The Music Clan of Newman

Many of Disney’s best-known films are musicals. There are, however, several films produced by Disney that are not musicals, yet still have entertaining songs and background scores as non-diegetic elements of the stories, i.e. Toy Story (1995), Monsters, Inc. (2001), and Finding Nemo (2003). For each of those films, Disney has hired a great deal of talented people who have also applied their talents to major Hollywood Blockbuster films as well, and one such person is Randy Newman.

Coming from a family of musicians, Randy Newman was hired by Pixar to compose the music for “Toy Story,” Pixar Animation Studios’s very first collaboration with Disney. Newman received two Academy Award nominations for his work on “Toy Story,” including Best Original Score and Best Original Song, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” Thanks to the success of “Toy Story,” Newman was hired by Disney to compose for James and the Giant Peach (1996), which also earned him another Best Original Score Oscar Nomination. 

He was rehired by Pixar to score A Bug’s Life (1998), and Toy Story 2 (1999). For “A Bug’s Life,” he received another Best Original Score Oscar Nomination and for “Toy Story 2,” he got a Best Original Song Nomination for the song, “When She Loved Me.” Finally, after a total of 15 nominations (including his nominations for the previous Pixar films, as well as for films like Parenthood (1989), The Paper (1994) and Pleasantville (1998)) Randy Newman won an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song for the song “If I Didn’t Have You,” from the movie, Monsters, Inc. (2001). He got another nomination that same year for his score for the same film. Newman also scored Cars (2006), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Monsters University (2013). For “Toy Story 3,” Newman won a second Best Original Song Oscar for the song “We Belong Together.” He is currently attached to score Cars 3 (2017) and Toy Story 4 (2018).

Randy Newman’s cousin, Thomas Newman, has also scored a variety of Disney films. He received Best Original Score Oscar Nominations for scoring Finding Nemo (2003), Wall-E (2008). He also composed for Disney’s recent live-action biopic, Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and this year’s Finding Dory (2016). Thomas Newman was Disney’s original choice to score Wreck-It Ralph (2012), but he was unable to do so due to his commitments with the James Bond film, Skyfall (2012). Unlike his cousin, Thomas Newman never won an Oscar despite a total of thirteen Academy Award Nominations.. He also scored films like The Shawshank Redemption (1994), American Beauty (1999), and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).

Thomas Newman’s older brother, David Newman, is another talented composer who has done the music for a variety of Disney films. David Newman scored Frankenweenie (1984) which is a short produced by the studio that was directed by Tim Burton, as well as The Brave Little Toaster (1987), DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990), The Mighty Ducks (1992), and 102 Dalmatians (2000). David Newman earned one Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score for the movie Anastasia (1997), which was directed by former Disney Animator, Don Bluth. David Newman also scored the beloved sports classic, The Sandlot (1993) and several classic Eddie Murphy films, including The Nutty Professor (1996), Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (2000), Dr. Doolittle 2 (2001), Daddy Day Care (2003), and Norbit (2007).

Music is a gift that clearly runs in all the Newmans and will continue to do so for years to come. And they each have received some well-deserved accolades for their work. While each of these composers have written music for non-musicals, their music has similar potential to be remembered by the public as music from a musical would. Just like the Sherman Brothers and Alan Menken, the Newmans have written a great deal of memorable music.   

Shakespeare’s Love for Disney

On December 11th, 1998, Miramax Studios and Universal Studios released the movie, Shakespeare in Love, to limited theaters. The film was nationally released on January 8th, 1999. The movie was a success critically, publicly and financially, and won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Several of the cast members of “Shakespeare in Love,” have intriguing connections to the Walt Disney Studios. 

Gwyneth Paltrow received the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance as Viola De Lesseps in “Shakespeare in Love.” Prior to that, Paltrow starred in the Touchstone Pictures film Duets (1995) and she currently plays Virginia “Pepper” Potts in Marvel’s Iron Man Franchise (2008-2013) and The Avengers (2012).

Geoffrey Rush received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for his performance as Philip Henslowe in “Shakespeare in Love.” In 2003, Rush portrayed Captain Hector Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and voiced Nigel the Pelican in Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Rush has reprised his role as Barbossa for each of the “Pirates,” sequels Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At World’s End (2007), On Stranger Tides (2011), and will do so again for the upcoming 5th installment in the “Pirates” series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

Judi Dench won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her 8-minute performance as Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love.” Dench provided the voice of Mrs. Calloway the Cow in Home on the Range (2004), is the current narrator for Spaceship Earth at Epcot in Walt Disney World, and she also made a cameo as a wealthy woman in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” (Dench also reunited with “Shakespeare in Love,” director, John Madden for the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)).

Tom Wilkinson played Hugh Fennyman in “Shakespeare in Love.” For Disney, Wilkinson played Latham Cole in The Lone Ranger (2013). Like Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson also starred in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” 

Colin Firth portrayed Lord Wessex in “Shakespeare in Love.” Firth voiced Fred, Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew in Disney’s 2009 adaptation of A Christmas Carol and is currently attached to star in the upcoming sequel to Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Returns (2018). (Firth also reunited with Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech (2010) which earned them both Oscar Nominations for their performances; Firth for Best Actor and Rush for Best Supporting Actor. Firth won.)

