Amazing Black Book Interview

Ralph Bakshi on the ‘Fritz’
With a new book centered on his tumultuous life set for an early April release, the visionary illustrator returns from seclusion to sound off about his career and its discontents.

By Nick Haramis

imageRalph Bakshi, the legendary filmmaker behind Fritz the Cat, Coonskin, and The Lord of the Rings (no, not that one, although Peter Jackson did look to him for inspiration), hasn’t really spoken to the press since leaving Hollywood for his isolated hilltop house in New Mexico more than ten years ago—plenty of time to stew over his falling out with Fritz creator and comic book icon Robert Crumb, his longstanding grudge against Al Sharpton, and his discovery of someone named Brad Pitt. At the age of 70, Bakshi bites back.

BLACKBOOK: In the introduction to Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, Jon M. Gibson writes, “Ralph wasn’t without vices, but at least he was fair.” What does he mean by that?

RALPH BAKSHI: No one’s without vices. Did I take girls out while I was married? Did I hang out at bars? Did I take drugs once in a while? Sure. I’ve had a fun life, a full life… so I’m not sure what vice he’s talking about. I have as many vices as any asshole has, and I’m not going to fucking tell you what they are. [Laughs.] I have grandchildren now.

BB: You grew up very poor. Given the chance, would you have taken a ticket out?

RB: That’s a good question. I think being poor now is much more difficult than being poor then. Back then, no one was telling us that we were poor, that we needed more stuff. The kind of commercialism kids face today wasn’t apparent back then. We made our own toys—everyone did. We played with wooden guns, built our own skates. We sure didn’t need $260 fucking dollar sneakers to play basketball. If you wanted to play basketball, you went and robbed a ball and went to the park. We played in the streets from morning until night, and the city became a tremendous, beautiful playground of alleyways and fire escapes. The whole thing was so rich; I wouldn’t give it up for a second.

BB: Things have changed since you were last in New York. Are you prepared for the return?

RB: I’m anxious to come back. I’m in New Mexico now and it’s beautiful. I live in an old ranch on top of a mountain. There aren’t any billboards. There’s a reality here that I love. I used to prowl the Lower East Side of Manhattan, taking photographs on 2nd avenue. It’s all changed. I get the impression that it’s all gotten very upscale. Where do you go anymore for a cup of coffee and a cigarette if you only have $5?

image

BB: You once said that your family never judged people “because of the color of their skin or the slant of their eyes.” Was it a shock then, when after the release of Coonskin, you were labeled a racist?

RB: Was it a shock? No. Was I angry? Absolutely. I have to be careful with this, but… to my knowledge, people who are afraid of other races, who don’t understand other races, are very careful to be on their good side. They’re reluctant to deal with important issues. But every black kid who saw Coonskin thought it was great, and every rapper in the world thinks I’m the greatest.

BB: The KKK tried to recruit you after its release. Reverend Al Sharpton protested a screening. This must have been a difficult time.

RB: I called Sharpton a black middle-class fucking sell-out, and I’ll say it to his face. Al Sharpton is one of those guys who abused the revolution to support whatever it was he wanted. I haven’t spoken to him since his protest, but check with Spike Lee, check with black kids in general—I get emails that say, “You don’t know how great this is! How did you know what was going on?” In the museum [after a screening at the Museum of Modern Art], people didn’t want to follow Sharpton up the aisle. His own men! He was screaming to me on the podium and turning around to them, saying, “Are you guys coming up?” But they didn’t want to, because they loved the movie. But I’m not trying to defend Coonskin. Coonskin can defend itself at this point. Just talking about it brings back old memories, and I’m still mad.

BB: The principal of your high school once called you worthless.

RB: I was!

BB: This sentiment, being undervalued, must have followed you into the medium of illustration. When compared with traditional high art, I assume illustration might seem kind of frivolous to some. Has this made you even more determined to succeed?

RB: This is such an important question. The truth is, I walked away from Hollywood—no one threw me out. I never wanted to succeed in the sense that people wanted to succeed. It never even occurred to me that success was an issue. I wanted to find something that I loved, that I could be proud of, that could take up my time. I didn’t like the vacuum of not doing anything, so I turned to cartooning, then drawing, and then I got my first job at Terrytoons. I never for a minute thought, Ralph, you’re broke, and you can’t compete with Disney. Go out and do a commercial film. Go out and do Mary Poppins 2, Bugs Bunny 3—you could make fortunes. But, not caring about money or merchandising allowed me to extend the medium. I mean, I did Heavy Traffic, and that’s not at all a commercial picture: a Jewish mother trying to chop the Italian father’s balls off and a kid who never got laid. So, what I’m saying is, success isn’t why I work. Money isn’t why I work.

