Don Bluths journey took him from box office hell to the perfect story.
Adapted fromSomewhere Out There: My Animated Life.
Copyright 2022 by Don Bluth.
Reprinted with permission from Smart Pop Books.
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The lows werent easy.
Bluth describes how the money was tight and the anxieties rampant.
And Fievel Mousekwitz was far from the last scrappy, unforgettable hero Bluth would bring to life.
This is the story of how he finally found the perfect story.
Excerpt from ‘Somewhere Out There’
I.
He was a kind man, for one.
One day,Gary Goldman pulled John Pomeroyand me aside and described a phone call hed gotten from Jerry.
Jerry had screenedNIMHfor a friend.
Jerry said his friend was bowled over.
His friend said, and I quote, I thought nobody did this kind of animation anymore.
He wants to meet us.
Sure, John replied.
You knowthat alien moviethat destroyedNIMHat the box office?
I interrupted with Not Steven Spielberg?!
Yes,thatSteven Spielberg.
You have to understand, this was like getting a visit from an emperor or a pope.
Steven was the yardstick by which everything got measured.
If he liked you, everyone liked you.
Dave Spafford had even gotten a haircut and put Waldo the rat in his cage.
Total was 9 million, said Gary.
And entirely produced in the U.S.
Stevens eyes lit up.
Ive always wanted to make an animated movie.
Gary and I exchanged excited glances was this for real?
Just then, John ceremoniously entered the conference room with stacks of cels cradled in his arms.
Johns great idea was to show Steven his collection of rare animation cels to inspire him, John said.
We reverently set out the stacks on the table before Steven.
Steven was as delighted as a boy in a candy store.
Snow White… he gasped.
Gary leaped in to save the day.
Yes, wed love that!
Fantastic, said Steven briskly.
Let me find a perfect story, and Ill get back to you.
We naively expected a call in a week or a month.
(Now I know Ill get back to you means anything from tomorrow to never.)
During that time, Id be sorely tested, but I never really gave up hope.
Im betting Steven will come through, I insisted tothe man in the mirror.
Hes somewhere out there.
Somewhere out there … mused the reflection.
Great title for a song.
Promises dont help with bills.
We saw the road to riches through video games.
So we set to work onDragons Lair IIand the sci-fi gameSpace Ace.
There was nowhere to go but up, right?
Sure enough, the arcade market took a deep dive.
The flow of money into the studio slowed to a trickle.Dragons Lair IIwas shelved.
And still no word from Steven.
I prayed for a second chance.
On one of those sleepless nights, my phone rang.
I covered my head with a pillow, but the ringing continued.
I frowned at my clock and picked up the receiver.
Its two in the morning, I groaned.
How may I help you?
Don, this is Michael, said a breathy voice.
I just sawThe Secret of NIMH.
Thats why Im calling!
I want us to work on a project together.
Come and see me.
We have much to talk about.
Help me out, I pleaded.
Really, I said flatly.
Superstar Michael Jackson was not someone who phoned common mortals at two in the morning.
Do you want me to sing to you?
I rolled my eyes.
Someone and I would find out who was having a lot of fun with this practical joke.
How did you get my number?
Oh, thats easy, he said, when youre me.
He then got down to business.
Ill have my secretary call you tomorrow with details.
We can talk more then.
He shook his head with a chuckle.
As ifhewould want to work withyou.
The chauffeurs glare in the rearview mirror caught my attention.
Er, should I get out?
First, he said, I have something to tell you.
No one gets to see Mr. Jackson.
Even Ive never seen him, and I work for him.
Only then did he open my door and jerk a thumb to the back entrance of the building.
And that was when I began to believe.
They grunted their hellos and led me to a small waiting room, where they patted me down.
Satisfied I had no bad intent, they left me alone.
How does one greet the King of Pop?
Should I bow and kiss his hand?
The slight man who entered wasnt like the bigger-than-life superstar Id seen on videos.
So when Michael and I sat down together, I listened.
He talked about what he wanted to do with his art make people happy, show them magic.
Steven and I are doingPeter Pantogether, he confided.
That project is still a big secret though.
Make a budget, Michael kept saying.Lets see what happens.
By the time I returned to the limo, I was floating on clouds and dazzled by possibilities.
I told Gary and John about meeting Michael Jackson and his ideas.
That night, Michael called me again, and the following night.
I began taking naps in the afternoon to keep up with him.
We made the decision to pull the plug.
Not on Don Bluth Productions but on our beautiful Swiss chalet studio on Ventura Boulevard.
Too bad you walked away from Disney, the man in the mirror said.
That ended up being a dumb move.
It was your idea!
You do know were one and the same, right?
The Perfect Story
At last, in 1984, the long-awaited call from Amblin electrified us.
Steven had found the perfect story.
Gary, John, and I met with him at Amblin, where he arrived fashionably late.
During the trip, a fierce storm throws little Mousie overboard and he loses contact with his family.
The story will be his journey to find them again.
Itll be a musical, and well call itAn American Tail.
But hold on, you might be saying.
Isnt the mouse in the movie called Fievel?
Steven surprised us one day in Amblins conference room when he changed the heros name from Mousie to Fievel.
The reason is simple: It was the name of Stevens grandfather from Russia.
We kept the surname Mousekewitz, but just called the little guy Fievel.
Something felt off to me though.
As Steven kept talking, I realized what it was.
Steven was picturing the story in an animal world, and that hadnt worked forRobinHoodorThe Fox and the Hound.
I raised my hand timidly, feeling like I was interrupting a master class in filmmaking.
What if … the story took place in the human world?
With the little mice dwarfed by human-size ships and houses.
Steven beamed and nodded his approval.
Ive seen what you’re able to do, he assured us.
Go do what you feel is right, then show it to me.
Ill tell you what I think, and well go from there.
That was how Steven and I worked, especially once he began filmingEmpire of the Sunin Japan.
We sent everything to him for approval, from storyboards to character designs to sequences.
Everyone has a gift.
His is that he knows how to put cameras in the best place to tell the story.
For months, our army of animators steadily inched our way through the sequences.
Steven critiqued, we adjusted, he critiqued again, we adjusted again, he approved.
Before animating the humans, we shot them in live-action and used their movement to inspire the animators.
As for the mice, they had free rein.
I mean, who knows how a mouse wearing a shirt and pants and shoes actually walks?
I was always thinking about how to make this mouse story different fromNIMHandThe Rescuers.
The Mouse of Minsk, which terrorized the cats, was also based on a model.
There were obstacles; that happens on a journey to make a movie.
Not the approach I would recommend, of course, but it worked out.
Meanwhile, in 1985, Disney released their much-ballyhooed animated featureThe Black Cauldron.
Our budget was tight, and we had to work fast to make the schedule.
It was hard work.
There was a lot at stake.
What a magical experience.
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