Imelda Staunton played the role of the Nurse in “Shakespeare in Love.” Staunton voice the Tall Flower Faces in Disney’s live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010) and played Knotgrass in Maleficent (2014). Staunton played Delores Umbridge in the Harry Potter film series (2001-2011). 

Rupert Everett played Christopher Marlowe in “Shakespeare in Love.” For Disney, Everett played Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget (1999) and voiced the fox in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005).

Mark Williams acted the role of Wabash in “Shakespeare in Love.” Williams played Horace in Disney’s live-action adaptation of 101 Dalmatians (1996). Like Staunton, Mark Williams played Mr. Arthur Weasley in “Harry Potter.”

“Shakespeare in Love,” is currently #50 on American Film Institute’s list of 100 Passions. The film also received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (Paltrow also received a SAG Award and a Golden Globe Award for performance. Dench was nominated for both awards, but lost. Dench did, however, receive a British Academy Film Award for her performance.) In nearly two decades since its release “Shakespeare in Love,” remains a great achievement for each of the actors who were in it, as well as its team of producers, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman, David Parfitt, and Donna Gigliotti.

Candid about Enchanted

Throughout the history of the Walt Disney Studios, incredible forms of technology have been introduced to the world that have never ceased to amaze film audiences. From the “Ink and Paint,” style on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), to the Xerox Process on 101 Dalmatians (1961), to the “live actors in an animated background” style on Mary Poppins (1964), to the very first computer-animated movie Toy Story (1995), Disney has innovated to produce exciting new movies. In 2007, Disney produced their first feature-length movie-musical that was the reverse of “Mary Poppins.” “Enchanted,” instead brought to life animated characters in a live-action background. While the same techniques had been applied to the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) nearly 20 years earlier, “Enchanted,” was the first movie-musical consisting of those techniques. “Enchanted,” has several remarkable connections to other Disney films, and I thought we could explore those today.

The film tells the story of Princess Giselle (played by Amy Adams), how falls in love with Prince Edward (played by James by Marsden) in the animated kingdom of Andalasia. But she gets forced out of the kingdom by the evil Queen Narissa (played by Susan Sarandon) and falls down a wishing well where she ends up in the colorful, yet sophisticated, New York City.  There she falls in love with lawyer, Robert Philip (played by Patrick Dempsey).  It didn’t win any awards, but it was a huge hit with audiences.

Alan Menken, composer of “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and many other Disney classics, reunited with lyricist/good friend Stephen Schwartz to compose the songs for “Enchanted.” Schwartz collaborated with Menken on the songs for “Pocahontas,” and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Schwartz and Menken received 3 Oscar Nominations for their work on “Enchanted,” for the songs: “Happy Working Song,” “That’s How You Know,” and “So Close.” The film also received 2 Golden Globe Nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy for Amy Adams and Best Original Song “That’s How You Know.”

Some interesting trivia about the movie: 

In addition to Amy Adams playing Princess Giselle, the film featured cameos by other actresses who have voiced Disney Princesses: Jodie Benson, best known throughout the world as the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), played Sam, Robert’s secretary in “Enchanted.” Paige O’Hara who voiced Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991) played Angela, a soap opera character who is seen in the hotel room where Prince Edward is flipping through the television channels and comes to a soap opera parodying “Beauty and the Beast.” Judy Kuhn who provided the singing voice of Pocahontas in Pocahontas (1995) played the pregnant woman with kids in the scene where Prince Edward goes in search of Giselle. 

Idina Menzel, who would later go on to voice Queen Elsa in Frozen (2013), played Nancy Tremaine, Robert’s fiancé, who interestingly was named after Cinderella’s stepmother, Lady Tremaine, from Cinderella (1950).

Timothy Spall who played Nathaniel, Queen Narissa’s right-hand-man, went on to voice Bayard the Bloodhound in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016). (In both those films, Johnny Depp portrayed the Mad Hatter. Depp co-starred with Spall in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)). 

Kevin Lima, who directed “Enchanted,” has worked on a variety of animated and live-action films for Disney. Lima worked as a character designer on Oliver and Company (1988) and “The Little Mermaid,” and directed A Goofy Movie (1995), Tarzan (1999), and 102 Dalmatians (2000). In “Enchanted,” Lima also provided the voice of Pip the Chipmunk in the New York Scenes.

Julie Andrews of Mary Poppins (1964) fame, narrated “Enchanted.” In the “That’s How You Know,” sequence there is an elderly man dancing in the background who played a chimney sweep in “Mary Poppins.” 

In the scene where Edward is searching for Giselle on the New York tourist busses, there is a scene with a poster for Superman Returns (2006) in the background which starred James Marsden who plays “Enchanted’s” Prince Edward. In that same scene, there is also a poster for the Broadway musical Wicked, which starred Idina Menzel in the original cast.

A couple more fun notes:

Queen Narissa turns into a dragon at the very end of the movie, just like Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Before Giselle and Edward go on their “date” in New York, there is a brief moment where Edward is looking at his reflection in his sword and grins into it, just like Gaston does in the “Belle” sequence in “Beauty and the Beast.”

“Enchanted,” truly is one of Disney’s most unique films. There are currently plans for a possible sequel to the film at Disney, which is to be titled Disenchanted. The special technology of this film helps continue Disney’s magical legacy of family entertainment.