People throw away their lives today on that shit. I know guys in L.A. who have hundreds of millions of fucking dollars, and I think, when are you going to stop this shit? I mean, what are you doing here? Jeffrey Katzenberg still gets up at five in the morning to run this shit at DreamWorks, and gets 300 fucking million dollars for Shrek 5. What is that? He’s a billionaire, and he directs Shrek 5 and 6 and 7, like he’s trying to prove something. The short answer to your question is I don’t give a fuck.

BB: When you were younger, you befriended Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. It seems like they’re the kind of ambitious, commercial filmmakers you were just talking about.

RB: I don’t want to get too hard on them, because Coppola had some trouble with his kids, but yeah, you’re right. A lot of guys start making films because the salaries are so big that it’s hard to turn down, I guess. A lot of them start playing the game, or get scared to lose their clout. They’ll do anything to stay in their position. In L.A., unless you get the best table at the best restaurant, you feel like shit. That’s why I moved away. I couldn’t stand the agents and the lawyers and these people and their attitudes and their values and who they thought I was. They said, “Give up drawing, give up writing, hire guys, go commercial, do this, do that.” They said, “You could make a fortune, we could get rich.” I said, You want me to go in every morning and not draw, like Disney? You want me to go in every morning and not go in the back and fuck the girls anymore? So that’s why I finally walked. They didn’t want to do business with me and I didn’t want to do business with them.

BB: How do you think Fritz the Cat would have turned out if the studio heads at Warner Bros. had gotten their way?

RB: There’s a picture called The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, the sequel to my movie. If you want to see how Fritz would have turned out, look at that. It would have been this cat that, once in a while, said something hip, and then falls in love with some girl and chases her all over town. [Laughs.] You should have seen their faces in the screening room when I first screened a bit of Fritz. I’ll remember their faces until I die. One of them left the room. Holy hell, you should have seen his face. “Shut up, Frank! This is not the movie you’re allowed to make!” And I said, Bullshit, I just made it.

image

BB: Have you since spoken to Robert Crumb? There was a time when you were friendly, no?

RB: I’ve spoken to him a couple of times. He goes in so many directions that he’s hard to pin down. I spoke to him on the phone. We both had the same deal, five percent. They finally sent Crumb the money and not me. Crumb always gets what he wants, including that château of his in France.

BB: You once referred to him as being “slick,” but, to the general public, he seems anything but.

RB: That’s his thing! Crumb did a movie on himself called The Confessions of Robert Crumb, in which he yelled at me for doing Fritz the Cat. When he needed to become famous, he let someone take a camera into his house, while his mother was out of her mind, and he put all of that on film. His brother [Charles] killed himself shortly after that movie. What kind of guy is that? He has a château in France where he drinks wine every day, and is supposed to be in the underground. No one succeeds to the extent that Robert Crumb has without being slick. But to him, I’m just the guy that ruined Fritz the Cat. So, do I like Robert Crumb? No. I think he’s a hustler. I know he’s a hustler. I have no respect for Crumb. Is he a good artist? Yes, if you want to do the same thing over and over. He should have been my best friend for what I did with Fritz the Cat. I drew a good picture, and we both made out fine, and I’ll shut up because I was hoping you’d ask me about him. Why do I get this angry? I was thumbing through a book he put out just a few months ago, and of course, he’s yelling at me again, saying he feels sorry for me, saying that I’m the worst artist he’s ever met, saying that I ruined his cat.

BB: You said that Fritz could have been a better film with a $300 million budget. But it strikes me that these movies with extravagant budgets—Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield—are so terrible because of their bloated budgets.

RB: When you have a high budget, people are looking at you. Low budgets can be godsends for directors. Plus, with the number of people starving on this planet, it’s just wrong to spend that kind of money on films. When you have no money, no one’s looking at you, no one cares. No one cared when I was doing Fritz the Cat. Big budget films are filled with terror, filled with community consultations on all levels. But it’s too much money for one man to handle and I’m not a great believer in collaboration. I believe in a directed film, and the vision of a director.

