4/15/2023 0 Comments Milo from atlantisThe use of pyramids also connected this setting to an ancient time, since pyramids are some of the earliest large structures that span many different cultures.ĭepicting Atlantis in all its wonder required an imaginative style of animating. The architecture was inspired by Southeast Asian temples and buildings. The structure of Atlantean drew from Indo-European and Sumerian branches, lending credence to the imagining of it as an old-world mother language that many other languages could have developed from. Hence, they built their idea of Atlantis as a sort of root culture. The team was attracted to the theory that Atlantis was something like an island continent that bridged North and Central America with Africa. Instead, they focused on drawing influences from other cultures. Trousdale and Wise thought it best to avoid the stereotypical depictions of Atlantis that relied on Greco-Roman imagery. This was key to help orient the animators in the design of Atlantis and its people. Marc Okrand, a renowned linguist and expert in constructed languages, was brought on to develop the Atlantean language. The world-building for Atlantis was some of the most extensive ever conducted by Disney Animation. Much of their research was devoted to crafting a version of the myth of Atlantis that, although fantastical, could seem plausible enough to engage the audience on their journey to its discovery. In typical Disney fashion, they wanted to incorporate supernatural mysticism into a real-world setting. They buried themselves in the theories of Atlantis, both the grounded and the far-fetched. They had to build a mythos from the ground up. Their team t-shirts read: “Atlantis: Fewer Songs, More Explosions.” Much of the team had already been working together for years, and the camaraderie and ease allowed for a lively and exciting workplace environment. This allowed the Atlantis team a relatively smooth production. Michael Eisner, Peter Schneider, and Thomas Schumacher all had their attention directed toward other corporate interests and endeavors. Trousdale and Wise, fresh off a series of successes at Disney, got little pushback from executives. It seemed fitting to take animation into the realm of another section of the Magic Kingdom: Adventureland. After all, as Wise noted, Disney parks had a whole section named Fantasyland with princess movies galore. They yearned to add to this canon, to create something different: an animated film that could join the ranks of Indiana Jones and the Swiss Family Robinson. They reminisced over drinks about the films they grew up on, the ones that “just didn’t get made anymore.” Chief among these influential films of their youth were live-action adventure films, many of which Disney themselves released all throughout the 1950s and 60s. In October 1996, after the release of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, along with producer Don Hahn and screenwriter Tab Murphy, all mainstays at Disney’s animation studios, met up for dinner. Like The Emperor’s New Groove before, it represents another foray into an untapped genre for Disney Animation, a bold departure from storybook fantasy. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on June 15, 2001.
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