'Tarzan' director Lima explains film's animation, inspiration

Animation director Kevin Lima follows up his directing debut, Disney's "A Goofy Movie," with Hollywood's most famous swinger, "Tarzan."

Born and raised in Pawtucket, R.I., Lima's first interest in animation began at the tender age of five, when for his birthday he received a book on the subject as a present. From there his interests led him to working with a local puppet troupe and drawing a comic strip for his high school newspaper, to landing a summer job at the famed Eve Brook's Costume Shop in Los Angeles, where he helped create costumes for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

A graduate of the Cal Arts animation program, Lima provided animation for Disney's "Sport Goofy" cartoon and marketing campaign and worked on the movie "Oliver and Company." He helped design Flounder, Ursula and other characters from "The Little Mermaid." He also worked on "The Rescuers Down Under," "Beauty and the Beast," and lent his talents to storyboard sequences for "The Lion King" and "Aladdin" when they were in their earliest stages of development.

Like filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, Lima's experience in animation has given him insight into character development -- skills that were put to the test for Disney's "Tarzan." The Sun spoke to Lima about how "Tarzan" was given the Disney treatment, and got the scoop on how Tarzan was able to glide with the greatest of ease through the jungle or if any sequels are planned. (Lima's wife was going into labor as we began our interview, but he was a real trooper through the whole ordeal. Cigars and smiles all around.)

Question: Most people know what a director does when it comes to live-action films. How does the job differ for an animated feature? Answer: It's pretty much like a real film. The thing that is really different about it is that you are bringing together two different people to create a character: an animator and a voice.

Q: Even though the job may be a little different, did they still give you a director's chair with your name on it?

A: (Laughs) No, they didn't. And they didn't give me a beret or a bullhorn.

Q: Was it especially difficult to incorporate musical numbers into what is, essentially, an action-adventure movie?

A: From the very, very beginning we made the decision that Tarzan wasn't going to sing. My co-director, Chris Buck, and I said to each other that we couldn't imagine a half-naked man in the jungle simply bursting into song. It forced us to take it a different way.

We knew that we wanted to do music, but we came up with the idea to have the songs mirror what was happening in the film. Phil Collins' wonderful music comments on the action. His music allows us to take different points of view throughout the story.

Q: Was Phil Collins your first choice to do the music?

A: Yes. We actually went out and said, "How do we make this different than 'The Lion King'?" "The Lion King" used South African rhythms, and we went for a different sound using percussion. The way we got Phil Collins for "Tarzan" was that we heard around the studio that he was looking for a Disney project, and we got him. It seemed like a perfect match. Phil is a great musician.

Q: How did you guys handle the "loincloth issue?"

A: (Laughs) Well, it's one of the icons of "Tarzan." We were really lucky because in animation, we could cover anything and everything at any moment. People would come up to me and say, "Aren't you afraid of his loincloth blowing up?" I would say, "No," because it was drawn and it's not real, so it wasn't really a problem.

Q: For "Tarzan," the Disney team developed an animation technique called deep canvas. What exactly is that?

A: Deep canvas, very simply, allows us to have a Stedicam in animation. It allows two-dimensional characters to move believably through their jungle settings.

Q: That's how Tarzan can "surf" through the tree tops.

A: Yes. Its maximum effect is when showing Tarzan's perspective as he navigates his way through the jungle, swinging from vine-to-vine. It also allows animators to paint dimensional backgrounds in the computer, and this would allow us to move the characters in and around the background. Now we can follow characters in and around the jungle in an exciting new way.

Q: Aside from the original source material by Edgar Rice Burroughs, what other incarnations of "Tarzan" inspired the Disney version?

A: Not many, really. We wanted to stay close to the books and not go off in an area unknown to the audience. The original story is fantastic and deals with the struggle of family, and we wanted to stay with that. The books go off in many directions; he even travels to Mars in one book.

Q: In your version, Tarzan never leaves the jungle, whereas in the book he travels to England.

A: Yes. Well, I'm sure they will have more sequels for "Tarzan" where he goes to England, school and whatever else they can think of. It's a natural that they will continue the series.

Q: Disney has a history, ever since "Bambi," of including some dark, horrific imagery into its animated features. Is it ever a concern that you're going too far and may really frighten some children?

A: We really keep an eye on that, but we feel that the stories we tell have to have some sense of tragedy. There has to be something on the other side. I always think of the Wicked Witch in "Snow White" or Monstro the Whale in "Pinocchio." All of these features had tragedies. We were really careful and we wanted to really stir up some emotions.

Q: Were members of Burroughs' estate pleased with the final results?

A: Oh, yeah. I sat with the grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs at the world premiere of "Tarzan," and at the end of the film he was very happy. He told me that we were bringing "Tarzan" to a whole new generation, and he was very grateful.

Q: Did the family have any conditions for the making of the film or were they involved in its making?

A: They weren't involved at all really, but they did have one condition: Tarzan never drinks or smokes. That was pretty much it. They were happy with the version of the story we had prepared.

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