BB: That’s a real shocker. Ralph Bakshi, not interested in test audiences and demographics?

RB: [Laughs.] Target audiences are fine and good if that’s the kind of guy you are, but that’s not how I grew up. I grew up not telling my mother where I was going. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was doing, and I didn’t want to know what others were doing. Look, you’re very young, so let me tell you about America. I grew up with Kerouac, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the real Greenwich Village where people really went to starve and loved it. That was part of the American dream that I loved. A lot of the comic book greats who drew at that time came out of that generation of immigrants. And, of course, drugs hadn’t corrupted our society at that point. You wouldn’t believe it, but in my day, only idiots smoked pot. If you smoked pot you were stupid, you were a moron, which isn’t to say that we didn’t take some hits on a Saturday night, but it wasn’t an issue that was prevalent in our lives. A good cigarette was all you needed. Now, you could argue that kids who don’t smoke pot are stupid.

image

BB: What is it about illustration as a medium that lends itself to candid explorations of race relations and sexuality?

RB: People don’t expect it. They’re getting used to it now, but when I first started doing it, people were totally disarmed. In other words, like shooting ducks in a barrel, they come to see a cartoon and instead of Bugs Bunny, it was like fuck you. I was able to discuss things in a way they had never seen before. I was able to lecture when I felt like lecturing because it was all coming out of my character’s mouth. It’s not like coming home late at night and your wife yelling at you for being drunk—there was nothing directly linking me to my audience. Illustration can do that.

BB: Were you disappointed by Cool World’s tepid reception?

RB: I’ll tell you the true story.

BB: I’d hope so.

RB: I wanted to make an R-rated horror film with Paramount. I had the idea that an underground cartoonist would have sex with a cartoon character and have the baby immediately. The baby would be half-alive and half-cartoon, and it would kill him because the father created the monster that he was. It has a lot to say about fathers and sons and different psychological things. Anyway, they bought that, but the script that I had written—that I still love very much—was thrown out and a PG script was written without my say.

BB: And didn’t you originally cast Drew Barrymore, before the studio eventually hired Kim Basinger for the role of Holli Would?

RB: I had wanted Drew Barrymore and Brad Pitt. Kim Basinger was too old for Brad—she wasn’t right. I said to one of the cartoonists, When Kim’s cartoon character comes to life, she’s going to be 10 years older! The wide and quick of it was that I stayed on because I needed the money and I had already hired all of my guys as animators, and I had a lot of fun on that side—which is lucky, because otherwise, it was a total fucking disaster. The whole thing was a debacle, and I haven’t made a film since.

BB: This was one of Brad Pitt’s first roles. Do you credit yourself with discovering him?

RB: Oh absolutely. You can check with Brad about this. He reminded me of James Dean, to tell you the truth. When he walked into the room, I was like, Holy shit. Robert Redford called me and said he was doing this western picture, and he’d heard about this guy Pitt that I used in a film, and could I show him footage? It’s very unusual to show another director uncut footage, but I thought it would be good for Pitt, so I said, Come on over, Redford. Come and take a look. Right after, Redford gave him A River Runs Through It. So, while I think he would have made it anyhow, I think I helped. Brad was a wonderful guy and gave me everything he had.

BB: Everyone from Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee to Peter Jackson and Matt Groening claim to have been heavily influenced by your work. How would you like to be remembered as an artist?

RB: You do something because you love it, and you do it with everything you’ve got. And then you die. What you leave behind doesn’t matter. How much money you make doesn’t matter. What people think of you doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is how you spend every fucking day of your life, how you feel about yourself—and not in the narcissistic, egotistical way. It doesn’t matter how I’m remembered, because I’ll remember everything myself. I’ve drawn every day of my life since high school and that’s a pure victory. I’m able to eat. I have hot dogs and I’m not starving. I live in a decent home on top of a mountain. I give my thanks, and I’m not angry anymore. The only person I’m angry with is Robert Crumb. He’s been on my back for too long. Tell him to get off it.

RSVP TO: 1-800-303-4848

Download file

A Very Early Tolkien Doodle from the '60's - Long Before Ralph knew Rings would be made...

