The 200th Post!

I can’t begin to express how much it means that you readers to take time out of your Sundays to read my blog. I submitted my first two blog posts, my introductory post and my first official post on Ben Wright (voice of Roger in 101 Dalmatians (1961) and Grimsby in The Little Mermaid (1989)) on May 25th, 2015, which means that by tomorrow it will have been five years since I started writing this blog which is very hard to believe! 

Looking back on this epic journey, I know I have had a ball with every post that I’ve written. On some pieces I wrote information on subjects that I’ve known about for quite a while, and on others I wrote things that I didn’t discover until I researching them. Amazingly, a lot of those pieces got more reads than I ever could have expected—and in honor of the fact that today will be my 200th post—I thought we could re-explore what made those pieces interesting. Here are the “top-read” blogs from the last five years:  

On March 24th, 2019, I posted the blog “Women Directors: Great Work for a Long Time.” In that blog, I explored how women directors have been directing movies for almost as long as men, but haven’t always received the attention they deserved. From Penny Marshall (dir. of Big (1988), A League of Their Own (1992)), to Nora Ephron (dir. of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998)) to Greta Gurwig (dir. of Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019)), moviegoers benefit greatly from their contributions, and I’m encouraged that female directors are starting to have an equal voice in the movie-making industry. 

On September 30th, 2018, I posted a piece called  “Maurice Chevalier: The Real Lumiere.” This blog acknowledged the legacy of Maurice Chevalier, who was a popular entertainer in both France and America. He appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s (MGM’s) Gigi (1958) and Disney’s In Search of the Castaways (1962) and Monkey’s Go Home (1967) and—my personal favorite— he sang the opening title song in The Aristocats (1970). And after his passing his trademark “boater hat, tuxedo, and cane,” look served as the inspiration for the character of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast (1991).  

On March 31st, 2019, I we looked at “Carl and Rob: Like Father, Like Son.” This blog was about the legacies of Carl and Rob Reiner, who have both written and/or produced/directed television shows and films that have made us laugh. Carl gave us The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and the films The Thrill of It All (1963) and Enter Laughing (1967) while Rob broke ground inventing the “mockumentary” genre with This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and then The Princess Bride (1987) and When Harry Met Sally (1989) which he collaborated with Nora Ephron. Few father and son pairs bring that kind of magic to screens. 

On August 24th, 2018, I published the blog “Joe Johnston: Visual Effects Turned Directing Wizard,” a blog telling the story of Joe Johnston, a man who began his career as a storyboard artist on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and provided the final designs for the characters of Boba Fett and Yoda, along with the vehicles: “Millennium Falcon, X-Wings, Y-Wings, Imperial Star Destroyer, Death Star, and the AT-AT’s.” He also was on the visual effects design team for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) which won him and the rest of the team a well deserved Oscar. He ultimately worked his way up to directing, and started that part of his career, directing Disney’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and The Rocketeer (1991). No doubt he is a true movie-making wizard.

It has been incredible these last five years getting to share these bits of information to you readers. Whether you have read all 200 of my posts, or just some of them, I will be forever grateful you all for reading them and I look forward to sharing more information with you in the future. Thanks again!

John Lounsbery: Disney’s Funniest Animator

Some of my earlier blogs have explored Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” The “Nine Old Men,” were handpicked to do artwork at the Walt Disney Studios and their exceptional skills helped each of them rise to being the top nine animators at the studio, each of whom left their own legacy at the studio. They also maintained close friendships with Walt Disney throughout his life and several continued working for the studio after Walt’s unfortunate passing on December 15th, 1966. Throughout my blog, we’ve explored the stories and legacies of all but one of the “Nine Old Men,” and I thought we could explore his story today. His name is John Lounsbery.

John Lounsbery was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 9th, 1911, though he was raised in Denver, Colorado. He attended East Denver High School and the Art Institute of Denver. He later relocated again to Los Angeles where he attended the ArtCenter College of Design. While attending there, he had an instructor tell him that Walt Disney was looking for artists and sent him to a job interview. He officially became a Disney employee on July 2nd, 1935 and started his career at the studio as an assistant animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). He was mentored under Norm Ferguson who was known at Disney for his creative use of broad, physical movements to suggest acting and personality for characters instead of inner emotions.

