Roger Rabbit 2 | Robert Zemeckis on why Disney never greenlit sequel

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Robert Zemeckis says that Jessica Rabbit has been a stumbling block for Disney with a possible Roger Rabbit 2.

Robert Zemeckis’ Here is, well, here, reuniting the veteran director with his Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Given that the filmmaker’s latest opus uses digital de-ageing, restoring Hanks and Wright to youthful versions of themselves, it feels only right that Zemeckis is doing his fair share of reminiscing too. And he has been, answering questions on Here’s press tour about several of his past films. One story in particular caught our eye.

When asked on the HappySadConfused podcast if a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit could ever happen, Zemeckis poured cold water on the prospect, saying: “There’s a good script sitting at Disney, but here’s the thing… the current Disney would never make Roger Rabbit today… They can’t make a movie with Jessica in it.”

By ‘Jessica’, Zemeckis is of course referring to Jessica Rabbit, the sultry animated character voiced by Kathleen Turner. Jessica Rabbit was designed as a satirical take on male desire, but Disney isn’t necessarily known for worrying about the finer points of a creator’s intentions. And if the House of Mouse feels like a character’s appearance might threaten its family-friendly image then it simply changes that character.

Robert Zemeckis went on to explain how Disney toned the character down when it appeared in one of its theme park attractions – namely Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin ride – by basically covering her up in a trench coat.

It harks back to Disney’s erasure of Princess Leia’s gold bikini in the Star Wars universe – and we’re going to go out on a limb and suggest that the script for Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 doesn’t have the Jessica Rabbit character ‘trussed up’ in a trenchcoat, either.

If you want to read more about the unmade sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, step this way because it’s quite a story. Whether Zemeckis’ take is accurate or not, the project is long dormant at this point and will likely never happen. The original 1988 film however remains a stone-cold classic to this day.

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