Early Wizards Pen & Ink

Ralph

So, the book is on the way next year. That may start to get the ball rolling on other projects as well. Bakshi is still busily painting away in his studio. (just the way he likes it)

I did this interview with Ralph back in March and since then he has also said some things related to his thoughts in this interview in two opinion posts at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive blog. HERE, and HERE

Remember to send us all Ralph Bakshi related info you find that you haven't heard from us to rabbitATralphbakshiDOTcom. You may see it on the blog or myspace page. (with credit or anonymous)

Here's the interview.
(questions quoted from ralphbakshi.com/forum/ as well as www.myspace.com/ralphbakshi)

~~~~~

Interview #10 Conducted 3/14/07 ~ 12:00 PM

BR:
Question from kurtamayaguy -
Does Ralph have any comments regarding sketching characters on a Tablet computer using sketch software like Alias Sketch, Mirage, or whatever ..vs... doing it the good old pencil/paper way?

Bakshi:
Once you get used to it, you get used to it. I'm used to the old fashioned way. The good old fashioned way has proven itself. There's a difference drawing on tablets. You'd have to know if it was the right method for you. It really doesn't matter how you get it on the screen as long as you like the results. It's always a question of personal taste. I would find it hard to use a tablet as I'm used to paper. People who start with tablets, that like what they see, that is what they should do. Paper has a standing, over the history of animation. Paper did ok, now can tablets?

BR:
Question from chbrubaker -
I've heard rumors that you did the opening for the US version of "8th Man." Is this true?

Bakshi:
No.

BR:
Question from Mike -
What are Ralph Bakshi's favourite novels? The ones that most influenced him? And what books did he enjoy when he was in his teens?

Bakshi:
On the Road... Before that A Stone for Danny Fisher... The Amboy Dukes, about the streets of Brooklyn. Very obscure book. You asked me a question; I'm giving you very obscure answers. (laughs)

BR:
Question from time4akshun -
Would love a best guess as to what voices Bakshi himself actually did in his several animated films. I heard him alot in Coonskin (Simple Savior, Zingarelli Looking Cop) and in Heavy Traffic (Lingerie Factory scene) but would love a definitive answer of voiceovers he has personally done in his animated films. Or at least as best as he can remember!

Bakshi:
Um… Hmmm… It was very random, I don't really remember too well. Let's see… "Heavy Traffic", the guy that Michael kills. Also, a voice over during the garment district scene. In Fritz I was the cop. They come up here and there.

I'm very much into natural voices. I knew I wasn't a great actor. I was very much into, in those days, how a real person talks. Not how a guy who does voices for cartoons talks. In "Coonskin" I loved Barry White and Charles Gordone. Whenever I shot off my mouth I knew it was real and real was what I was looking for. That's the way Charley [Charles Adler] talked. Charley was sensational. God bless him. Funny guy.

THE STATE OF ANIMATION TODAY:

The state of animation today is in total disarray. I've been too nice for too long.

I am watching tv and seeing the same old tired cgi animal characters doing the same old tired stuff time and time again. When I came into this business in 1955 all the UPA and all the modern design, stylization for the sake of stylization was going on everywhere. Animator's weren't caring about story.

When I was working we tried to create something worthwhile. Style wasn't what animation was about, it was about content. Same was true in comics and painting. People finding their own voices.

The state of animation today is right back where it started everyone's talking about style and noone's talking about content. Noone's making anything that's worth anything. And I'm getting mad. You don’t have to make a picture like me. But everyone is making rehashes. Dreamworks pictures are absolutely disgusting. Television work is all stupid. Everyone's copying John K. Copying everything that's happened before.

I'm just waiting for someone to use the technology in some new way and make an amazing story. With all this equipment all these computers at your service how can you not put them to good use?