John Lounsbery applied that technique to animating characters such as J. Worthington Foulfellow and his sidekick Gideon in Pinocchio (1940). This effort promoted him to film sequence director and next he directed the sequences between Dumbo and his friend Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo (1941). He also applied this technique to short films, such as Society Dog Show (1939), and Donald’s Dog Laundry (1940). One of John Lounsbery’s all time favorite Disney characters to animate was Pluto. He was inspired to like Pluto because his mentor, Norm Ferguson, also known at the studio as “Fergy,” also was a fan of Pluto. They liked Pluto because they both thought the character’s thinking process and personality was appealing and fascinating. Lounsbery disliked that Pluto was given more human traits in shorts later produced at the studio. “Pluto was pure dog,” he said. “That’s the way Fergy conceived him.”

John Lounsbery became popular at the studio for directing animated sequences that in a sense, featured slapstick comedy. He directed Donald Duck and his friends, Jose and Panchito, in The Three Caballeros (1944), the Wolf in the “Peter and the Wolf” sequence in Make Mine Music (1946) and Mickey Mouse, Jiminy Cricket, and Willie the Giant in Fun and Fancy Free (1947). In the 1950s, he directed the sequences with the Mice, Cat, Dog, and Horse in Cinderella (1950), the Flowers in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Tony and Joe’s funny exchange pre-the “Bella Notte” sequence in Lady and the Tramp (1955) as well as King Stefan and King Hubert’s drinking argument in Sleeping Beauty (1959). He directed the barn scene in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) in which the barn animals help the dalmatians evade Horace and Jasper and kick the two crooks off to the side.

Overall, Lounsbery said he preferred just regular character animation and didn’t enjoy directing. He continued character animation on the Goofy short Aquamania (1961) and the farm animals in Mary Poppins (1964). In the ‘70s he was promoted yet again to directing both short films and feature lengths. His short directorial debut was Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), and he directed the features The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and The Rescuers (1977), collaborating with Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, who was another one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” Suddenly, John Lounsbery died tragically due to heart failure during surgery on February 13th, 1976 at the age of 64.

Edward Hansen, who was a production manager and administrator for Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1952-1984 said that “Even in the thick of production, John would always put down the pencil to talk to you. We saw Lounsbery as a god who occupied a place in animation as high as you could get.” It really is a shame that John Lounsbery didn’t live a very long life, but each of his contributions to Disney are humorous and endearing and it’s even more refreshing to know that he was also a kind, generous man.    

S. Ann Sullivan: Someone to Notice

Throughout the history of the Walt Disney Studios, there have been many “unsung” talents. From painter Tyrus Wong, captured feelings in his background paintings for Bambi (1942) to actress Verna Felton who was re-hired by the studio more than any other actor to lend her voice to various animated movies (i.e. Dumbo (1941), Cinderella (1950), The Jungle Book (1967), there were many others who contributed wonderful things for the work of the studio. Unless you read all of the end credits, you never even saw their names. One who deserves some attention is Sara “S.” Ann Sullivan. 

Sara Ann McNeese was born on April 10th, 1929 in Fargo, North Dakota. As an adult, she relocated with her sister to California intent on pursuing a career as a painter. She enrolled at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California where she ultimately graduated and afterwards, was fortunate enough to land a job in the animation paint lab at Disney Studios as a cel painter (who is someone who draws objects on paper and applies them to celluloid, or “cel” as it’s known in the industry). Not long after working on her first film, Peter Pan (1953), she left her job and married Kevin Sullivan, starting a family which would grow to include four children: two daughters, Shannon and Liz, and two sons, Joe and Tom. Sadly, her marriage dissolved in the early 1970s, but she was determined to get back to work at Disney.

She originally restarted her career at Hanna-Barbera productions and painted cels for the short film Freedom 2000 (1974) and the show The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977-1978). Ultimately, she was rehired by Disney in the mid-1980s and began working in the paint lab again on cels for films like Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989) and the short The Prince and the Pauper (1990), which starred Mickey Mouse. She also briefly worked in the paint labs at Warner Bros., Paramount, and Fox for the films Rover Dangerfield (1991), Cool World (1992), and The Pagemaster (1994). 

