Waking Sleeping Beauty Page #11

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in Nevada's Ruby Mountains

would set in motion

an unimaginable chain of events.

The helicopter had flown approximately

a mile down the canyon

before it crashed into a rugged hillside

at approximately 7,200 feet.

This is the only helicopter crash and

the first fatality in the company's history.

There are some griefs

that have to be shared.

Likewise, there are some joys

so overwhelming

that they should be shared as well.

And while we all give Frank's death

and grieve it,

we all share the joy

of having known Frank.

That is why we are here today,

to remember--

To remember and to celebrate,

to pay tribute to one man

who had magic

and to share the magic with him

through his whole creative life.

The songs and music you have heard

and will hear today

are not the songs of music

of sorrow or of death.

They are the songs

that Frank Wells enjoyed--

These are the songs

that Frank enjoyed during his life.

I would now like to introduce the man

who thought up Frank and me

for this job, Roy Disney.

That was it?

My speaker's off.

This is a fantastic, wonderful,

unbelievable human being.

Okay?

Okay.

SCHNElDER:
Frank was the peacemaker

amongst all these tremendous egos.

And when Frank died,

there was no one to talk to.

KEANE:

Nobody knew what to say.

It was a very strange quietness

that overcame the studio,

just wondering,"Now what?"

And that is a little baby cub.

And he is just the cutest thing.

And this guy is gonna grow up

to be 750 pounds.

Ever since Frank's death,

Jeffrey was lobbying for Frank's job

as president of the company,

but Roy wouldn't have anything

to do with it.

He already felt uncomfortable with the

amount of press that Jeffrey was getting.

KATZENBERG:

I was out front on these movies.

I was selling the films.

The more successful they were,

the more attention came to me,

the more I was able

to get attention for the films.

MAN:
He's getting restless, so shoot away.

KATZENBERG:
Yeah, okay.

MAN:
That's it.

KATZENBERG:
There we go.

Great, good. Pancho, good. Pancho.

KATZENBERG:

At the time, I think many people felt,

well, am I doing this for me

and my own career?

I think Michael became very competitive

with me at some point in this.

He was uncomfortable

with the amount of attention

and recognition that I was getting for it.

I think Roy

was extremely uptight about it.

MlNKOFF:
Jeffrey was gonna come in with

a reporter from The Wall Street Journal

and he was gonna follow us around

to show how the movie got made.

And Jeffrey performed for the journalist

and we created what looked like a slice

of how the movie actually got made.

And in that article, Jeffrey was proclaimed

the guy who was saving Disney Animation.

ROY:
I think that was kind of a last-straw

kind of a thing for me.

I was just incensed by that.

TURNER:
This is the vaunted Walt Disney

Company's animation machine in action:

collaborative, confrontational,

extravagant, exacting,

and under the meddlesome, protective

hand of Mr. Katzenberg, wildly successful.

The studio that invented

the animated movie in the 1930s,

but stumbled badly in the past decades,

is back with a vengeance.

It has produced an unparalleled

string of blockbusters,

from The Little Mermaid

to Beauty and the Beast to Aladdin.

In fact, counting ancillary activities

like merchandising,

video sales and theme-park attractions,

Disney's animated movies

are simply the most successful products

in the history

of the entertainment business.

It was the president

of Walt Disney Studios

versus the king of the jungle

in Las Vegas Sunday night.

And luckily, Jeffrey Katzenberg

can live to laugh about it.

KATZENBERG:
You know,

the final moment that was literally--

And I knew it, the day it happened.

-the straw that

broke the camel's back is

there was an article that

Rich Turner wrote

in The Wall Street Journal

about Lion King.

And it was so interesting,

because when I got up in the morning,

I read the paper, you know,

very early in the morning

and I remember saying to Marilyn

before I left for work, I said,

"Well, this is over.

This is the nail in my coffin."

[AUDlENCE GASPING

AND LAUGHING]

It is now 22 minutes before the hour.

I'm over 50 years old

and every time Disney comes out with

a new animated movie, I rush off to see it.

And all this week,

we're gonna be looking at the magic

that has created

the new Disney animated feature.

It is called The Lion King.

So you all test this, these things.

Tell me, give me a little--

Give me a taste.

What is the test on The Lion King?

First of all, we don't believe in research.

I never have.

Really?

Never.

That being said, it's the highest-tested film

we have ever had.

I'm very proud to be part of it.

And to be proud part of that great tradition

of Disney animated features.

Hakuna matata, which of course,

in Swahili, means"500 million worldwide."

Actually, hakuna matata,

in Swahili, does mean"no worries."

And, boy, judging from the success

of The Lion King,

it is safe to say that at this point,

Disney Studios, which made the movie,

has hakuna matata.

ANNOUNCER:

We're live from Los Angeles.

REPORTER:
And here coming up

on the red carpet is Matthew Broderick.

About four years ago,

we all decided we were gonna make it,

and so, you know,

you fall in love pretty soon after that.

So four years ago, I would say,

"Well, yeah," but now, it's great.

By the time The Lion King

premiered in Hollywood,

the press had picked up

on the tensions

and Jeffrey waved off all interviews

on the red carpet.

KATZENBERG:
I had lunch with Michael

and, you know, he said to me,

"I'm not interested

in having you take this job.

Even though I said I was

and promised you that you were,

I've changed my mind."

And I said to him,"Fine, I understand.

But, you know, in changing your mind

and deciding to do it,

you know, it really says to me

I have no future here."

ElSNER:
Jeffrey was a very good

executive. He just played it wrong.

Had he been happy to stay at the studio,

stay in his job,

not push everybody against the wall

at a moment when somebody had died,

he would have gotten the job,

had he just had the patience to wait.

HAHN:
Whenever you're comfortable.

You are rolling?

HAHN:
Yeah.

Okay.

With all the many varied businesses

this company is in, it is...

The cast-and-crew premiere

was coming up fast.

It was tradition for all of us

to get up on-stage

and give warm thank-you speeches.

But this time, I decided to film

all the speeches instead.

-an unbelievable job

over the last decade,

culminating in Lion King,

and pushing forward...

Soon after,

Michael complained of chest pains

and was rushed to the hospital

where he underwent

quadruple bypass surgery.

All right, I gotta just--

Mind on other things.

Ten years after he ushered Frank

and Michael into the company,

and with Animation

at the height of success,

the wheels were coming off the car.

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