Academy awards being given to films that weren't even animated. Happy Feet my ass! With everything that's going on today, Global Warming, War and you're making your stupid little pictures about nothing? I've waited and I'm now getting angry. I'm letting you guys know that through my site, because I think you can change things.

I don't want to see a buncha animal character's break out of a zoo. What the hell are you doing out there? The world is falling apart?

And I know the guys that are trying to do that work are getting heard. John K got heard, I got heard.

The structure of the big companies, paying the young rebels to create shit just doesn’t work. UPA, Cartoon Network, everything looks the same. I'm disgusted. I just wish they'd raise the bar and I'd help them if they asked.

I’m really really trying. People are very angry at me in Hollywood. A lot of the companies don't want this to happen.
I snuck in the first time (laughs) and this time they see me coming. These people are stopping me at every turn.

I'm very much behind younger people and they have much better ideas than older people. But that doesn't mean I won't keep trying to do better and try to making stories that I really feel. I'll keep trying. Will you?

Who cares about Terrytoons. That's what they were talking about when I first came into the industry. Their time is over, it's time for something new.

Basically I've been reading so much on the internet. I'm sure there are things out there that I don't know about.
As far as the people running American animation right now, their selling the old stuff again now. It's like "Heavy Traffic" and "Coonskin" never happened.

On the 23rd and 24th they are playing "Coonskin" at Beverly Cinema. Tarantino is showing his favorite films. People should go and have a good time.

The book, Art of Ralph Bakshi is coming. The deal is closed and I'm gonna make another pass at filming a film. Maybe this time someone will listen.

BR:
Question from White Boy-
did bakshi ever drop acid?

Bakshi:
None of your business.

Listen... I'm a grandfather with 10 grandkids, I have them to think about. Next question?

BR:
MCPlatinum-
In Cool World, Was the theme of Frank abstaining from sex and Jack giving in to his lust an example of how the moral values of the newer generations have disappeared? Frank Harris being an old school "good guy" from the 40's that tries to do the right thing and Jack being the new generation of people who gives into temptation? Finally, after years of waiting Frank can "do it" with Lonette because he turned into a doodle. Is this an example of how to be patient and to get married before you have sex? And the people who rush into things will suffer the consequences? (i.e, getting someone pregnant or getting a sexually transmitted disease.)

I understand your original script of a man who has sex with a cartoon chick and has a half breed child was never used. Your original script touching on the subject of father responsibility. I'm just wondering since you were not able to use that script that you had something to do with the [use] of [the] old vs. new generation theme and their stand on moral values.

Bakshi:
Yes, huge part of the film, fathers and sons and kids. I snuck that one in there. You never squeak stuff in if you're not in total control. There's no magic bullet that's gonna do it. The quality of animation is no substitute for ideas. There's no reason to spend that much money on an animated feature.

BR:
Question from John Pannozzi-
Why don't you help make a Ralph Bakshi video game in the style of the Grand Theft Auto series, but set in the universe of Heavy Traffic, Coonskin, Hey Good Lookin', etc.

Bakshi:
That's a good fuckin idea. I didn't think of it. When I was doing films there was no such fucking thing. Sure I want to do that. Ok, why not. *

BR:
Question from HandBehind-
[Regarding "Wizards" composer Andrew Belling] Wonder if he would be considered for Wizards II?

Bakshi:
Yes he would. I would use him in a heartbeat.

BR:
Question from Matthew-
A number of us had been discussing how much we loved the 1978 LOTR, pining for the sequel, and so on. Then someone mentioned having gone to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade that year, and seeing a float with Mt. Doom and a bunch of ringwraiths on horseback. Are there any photos of this???

Bakshi:
I didn't do it. Maybe Saul Zaentz did? (www.zaentz.com)

