General News

WAMG At The 101 DALMATIANS : Diamond Edition Press Day

By Melissa Howland | February 18, 2015

Are you ready for some puppy love? 101 DALMATIANS is now available for the first time on Digital HD and Blu-ray, and in celebration, WAMG was invited to a press day for the film at the Ink & Paint building on the Walt Disney Studios Lot. While there, we got the chance to chat with Lisa Davis (English voice of “Anita”), Mimi Gibson (English voice of ‘Lucky’), and Floyd Norman (Animator). We also took a class on painting our own animation cels, which we got to keep. Check out the fun filled day below!

First, we entered a small theater where we were introduced to some of the bonus features on the blu-ray, such as the short film THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THUNDERBOLT. THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THUNDERBOLT was inspired by the television show that the puppies watch on the tv in the film about a crime fighting dog named Thunderbolt. We also got to watch “Dalmatian 101” which is a feature hosted by Cameron Boyce, who plays Cruella de Vil’s son on the all new Disney show ‘Descendants.’ In this relatively short clip, they count down 5 reasons why 101 DALMATIANS is such a great film. The final clip we saw was called “Lucky Dogs,” which includes interviews of people who worked at Disney during the time 101 DALMATIANS was made.

Next, we were introduced to Lisa Davis (English voice of “Anita”), Mimi Gibson (English voice of ‘Lucky’), and Floyd Norman (Animator), who talked to the small room of press about their experiences during the production of the film. Lisa Davis told us about her audition experience with Walt Disney…

“So, when Mr. Disney first conceived of doing Cruella, he thought that maybe it would be funny if she had an accent. So they called me into the studio to audition for the part of Cruella De Vil, which I was terribly, terribly wrong for. Betty Lou Gerson, who played Cruella, was fantastic but I was definitely not right at all. But I was actually reading the script with Walt Disney, and he was reading the part of Anita and I was struggling to read the part of Cruella. And I thought to myself, “Oh my, dear me, this is so wrong. But how do I tell Walt Disney he’s wrong?” Not an easy task.

But I got brave enough and I said, “Excuse me, sir. As we are reading this, I realize that I am much more Anita than Cruella.” And he said, “Well, would you like to read Anita?” And I said I’d love to. So we switched. He played Cruella and I read Anita, and that’s how I became Anita. And that’s really why I’m here today so many years later, ’cause I was brave enough to tell Mr. Disney that he was wrong.”

Mimi recalled children from school recognizing her voice at Disneyland…

“I would go to Disneyland and they used to have a storefront that was called The Art of Animation. It was right off Main Street on the way to Tomorrowland.”

“Yes. So it was sort of like a store but it was off Main Street and you could buy cels and flipbooks. When you walked up the stairs there was a clip of “101 Dalmatians,” and the first puppy’s voice you heard was mine. [Laugh] And kids at school would come back from Disneyland and they’d say, “We heard you at Disneyland.” And then they’d say, “And you were a dog.” [laugh] and then they’d laugh. Well, I loved it. It was great. So that’s my story.”

And Floyd talked to us about the use of color in the film…

“The use of color was bold and different from things we had done before. Walt Peregoy brought a new design sensibility to this film. So we were all very excited about it. I can’t think of an artist here at Disney who wasn’t excited about what we were doing on “Dalmatians,” because it was such a break from the past, such a change from the European fairy tales we had been doing.. Now all of a sudden, we have this new, bold, contemporary look. And it was like a breath of fresh air here the Disney Studios.”

Next, we were brought into a classroom where we were taught how to paint animation cels. This was a bit of a challenge because you need to work fast and keep a steady hand. We were given acrylic paint that had been watered down a bit so that it would be a little more fluid. The key is to work fast, and wait until the area is completely dry before touching it up.