15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a movie that was well ahead of its time, especially in terms of visual effects, even now the bringing together of cartoon characters and real life actors on screen at the same time has rarely been bettered. In terms of story it was very clever and inventive, funny and captivating and also quite dark at times, too.

Let’s take a look at the movie that had cinema-goers flocking to the box office in their droves and look at some facts about Who Framed Roger Rabbit that you probably didn’t know!

1. It’s still the only time Warner Bros and Disney animated characters have appeared in a film together

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Dumbo. Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd. They’ve appeared in either Disney or Warner Bros productions. but Who Framed Roger Rabbit is the first and only time they appeared on screen in the same movie!

2. Dip genuinely does erase cartoons!

Judge Doom has a horrible concoction called “Dip” which will kill any Toon it touches, as demonstrated when he maliciously murders a poor little shoe Toon, effectively boiling and melting it alive! But the ingredients on the tub of dip are Turpentine, Acetone and Benzene, all of which are paint thinners and can be used to remove animation from cels!

3. Bob Hoskins’ son didn’t speak to him for two weeks!

After filming, Bob Hoskins’ son didn’t speak to him for 2 weeks. When he finally found out why it was because his son couldn’t believe his dad had worked with Bugs Bunny and not introduced him!

4. It was an expensive film to make!

In the 1980s, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the most expensive movie production of the decade, costing an estimated 70 Million Dollars to make!

5. It also had a lot of people working on it!

As well as being the most expensive movie produced in the 1980s, it also had the longest on-screen credits of any film in the decade, too, suggesting the money went to good use.

6. It coined a new phrase for animators to use

In the scene when Roger Rabbit and Eddie are handcuffed together and go in to the room behind the bar, a lamp was knocked causing the shadows in the room to move. This meant the animators had a lot more work to do without the audience knowing about it. Disney animators use the phrase “Bump the lamp” to mean when they are having to go the extra mile to get an effect right even though most people won’t notice the extra work!

7. Tim Curry wanted to play a big part in the movie

Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Judge Doom and wanted to land the role, but the people he auditioned in front of, including Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, all found his performance absolutely terrifying and turned him down for the role, it makes you wonder how the part would have been played!

8. Christopher Lloyd must have had sore eyes!

If you look closely at every scene in which Christopher Lloyd appears as Judge Doom and you can see his eyes through his glasses, you will notice that he never blinks in any of the scenes!

9. Basil Fawlty wanted to play Judge Doom!

John Cleese expressed an interest in playing Judge Doom, but was turned down by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg as they felt no-one would take a villain seriously that was played by an ex member of Monty Python!

In one scene when Eddie and Jessica are thrown from a car, it was evident in the VHS version that Jessica Rabbit was animated as not wearing any underwear when her dress lifts up for the briefest moment. This was edited in all future releases of the film.

11. It took more than a couple of animators to complete the film

In total, 326 animators worked full time on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That’s a lot of animating talent working on one project and the reason why the finished product looked just so good.

12. Bob Hoskins looked close to home for acting inspiration

To get a feel for how he should act when he was supposed to be interacting with animated characters who simply weren’t there, Bob Hoskins watched his 3 year old daughter playing with her imaginary friends and how she would interact with them whilst she did.

13. You may recognise the tunnel that links the real world to Toon Town

The tunnel that Eddie drives through to reach Toon Town is the same tunnel used in Back to The Future Part II when Marty McFly is racing to get away from Biff in the tunnel. That film was also directed by Robert Zemeckis and also starred Christopher Lloyd!

14. Quite a few characters didn’t make it in to the film

There were some fairly well-known characters who were also meant to make brief appearances in the finished film, but the rights could not be obtained in time to get them finalised. These included Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oil, Superman, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Tom and Jerry.

15. Bob Hoskins wasn’t the first choice for Eddie Valiant

Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis wanted Bill Murray to play Eddie Valiant but for whatever reason were unable to reach or contact him to discuss it before a decision had to be made. When Murray found this out years later he was gutted as he said he would definitely have taken the role and would have loved to play the part – he later went on to star in Space Jam so got to act alongside some of the Warner Bros characters anyway.

Have you learned anything about Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Were you a big fan of the film or did you find it mildly irritating? Do you know any other random facts about the film? Let us know in the comments as always!