~~~~~

* This has been proposed to Newgrounds.com. Send them emails if you want to see a flash game.

* If you are in the game programming industry and want to send us some examples of what you can do, contact projectsATralphbakshiDOTcom.

A Place to Direct Your Questions + Older Interview Links:
Interview Links

Remember you can ask questions that may be included in a future interview by:
1) Joining the forum (contact rabbitATralphbakshiDOTcom to join the forum)
2) Posting or sending a message via the myspace page www.myspace.com/ralphbakshi
3) Emailing Brother Rabbit (rabbitATralphbakshiDOTcom)

Lot's of new videos on the MySpace page too if you haven't seen them, definitely check'em out.
www.myspace.com/RalphBakshi

Check'em out HERE.

If you guys find any interesting Bakshi related things to post here and/or our MySpace page, please let us know info [at] ralphbakshi [dot] com

**To Comment on this or any other Blog Post, please Click HERE**

If you guys find anything interesting to post here and/or our MySpace page, please let us know info [at] ralphbakshi [dot] com

**To Comment on this or any other Blog Post, please Click HERE**

Bakshi's ASIFA-Hollywood CGI Post I

A thank you to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive and Steve Worth for his efforts to get Ralph Bakshi to the people.

Also, if you haven't seen it check out some great doodles by Bakshi:

Bakshi Phone Doodles

**To Comment on this or any other Blog Post, please Click HERE**

These have been on the back burner for awhile, but it's time to bring you all the interviews I've been hording and get some new questions from everyone.

~~~~~

Interview #9 Conducted 2/8/07 ~ 12:00 PM

BR:
What's the last thing you saw, read or heard that really inspired you?

Bakshi:
(laughter) Oh fuck. Trick question. We'll have to come back to that one.

(skip to sometime into the interview when I posed the first question again)
Animation on television is incredible. I went back and watched Steamboy again, after we talked about it last time. I don't believe some of the great scenes in there. What they're doing in animation today is amazing. I don't know if it's inspiring or awesome or just overdone. What the tech has allowed is quite extraordinary, beyond my wildest dreams.

My God. I mean Fantasia was the height of technology in my day. Look what's going on now.

Pretty much. There's nothing that turns me on to the degree when I was younger. Things seem messier.

Also, very much into what's happening to this country in the Iraq war. We're not taking care of any other business right now. War seems to have a strange effect on people that way.

BR:
Actually I sent out a bulletin on your MySpace page with the title "Something to think about," which was a video related to the damage that's occurring in Iraq, and highlighting many of the suicide bomber's victims. I received quite a few responses that were saying thanks for the message and that people had been thinking about the realities of war due to the bulletin.

I received one message however that said, "It makes me think about how the towel heads are getting what they deserve." It blew me away and was entirely unexpected. I guess I just assumed that people who like your films would understand the intent of the bulletin. I didn't respond, because I was speaking for you and the site, and I try to stay mostly away from politics, religion and personal opinion.

Bakshi:
Anytime you get into politics you get some interesting people commenting.

When I made Coonskin I had a bunch of southern racists that thought I was their friend. I picked up all these rightwing idiots who didn't understand the messages in the film. You never know what's coming over the wire. Expect everything.
(rewind to an earlier portion of the interview)

BR:
Any chance we'll see DVD's for New Adventures of Mighty Mouse or Tattertown?

Bakshi:
Tattertown should definitely have a DVD sometime. We've got Rizzoli publishing the Art of Ralph Bakshi going. The deal was set today and yesterday. I finally let'em know that I was part of the book. (laughs)

BR:
Question from dnvillalpando -
I've heard that you had a falling-out with Saul Zaentz. Is that true? If so, what happened? If not, do you keep in contact at all, being that you were both so instrumental to each other's early successes?

Bakshi:
Pass on that one.

BR:
Question from HunterRose -
Have you ever thought of doing a comic book/graphic novel series not connected to any of your movies?

Bakshi:
Yes. I've been drawing one. Maybe a couple pages on it so far. It's called Bayridge Blues. It's about the misfits that run around Brooklyn. It's in pure comic format. All the misfits. People who haven't a clue about what's real. Us looking in on them, we don’t believe what they're doing. I love a lot of them though. They're funny and peculiar. Michael's father was one of'em. Having a good time and not thinking of much else.

I also work on poems a lot. Just like the art book, I never know where new material is going to come from.

The realization that I've got to commit to a book has taken over the majority of my time. Finding all the pictures and drawings, deciding which to use. I like this picture and I don't think this one will work well. I want this to represent Hey Good Lookin'. But you're leaving so much out that can't fit and wondering if you made the right decision. Once you do a book it's there forever. It's not as easy to decide what to include as I expected. I have to have a commitment to what I like.

BR:
Question from Doc -
[C]an we see some stuff from Coney Island?

Bakshi:
Sure. I'll ask Tia. No reason not to put up Coney. Not really. With the book finally complete sometime, I'll get into a rotation of completing deals. Who knows what will come up with the book on the shelves? Meanwhile I keep drawing and painting and enjoying myself.