The rest of her career was at Disney. She continued painting cells for Disney greats such as The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), Hercules (1997), Tarzan (1999), and Fantasia 2000 (1999). In the 2000s, she painted for The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Treasure Planet (2002), officially retiring from Disney after painting for Home on the Range (2004). Even after she retired, she never lost her passion for painting—teaching art to the children of the neighborhood where she lived with her family in La Mirada, California. Her daughter, Shannon, has described her as “beach” mom, because she loved to visit the beach as well as paint it. Other subjects for her landscapes included portraits of her family members and Jimi Hendrix. She even painted an abstract version of Goofy and Daisy Duck. 

Ms. Sullivan is an unfortunate victim of our unique time, passing away on April 13th, 2020 due to complications from COVID-19, just three days after her 91st birthday. She was a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, CA, during her final years and another resident who lived there, Chaplain Dina Kuperstock, said that she was nicknamed “Giggles” there because “she had the best laugh of any person I’ve ever known.” I’m sure we can all agree that “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Lion King,” and each of the aforementioned Disney films wouldn’t be the classics that they are had it not been for her beautiful cel paintings. The Disney Studios were lucky to have her on their team, and her work leaves a remarkable legacy.  

Anika Noni Rose: We Gotta Hand It To Her

Anika Noni Rose has been performing on Broadway, Television, and Film for a little over 20 years now. Although that is a short amount of time when compared to other performers, she has already left a remarkable legacy on the entertainment industry, playing strong-willed, African-American women—one of whom was Disney’s first African-American Princess! So far, her career has been quite fascinating.

Anika Noni Rose was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut on September 6th, 1972, to John and Claudia Rose. She developed an interest in acting in High School, performing in a production her Freshman Year. She attended Florida A&M University where she got a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre and then she started studying drama at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, California.

She then relocated to New York and in three months’ time, booked her first professional acting job: the role of Rusty in the original cast of the Broadway premiere of Footloose in 1998. She also made her television debut, appearing in episodes of the series Third Watch (1999-2005) and 100 Centre Street (2001-2002). Her “big break,” role however, came six years later when she landed the role of Emmie Thibodeaux in the original Broadway musical Caroline, or Change. (Ironically, the character of Emmie is actually a teenager in the show who supports Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.) The role won her the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Prior to appearing in this show, however, she also appeared in the film From Justin to Kelly (2003). 

After appearing in an uncredited role as a church choir singer in the movie Temptation (2004), Rose was cast in the role of Lorrell Robinson in Bill Condon’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Dreamgirls (2006) starring alongside Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. The role of Lorrell Robinson required her to wear six inch heels while they filmed the “Dreamgirls” title number just so she could appear right on camera with Knowles and Hudson, which unfortunately caused her discomfort. (Ironically though, Lorrell Robinson is supposed to be the youngest of the “Dreamgirls” trio. In reality Anika Noni Rose is older than both Hudson and Knowles.) Although her performance in the film was sadly overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rose did however receive a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Award Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.

After making “Dreamgirls,” Anika Noni Rose later beat out Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles for the voice-over role of Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009). While making the film she requested to Mark Henn, “Tiana’s" supervising animator, that Tiana be left-handed because she is left-handed in real life. “Princess and the Frog,” became the first Disney animated musical to feature a voice cast doing both the speaking and the singing parts of their characters since Beauty and the Beast (1991), and the film received Oscar Nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Songs “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.” After being cast as Tiana, Rose was quoted as having said “I remember seeing ‘Snow White’ and saying to my mother, ‘Will there ever be a Chocolate Brown?’ She said ‘Probably. Why not?’ I just never thought that the first black princess would be me.”

Voicing Tiana earned Rose the Disney Legend Award in 2011, which is an award that can be given to anyone who has made a special/unique contribution to the Walt Disney Company. She was awarded the night of August 19th, 2011, along with three other Disney voice-over legends, Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989)), Paige O’Hara (voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991)) and Lea Salonga (singing voices of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) and Mulan in Mulan (1998)). All four ladies took turns performing songs from each of the movies, and they also performed a quartet of “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” from Cinderella (1950). Rose continues to be the voice of Tiana, including in the special Disney princess cameo in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2012).

