Director Robert Zemeckis made his long-belated return to live-action filmmaking this weekend after a 12-year stint in the world of motion-capture with his latest drama, "Flight,” starring Denzel Washington as a commercial airline pilot struggling with alcohol (read our review here). It’s about as far away as you can get from the mo-cap world of "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carrey. But with 300-some digital shots in the drama to pull off some of its dazzling aerial sequences, it’s not like Zemeckis has completely abandoned technology. A pioneer in the field of motion capture with "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf,” Zemeckis also blazed trails in the late ‘80s with his now-classic live-action animation hybrid, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
A mooted sequel has been kicked around Hollywood for the better part of two decades (read more about that here). And while traction on the sequel has been tortoise-like for 20 years, fans wondered recently whether the project might get deep-sixed now that lead actor Bob Hoskins has retired from acting. The good news for the devoted is that it appears ‘Roger Rabbit’ can live on without Hoskins.
Asked about the project this weekend by Showbiz 411, the director refueled interest by giving a sliver of hope for it. “I have a script at Disney, and we’re just waiting for all the executive changes to settle down there,” he said, meaning of the transition former Warner Bros. chief Alan Horn has had to make to get up to speed over at Disney.
We're not sure this changes much. Zemeckis has been saying the same thing since at least 2010, but fans will dare to dream, such is their wont, so who are we to argue with them? And then again, the latest we had heard before then was from producer Frank Marshall, who told Collider in August that the sequel was "very close" to happening. Though it sounds like the original concept, a prequel called "Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?" won't be in the cards and the filmmakers will be trying another approach. "It was more of a prequel," Marshall said of that version of the screenplay. "It was all about how Roger came to Hollywood." We wouldn't hold our breath quite yet, but we suppose that sounds as promising as it's ever been.