Disney brought Robin Williams’ Genie back for a new short, without AI

Disney’s new animated/live-action hybrid short Once Upon a StudioIt’s like the last battle. Avengers: EndgameThis is a collection of every character that you might think about. The short, meant to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios, features 543 characters from throughout the company’s history — including some that fans thought we might never see again, like Aladdin’s Genie, voiced by the late Robin Williams.

Polygon was on hand to view the short at a Los Angeles preview for Disney’s upcoming feature You can also Wish. Once Upon a StudioMickey Mouse and Minnie mouse gather animated characters to take a photo for the 100th anniversary of Roy E. Disney Animation Building. About halfway through, as portraits of Disney’s animated characters come to life and roam the studio’s halls, à la A Night in the Museum, Genie shows up alongside Frozen’s Olaf the snowman (voiced by Josh Gad) and speaks a couple of lines that aren’t familiar from Aladdin. As the filmmakers repeatedly stressed, they didn’t use special effects or AI to craft the moment, unlike other filmmakers resurrecting cast members for movie roles.

“It was actually direct lines from past recordings,” producer Yvett Merino told Polygon at the preview. “When we do animated recordings on any feature, there are a number of takes. So we were able to find this line that fits so well in our short.”

AI is a major topic of discussion in Hollywood, and has been throughout the WGA/SAG-AFTRA Strikes. In its new contract the WGA was able to win concessions that limit AI’s use. Earlier this month, Williams’ daughter Zelda shared on Instagram how disturbing it’s been for her to see instances of AI re-creating her father’s voice, calling the facsimiles, “at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster.”

And Disney doesn’t intend to create its own version of that monster. “We are a flat no on [AI] right now,” producer Brad Simonsen told Polygon. “Matter of fact, you’re not allowed to use AI in the building.”

You can also find out more about the following: Once Upon a Studio creative team, including directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, reached out to Robin Williams’ estate early on, sharing storyboards of the short and outtake selections from Aladdin. As Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer (and Frozen director) Jennifer Lee put it, the company got the estate’s blessing to proceed.

“It was so important to us to share our earliest version of the short with Robin’s team,” Merino said. “So many of us who work here at Disney Animation were inspired by Aladdin and Robin’s performance. It meant the world that they said yes to his inclusion in the short — and [it was]Eric Goldberg has animated Genie in the Disney movie. [original] feature film, did the animation here as well.”

Goldberg is the key for directors and producers to honor the iconic character. “When you animate a character, you develop a relationship with that character, and you know who that character is,” Merino said.

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Simonsen added, “What Dan and Trent were specific about was, we were hoping to get back the animators [who originally served as lead animators on some of the short’s characters]In 2D and hand-drawn characters, there was a supervisor who actually supervised the creation of that character. These were the people who maintained the model of the character throughout the entire show. So bringing back those folks who led those characters was a dream.”

Goldberg was not only the head of Genie but also for all hand-drawn animated films. Once Upon a Studio. When it came time to create the Genie sequence, the directors gave him the steering wheel. “We storyboarded the moment out and we said, ‘OK, Eric, do your Eric Goldberg thing and bring the magic,’” recalled Abraham. “And then he did.”

Lee said Williams’ performance still has an impact on her more than three decades later. “Genie is such an important character to so many of us,” she said.

And that kind of impact makes Williams’ place in Disney animation’s 100-year history permanent. “I just think that we couldn’t have made this short without Cinderella,” Abraham explains. “We couldn’t have made this short without Stitch. We couldn’t have made this short without Robin Hood. And we couldn’t have made it without the Genie. He’s just such a part of our history, our legacy.”

Once Upon a StudioThe debut of the new upcoming movie, “The Last Days”, will take place on Sunday, October 15th during the Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary CelebrationABC will air a special on Sunday, August 8, at 8 PM EDT. The streaming date for the special has yet to be announced.