Before “Princess and the Frog,” Rose starred in an all-black cast in a revival of Tennessee Williams’ Cat On a Hot Tin Roof in 2008. She starred in Tyler Perry’s film For Colored Girls (2010) opposite Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Phylicia Rashad. In 2013, she appeared in role of Angelica Schyler in the workshop production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton at the Vassar College. In 2014, she returned to Broadway a third time in a revival of A Raisin in the Sun. She also continues to appear on television, making guest-star appearances on The Simpsons (1989-present), Bates Motel (2013-2017), and The Quad (2017-2018).

Anika Noni Rose is an exceptional and versatile performer and her body of work is impressive. She’s played roles that did require her to sing and some that didn’t require her to sing, many of which were groundbreaking. Her career certainly deserveså a round of applause!  

Geoffrey Rush: Yeh Best Start Believing in Talented Actors! He is one!

Throughout a career of more than 40 years in show business, he’s made movies playing the principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, a beloved Australian pianist, an unsympathetic police inspector, King George VI’s speech therapist, and even a ruthless, greedy pirate! Many of the characters that he portrayed were stubborn. Some used their stubbornness for the greater good while others used it for greed and selfishness…but we loved him for it nonetheless! I’m referring none other than Geoffrey Rush—an incredibly versatile actor!

Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queenland, Austrailia on July 6th, 1951. His father, Roy Bayden Rush, was an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force and his mother, Merle Bischof Rush, was a department store sales assistant. They unfortunately divorced when he was five years old and he went to live with his mother in Brisbane. He attended Everton Park State High School and graduated from University of Queensland with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. While attending the university he was talent-spotted by the QTC (Queensland Theatre Company) who offered him to join their group. He accepted and officially began his career as an actor in 1971.  

Rush made his debut with the QTC in a production called Wrong Side of the Moon. He was involved in the group for four years and briefly left the group to study mime in Paris for two years. After that, he returned to the QTC, where he appeared in Shakespearean productions such as The Winter’s Tale and Trolius and Cressida. He also appeared in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, where he met his wife, Jane Maenelaus, whom he married in 1988. While appearing in each of these productions, Rush also appeared in the series Consumer Capers in 1979 and in the film Hoodwink in 1981, both of which were produced and distributed by Australia.

After appearing in various other Australian-produced films and television series (i.e., Starstruck (1982), Menotti (1980-1981), and Twelfth Night (1987), Geoffrey Rush made his American film debut in Shine (1996), in which he played Australian pianist David Helfgott. His performance in the film was universally praised and earned him both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Actor. In 1998, two years after “Shine,” Rush made four films: Les Miserables (not the musical) in which he played Inspector Javert opposite Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean and Uma Thurman as Fantine, A Little Bit of Soul which was produced in Australia, and Elizabeth, in which he played Sir Francis Walsingham, opposite Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I. Rush had previously narrated the film Oscar and Lucinda (1997), which also starred Blanchett, and he reprised the role of Francis Walsingham in the “Elizabeth,” sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), which reunited him again with Blanchett. He also appeared in Queensland Art Centre’s production of The Marriage of Figaro in ’98 and he made Shakespeare in Love the same year, playing theater entrepreneur and impresario Philip Henslowe, a role that earned him his second Oscar nomination, though first in the supporting category.

In 2000, Rush made the film Quills, opposite Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael Caine, where he played The Marquis de Sade, earning him a third Oscar nomination. Not long after making that film, Rush was approached by Director Gore Verbinski to play the role of Captain Hector Barbossa in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Verbinski wanted Rush for the role because he knew he could play the role with a simple villainy that would fit the story perfectly. Rush had previously worked with “Pirates,” co-star Orlando Bloom on the Australian film Ned Kelly, which also came out in 2003. It was Rush who gave Bloom the script for “Pirates,” and suggested he read it while they made “Ned Kelly.” 2003 proved another one of many busy years for Rush, as he was invited by Pixar Animation Studios to voice Nigel the Pelican in their next collaboration film with Disney at the time, Finding Nemo, released May 30th, a little over a month before “Curse of the Black Pearl’s,” July 9th release. 

