Who Framed Roger Rabbit

I love this movie.

Summary

-A cartoon rabbit's only hope at being proved innocent of murder is a cartoon hating detective, whose brother was murdered by a cartoon

Cast

-Bob Hoskins: Dey. Eddie Valiant

-Christopher Lloyd: Judge Doom

-Joanna Cassidy: Dolores

-Charles Fleischer: Roger the Rabbit/Benny the Cab/Greasy/Psycho (voice)

-Stubby Kaye: Marvin Acme

-Alan Tilvern: R.K. Maroon

-Richard LeParmentier: Lt. Santino

-Lou Hirsch: Baby Herman

Did You Know?

-Because the movie was being made by Touchstone Pictures, who works with Disney and Warner Bros, the biggest stars of Warner Bros, such as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would be allowed in the film as long as each got equal screen time. That's why they were always seen in pairs. Such as the dueling piano scene between Donald and Daffy and the parachute scene with Mickey and Bugs

-For two weeks after seeing the movie, Bob Hoskin's son would not talk to him. When he finally asked his son why, his son said that he couldn't believe his father would work with cartoon characters and not let him meet them

-The first test audience were mostly 18 and 19 year olds. They hated it and walked out. Robert Zemeckis said he was not changing a thing

-Despite the fact the movie's title is a question, no question mark appears because that is considered bad luck in the film industry

-Bob Hoskins stated that Jessica was not sketched when filming wrapped, and he had no clue what she would look like. Robert Zemeckis told him to picture his ideal sexual fantasy. Hoskins claims the image he had was a lot less risqué than what ended up in the film

-The policy of only letting toons into the Ink & Paint Club as entertainers references the segregation policies of the mid century. One notable club was The Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. It's a predominantly black neighborhood and the staff and performers were black, but the customers allowed in were white

-There were four women Jessica's look and personality were based on. Her "look" was inspired by Vikki Dougan and Lauren Bacall. The "peek a boo" hair was inspired by Veronica Lake. And mostly off of Red, the main female in Tex Avery's Little Red Riding Hood

-In the scene where Benny the Cab is being chased by the Weasels, he drives over a bridge known as the Hyperion Bridge, which crosses a freeway near the old Disney Studio in downtown Hollywood. This was the one used before the new one in Burbank was built and used in 1939

-The tunnel leading to Toontown is a frequently used tunnel in Los Angeles called the Mount Hollywood Tunnel. It was also used in Back to the Future: Pt. II when Marty was trying to escape Biff on his hoverboard

-The ugly toon Eddie mistakes for Jessica is a cartoon character named Lena Hyena. It was based on a same name creation by Basil Wolverton. She was first drawn in 1946 for a contest by Al Capp to show "the world's ugliest woman" to feature in his "Lil Abner" comics

-Mel Blanc, who voices a lot of the classic Looney Tunes characters, died a year after this film's release

-When Kathleen Turner voiced the character Jessica Rabbit, she was nine months pregnant

-The exterior shots of Maroon Cartoon Studios were shot at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood. It was the former home of Desilu Productions

-Mel Blanc was in his 70s when this film was in production. He was no longer able to do the voices so Joe Alaskey took over for him. He is the only voice actor credited with Looney Tunes voices until his death in 2016. Blanc's co-star June Foray, who voices Lena and Wheezy, died a year after this film was released. It was two months shy of her 100th birthday

-The password (Walt sent me) to the Ink & Paint Club is a nod to Walt Disney

-In the opening cartoon, the bottle of chili sauce that fell had to be re-animated several times as British animators used the UK spelling of "chilli"

-The type of cigar Baby Herman smokes is a "double perfecto" (double meaning size, perfecto meaning the curved taper on both ends). Most real world cigars these days are cylindrical, like the Romeo y Julieta cigars Winston Churchill smoked. Most of the time, cartoon cigars are double perfectos

-Most of the animation was done in England at Richard Williams' studio. Some of the production and the Toontown scenes were done in Los Angeles

-The weasels are seen wearing zoot suits, which were popular in Los Angeles during the 1940s. They were often worn by people in the Hispanic communities and, due to repeated clashes with US servicemen, the Zoot Suit Riots erupted. As a result, zoot suits were associated with the criminal element of the city

-Joanna Cassidy, who plays Dolores, is a natural redhead. She dyed her hair brunette so as not to compete with Jessica Rabbit

-In Eddie Valiant's office, he has a black bird statue, which he puts his hat on. This is a nod to the film The Maltese Falcon, a big detective film

-Charles Grodin, Rowan Atkinson, Mickey Rourke, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase, Gene Hackman, Michael Biehn, Ed Harris, Michael Keaton were considered for the role of Eddie Valiant

-The film is supposed to take place in 1947 while the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit is dated forty one years later

-On the Toon Patrol, the weasel known as Smartass, his voice, provided by David Lander, was based on a mix of Jack Nicholson and Mickey Mouse while Charles Fleischer based Greasy's voice on a mix of Peter Lorre and Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface

-The dip that kills the toons is made from turpentine, acetone and benzene, which is used to remove images from cels

-John Cleese showed an interest in playing Judge Doom. But Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis had to refuse him for the role. They thought no one from the Monty Python films would be taken seriously as a villain

-The weasels' names are not mentioned in the movie. They are: Smartass (the leader with the hat), Psycho (in the straight jacket and spiky hair), Stupid (in the striped shirt and propeller beanie hat), Greasy (the one in the green zoot suit with dark looks and Latin accent), Wheezy (the blue smoker)

-This is only one of two other films where a main villain is run over with a steamroller and survives. The other film is A Fish Called Wanda (1988). In the film, Kevin Kline's overly political character is run over by a steam roller and survives