJ-LaLL TucKan. Band reviews available by phone 24 hours a day.

To listen to a review, call 673-9050 from a touch-tone phone and enter the four-digit category of the review you want to hear. If you wish to skip to another review while one isfplaying, press the sign. New releases "Hercules" 5789 "FaceOff 5790 "The Toilers and the Wayfarers" 5791 "Ulee'sGold" 5792 "The Van" 5793 Long runs "Addicted to Love" 5761 "All Over .....5783 "Austin Powers" 5747 "Batman Robin" 5784 "Brassed Off .5769 "A Chef in Love" 5779 "Con Air" 5778 "GoneFishin'" 5770 "Hollow Reed" 5780 "Into the Deep" 5727 "Jungle Book 2" 5771 "Liar Liar" 5716 "The Lost World" 5764 "Love! Valour! Compassion!" 5765 "My Best Friend's Wedding" 5786 "The Pillow Book" .....5788 "Speed 5782 "Sprung" 5760 "Temptress Moon" 5787 "'Til There Was You" 5772 "Trial Error" 5773 "Volcano" 5745 "Waiting for Guffman" 5710 Sunday, September 7 at 4 p.m. Tickets $24.95 or $34.95 Photo by Suzanne TennerTriStar Pictures Julia Roberts stars as a restaurant critic who realizes too late that she's In love with her best friend In "My Best Friend's Wedding." A ''I UHtK LUla TexaA. Sunday, September 14 at 4p.m.

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Roberts and Mulroney are longtime platonic friends. When he announces that he's getting married to a woman he just met, Roberts is overcome by romantic jealousy and decides that she wants him for herself. She has only four days to break up the happy couple. The movie was directed by P.J. Hogan, the Australian who wrote and directed "Muriel's Wedding." He must have a thing about quirky wedding stories.

And we're glad he does. JeffStrickler Julia Roberts needed a movie like "My Best Friend's Wedding." And so did we. Roberts' career has been wobbling with underwhelming performances in "Michael Collins," "Something to Talk About" and "Mary Reilly." The onetime "Pretty Woman" needed a charming romantic comedy to reestablish herself. Meanwhile, moviegoers have needed a charming romantic comedy as an antidote to the summer's slate of special-effects-driven action-adventures. Here's a movie in which you actually learn more about the characters than just their first names.

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