Geoffrey Rush reprised the role of Hector Barbossa in all four of Disney’s “Pirates,” sequels, Dead Man’s Chest (2006), At World’s End (2007), On Stranger Tides (2011), and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The year after he made “Curse of the Black Pearl,” he made the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), impersonating Peter Sellers winning him his first Golden Globe since “Shine.” The role also won the Globe for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Before he made “On Stranger Tides,” he conquered Broadway in 2009, starring as King Berenger in the play Exit the King, a role that he had originated at the Malthouse Theatre in Australia. The Broadway production earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a play. In 2010, he took on the role of Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech (2010) which earned him his fourth Oscar nomination. Most recently, he portrayed Albert Einstein in the National Geographic Series Genuis (2017-present) and he also appeared in the Australian family adventure film Storm Boy (2019).

Geoffrey Rush has played some guys who have existed in real life, and some who also haven’t, in stage, television, and film. Disney lovers probably will always remember him best as Barbossa in the “Pirates of the Caribbean,” franchise, but looking back at all the biopics and period dramas he’s done, he’s just a great actor, period, and he brings a character to life brilliantly whether the character is real or made up. The Title of this Blog is taken from perhaps his most famous line from the “Pirates” series: Yeh best start believing in ghost stories Miss Turner! You’re in One! 

Welcome to the world of Mark Henn!

From the 1930s-‘60s, Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” the creative braintrust of the studio, created feature length films and short cartoons for the studio. By the ‘70s and ‘80s, some of them were still working for the studio while others had either retired or passed on. Soon, however, a new generation of animators were hired by the studio, many of them mentored by Eric Larson, one of the last remaining experts was Mark Henn, who continues to work for Disney today. Henn himself has created an incredible legacy of animation, from leading ladies to supporting clowns and even Mickey Mouse. 

    Mark Henn was born on April 6th, 1958 in Dayton, Ohio. In 1978, at the age of 20, he was officially accepted into the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California. “CalArts,” as it is known, had been founded by Walt and Roy Disney, along with Nelbert Chouinard in 1961. In addition to studying under Eric Larson, Henn also studied under Disney animators Jack Hannah and Thorton “T.” Hee. Classmates included John Lasseter (writer/director of Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999)), Mark Dindal (Effects Animator for Oliver & Company (1988)) and Joe Ranft (Story Artist for Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)). Henn joined the studio in 1980 and his first assignment was working as an in-betweener (an artist that transitions each of the drawings from frame to frame) on The Fox and the Hound (1981), collaborating with Glen Keane who supervised the animation on the film’s animal characters.

His next assignment was animating Mickey Mouse in the Oscar-nominated short Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), along with various characters in The Black Cauldron (1985). He first assignment as a Supervising Animator was on the characters of Basil, Dr. Dawson and Olivia in The Great Mouse Detective (1986), but he finally got to animate his first leading lady, Ariel in The Little Mermaid in 1989. He also supervised the animation on Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992). His design for Jasmine was inspired by his younger sister, Beth’s, high school senior photo. 

Henn was supervising animator for Young Simba in The Lion King (1994), Mulan and her father Fa Zhou in Mulan (1998), and in 2000, he directed the short film John Henry. Henn had loved the story of John Henry as a kid and was excited to bring it to life at Disney. Before working on the film, he and the rest of the film crew visited Big Bend Tunnel near Talcott, West Virginia, where the John Henry legend was born. Henn and the rest of the crew also received inspiration for their short from Paul Bunyan (1958), another Disney short, directed by Les Clark, another of the Nine Old Men. John Henry’s patchwork quilt opening scene was inspired by Mary Blair, who produced a great deal of concept art for Disney movies during Walt’s time.

Mark Henn also supervised the animation on several animals for Home on the Range (2004), Giselle in Enchanted (2007), Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh (2011). He provided additional visual development for Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and he animated Tinker Bell in Saving Mr. Banks (2013). He has also animated Mickey Mouse for various Disney Parks shows as well. More recently, he was an animator for Judy Hopps in Zootopia (2016) and Mickey Mouse in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2018).