If I sound like I'm not doing anything that's not true. I'm drawing and painting all the time. At least it feels to me like I'm working. (laughs) It may not seem like it. I'm working very hard. I seem a little lackadaisical. Everyday I'm getting up and designing. Definitely staying busy, except for not throwing enough on the big screen. Maybe one day it'll happen.

BR:
Definitely hoping it's sooner than later.

Question from cbrubaker -
I was wondering if you knew Gene Deitch during your years at Terrytoons.

Bakshi:
Very well. In fact we've been emailing recently. He lives in the Czech Republic nowadays. He moved away from the country in the 60's. He's been animating overseas, I think in Czech. When I had my first job, Gene had taken over Terrytoons as creative director.

Gene set in motion all the modern new character designers at Terrytoons. Jules Pfeiffer and Ernie Pintoff were brought in. They were from a very big studio in the 50's, UPA (Mr. Magoo). Gene came out of that studio.

He was trying to change Terrytoons into a modern design studio like UPA. He and the older guys (Bill Wise, etc) got into a fight. They resented Gene. And there's Ralph, opaquing cells while a huge battle is going on. I had many conversations with Dietch. He had me freelancing for him.

He was very sincere with what he wanted to do. It was all very modern and no one at Terrytoons wanted to do that so they fired him. CBS that had bought Terrytoons had hired him. The older guys felt that the studio didn't care about them. I think it was wrongful resentment. I love the older guys but I don't think they were right about Gene.

He went to New York and opened up his own commercial studio. Then to Europe to make films. And he's been there ever since. He did some wonderful things.

He's got to be 80 years old or better. I'm shocked that he's still working. We just talk about the good old days. He remembers me quite clearly. Lots of nostalgia between two old men. (pauses as if in deep thought)

BR:
Question from cbrubaker -
I was wondering. Is it true that you got into an argument with one of the producers for "Heavy Traffic", and they wanted to fire you and get Chuck Jones to take over, only to stay anyway because Jones declined the offer?

Bakshi:
That's right. There was a huge fight with Steve. The fight was not my fault, quite extraordinarily. It was the same thing that happened on Fritz with Krantz, and Traffic. I had to put up with others in control until I went out on my own. I wasn't getting anything financially, so I sold Coonskin to Paramount on my own. Krantz resented that and fired me from Traffic, then offered it to Chuck Jones. I was in the middle of the picture by the way. And Jones turned it down, so the movie company put me back to work and I finished my picture.

BR:
Question from kurtamayaguy -
what would be the --biggest-- thing you'd like to revisit and change in [Cool World], IF you could do so?

Bakshi:
(Hoooo-Hoo-Ha-Ha)
Biggest thing? I'd recast it. Gabriel Byrne was good, but didn't quite fit the character. And Basinger wasn't who I pictured for Holli at all. I'd leave Brad Pitt.

I'd definitely get more of my original script. A lot of people love Cool World. I'm not surprised at that. I could keep my mouth shut and take credit. The work that was done was amazing, but the end result was not the film I had wanted to make. It's not what animation could do. Not that it's not a decent picture. But that question of what animation should do.

I would have made it Horror and R rated. That's what hurts me the most. I really wanted to do an animated horror film. Stephen King would be beautiful to animate. I thought when I sold the script I had my horror film.

BR:
Question from Sid Barnhoorn -
How was it working with [William] Kraft? (composer of Fire & Ice Soundtrack) Did you do a screening and talk about the film and after that he worked the whole thing out? How did you both get the idea for him to write such a serious orchestral work? Was it already in your thoughts?

Bakshi:
I don't remember how he showed up. I thought the music was fine. Whoever did it did a great job. Maybe next time you call I'll answer better.

BR:
Question from Cool World Fan -
Mr. Bakshi, What was the special effect that you purchased out of your own pocket for the movie Cool World?

Bakshi:
I forget. At the time special effects weren't that mind boggling. We didn't have a huge budget so I paid for some effects out of pocket.

BR:
Question from mystepho -
I recently bought the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings - Limited Collector's Edition Picture Discs and just have some questions about them:

How many was made? (not likely that there is knowledge about it, but I take the risk of asking it anyway Wink)
What is the estimated value?

Bakshi:
I don't even know. What is it? Have the person send you some info or images that will help me figure it out, then maybe I'll have an answer.

BR:
Now for the obligatory "Do you like/Have you seen?" question.

Do you like/Have you seen Mystery Science Theater?

Bakshi:
What is that?

BR:
Old, mostly black and white B-movies with three guys doing voices overdubbed? It was on TV for a long time, and now they have a different setup where you purchase an MP3 track and play it on your computer while watching a cop of the DVD. They have one for the live action Lord of the Rings film that you'd probly find humorous.

Bakshi:
Oh yes, very funny, hysterical program. I watched it a few times while it was on television.

Ok, go get some work done. (laughs) (this is his customary sign-off statement to me)

~~~~~

To see earlier Interviews Or Ask Your Own Questions Go Here:
Exclusive Interview Links

All questions from others are quoted. Please remember when asking them to spell check

 Interviewed by Brother Rabbit
 The RalphBakshi.com Crew

**To Comment on this or any other Blog Post, please Click HERE**

**To Comment on this or any other Blog Post, please Click HERE**