  Mark Henn will always be remembered for his amazing animation at Disney, but his story is special because of the mentorship that brought it about. He says when he started at Disney, his mentor Eric Larson “Advised us to learn from the past but to bring out own sensibilities to our animation.” And the interest Larson took in Henn undoubtedly led to amazing opportunities. When looking back on Henn’s incredible body of work, I’m sure we can all agree that his “sensibilities” resonated with many, many Disney viewers.

Easter Movies

On this Easter Sunday, I thought we could explore fun facts about movies with spiritual themes. Please feel free to comment on your favorite!

1. Paramount’s The Ten Commandments (1956)-The same year that Yul Brynner played Rameses in this film, he also made the films Anastasia (1956) as well as the film version of his career-defining role The King and I. Before Brynner made “The Ten Commandments,” he underwent an intense weightlifting program so that he wouldn’t be physically overshadowed by co-star Charles Heston and would look physically fit as he appeared shirtless throughout most of the movie. Heston later said the Brynner gave the best performance in the movie. There is a moment in “King and I,” where Anna sees the King reading the story of Moses in the Bible and the King tells Anna he thinks Moses is a fool, ironically similar to what Rameses thought of Moses! But the movie does a great job of depicting the famous “Exodus” of the children of Israel00described in the Bible in a book by the same name, and highlighting the story of Passover, celebrated by Jews each year, but foundational to the Easter story for Christians.
2. Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)-This film received three Academy Award Nominations for Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing. It won the award for Best Makeup. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson, for whom this was his live-action debut, having previously directed animated films such as Dreamworks’s Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004). Adamson also directed Disney’s to “Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe,” The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in 2008. Both of these films, and the books upon which they are based, are the allegory for the story of Christ, the first of which includes the all-important fact of Christ’s resurrection, demonstrated by Aslan’s death and resurrection.
3. Paramount’s Braveheart (1995)-Mel Gibson only wanted to direct the film and didn’t want to play William Wallace because he was nearly 40 years old at the time and the character was supposed to be in his 20s. Paramount agreed to finance the film only if he played the role, so he changed his mind. While he made the movie, Gibson spent time with actual members of the real-life Wallace clan to learn their history, and even brought them in as extras in the movie. There were roughly 1,600 in the battle scenes. It is a strong tale of faith and freedom, with Wallace portraying both a Christ-like figure and a leader of the freedom movement in Scotland. 
4. United Artists’s The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)-After playing Moses in “Ten Commandments,” Charlton Heston played Judah Ben-Hur in Ben Hur (1959), which won him the Best Actor Oscar for that year and then he played John the Baptist in this film. It was also the American film debut of Max von Sydow, and although he played Jesus in this film, he was in reality an affirmed atheist. Von Sydow also smoke and drank but wasn’t allowed to do either of those things while filming on the set. This movie was also the last film appearance of Four-time Oscar Nominee, Claude Rains, who portrayed King Herod. It has been much-beloved by people for more than 50 years, and considered by Christians as an excellent portrayal of the Bible stories foundational for their faith.
5. Dreamworks’s The Prince of Egypt (1998)-Jeffrey Katzenberg, this film’s executive producer and former CEO of Dreamworks Animation, had always thought it would be a good idea to make an animated movie of “The Ten Commandments,” and had originally pitched the idea while working for the Walt Disney Company to former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, but Eisner never liked the idea. When Katzenberg left Disney in October of 1993, he later founded Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994, they managed to get “The Prince of Egypt,” off the ground and Katzenberg hired Disney screenwriter Brenda Chapman to co-direct the film with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells. This film not only marked Chapman’s debut as a director, but also made her the first woman to co-direct an animated movie from a major movie studio. Chapman later won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for direction on Disney/Pixar’s Brave in 2012. It of course continues in the tradition of the live-action film, portraying the Jewish Passover and Exodus that is intrinsic to the Easter season for Christians. 

While these are just some of many spiritual themed movies, there are still a lot other movies that acknowledge the beauty and the mystery of God. Others such as Forrest Gump (1994), Facing the Giants (2006) and even Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Lion King (1994), and The Bucket List (2007) acknowledge God’s existence and presence in the universe. Overall, it really is amazing the trouble and efforts that these people who worked on them went to, making each of them not only great films, but inspiring to people of faith.