Exclusive Q&A with Soul Musician Jon Batiste

December 18, 2020January 24, 2024

By Zach Johnson

Jamie Foxx may provide the voice of Joe Gardner in Soul, but Jon Batiste provides his hands. “When you see Joe’s hands playing in the film, that’s Jon’s playing,” producer Dana Murray says. “Our animators studied reference footage of Jon at the piano to capture details of how he plays—everything from how his fingers move to the breaths he takes.” Grammy® nominee Batiste handled the original jazz compositions and arrangements for the film, while Oscar® winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed an original score.

In an exclusive Q&A with D23, Batiste opens up about his work as a musician and a consultant on Soul, making its theatrical debut January 12.

D23: The Official Disney Fan Club: In your first meetings with Pixar, what were some of the early ideas you pitched director Pete Docter and co-director Kemp Powers, who wrote the script with Mike Jones? And how did that evolve as production progressed?

Jon Batiste (JB): I pitched the idea of putting together a large, multi-generational ensemble that would feature a range of musicians from living jazz legends to young lions. We were able to do that over the course of several recording sessions, which is a historic feat! The age range of the band is 95 years old to 19 years old. I mean Roy Haynes, who played some drums for us, played with Louis Armstrong!

D23: Are there any specific jazz musicians that inspired your work on Soul?

JB: I created a unique style for the film that was influenced by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Roy Hargrove, Cassandra Wilson, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, and many, many others.

D23: What made you want to get involved with a Pixar film—and Soul in particular?

JB: Pixar is home to some of the world’s best storytellers. Also, Pixar has such a distinct style, which is something artists all strive for. It’s rare to be able to blend wholesomeness and high artistry, all wrapped in universal themes that draw from a diverse range of cultures and sensibilities. These are all core values of mine and no one else in the world does it like Pixar can at such a high level. It’s been a dream come true.

D23: Were you in touch with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to make sure your compositions complemented each other, or did you want to keep that separate?

JB: The songs and the score mostly exist in separate worlds—Earth and The Great Before—so it worked better for us to not communicate at the start of the creative process since we wanted there to be a contrast between the two worlds. Once we were further into the process, we played each other some of the music, and that’s when their music started to influence my approach more. There are moments when our worlds collide, and for those moments, we collaborated on the music together. It really was the blending of two worlds. My creative process was completely different from theirs. Figuring that out with them were some of my favorite moments in the studio.

D23: Soul aside, what are your favorite music memories associated with Disney and Pixar?

JB: The music in Aladdin changed my life. What a brilliant score and remarkable way to incorporate middle eastern culture. The 1953 animated Peter Pan with music done by Oliver Wallace was orchestrated beautifully! So was Fantasia! Also, the music Randy Newman wrote for Toy Story stands in the top five of all-time great movie music for me.

Celebrate 10 Years of TRON: Legacy with a Look Back at the Creation of the Film

December 17, 2020December 17, 2020

By Josh Shipley

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of TRON: Legacy, we’re sharing a story that originally appeared in a slightly different form in the winter 2010 edition of Disney twenty-three magazine and was modified for d23.com. Become a D23 Gold Member to enjoy more content like this in the quarterly publication.

1982… In these early days of bits and data streams, young writer/director Steven Lisberger had a vision of how our burgeoning world of ever-increasing technology was on a collision course with our personal lives. This is how TRON was originally conceived, and it was Disney that embraced his vision. It was a revolutionary notion at that point in our society’s grasp of technology, often referred to in ensuing years as “ahead of its time.”

Fast forward to the end of the 1982 film, and with all things properly aligned in the lives of Flynn and Bradley, tales of the TRON universe were content to lay dormant for nearly three decades. As we began to comprehend the influence of the digital sphere on our own lives, the game grid adventures of Flynn and Tron slowly became less abstract. Steven has a stable theory as to why a TRON sequel would take so many years to develop into reality: “The reason it took the 25 to 28 years is because we needed the 10-year-olds to grow up and be powerful enough to make this movie, so that they could take their 10-year-old sons.” Although TRON was never forgotten, the arcade generation that was most influenced by the original simply needed to grow up.

Enter the age of TRON: Legacy.

Fans from the start
“I saw the [original] movie with my dad when I was 12 years old,” recalls TRON: Legacy producer Sean Bailey. “That was my first take of high concept. I had never seen a movie screen that had looked like that before. I have an emotional history with TRON, and a reverence for the title.” With Sean working alongside co-producer Justin Springer and production executive Brigham Taylor as the initial creative team, Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis joined the team as the writing pair to add new life to this elaborate digital canvas. When they were initially approached by Brigham in 2007 regarding their ability to write a treatment for a TRON sequel, Eddy was elated. “I just couldn’t believe they asked!” he says.

They jumped right in. Each has vivid memories of having been dropped off at the mall to see TRON in its original release, and both have been influenced by its brave approach to story, technology, and of course, visuals. This childhood favorite had a storyline for which they both felt a personal understanding, and they couldn’t wait to develop it further.

The Time for TRON to Continue
Although the new team was motivated and in place, there was still doubt regarding whether or not the timing was right for Disney to return TRON to today’s pop culture vernacular, so the team determined that a short visual effects test could be secretly produced, and subsequently rolled out at the 2008 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Pleading their case for absolute secrecy on the matter, Sean remarked, “We have the opportunity here to surprise a crowd that is un-surprise-able.”

This nearly three-minute test became a true Comic-Con “Easter egg” to be discovered. It would be covertly attached to the end of an existing Disney panel in front of nearly 6,500 unsuspecting spectators. As the panel completed its presentation, several in attendance began to disperse to their next scheduled event. The moderator stood back at the microphone and coyly announced that there was a surprise. As the Walt Disney Pictures logo appeared on the big screen, and then morphed into a digitally rendered visage of that same castle, the audience went silent… with bated breath. New, yet strangely familiar images began to fill the screen. Game warriors? Light cycles? The trailer depicted a dark and foreboding computer world, not at all like the bright and peaceful “free-system” our heroes fought to liberate at the end of TRON, where an exciting light-cycle chase sequence ensues. The payoff was the reveal of a young Jeff Bridges who, we discover, is the aggressor in the light-cycle chase, who “de-reses” (eliminates) the light-cycle rider he’s pursuing. This is a character trait we didn’t see Jeff portray in the first film. A new attitude and vibe toward the TRON story were clearly present.

Audience reactions began to break the silence in recognition, but nothing matched the unbridled enthusiasm of seeing a matured Jeff Bridges appear on screen as Flynn. The conclusion was met with deafening applause. The visual effects test was an enormous success. Joseph adds, “There was a lot of internal excitement, and the Comic-Con excitement was the push to get it a full green light.” Now, it was time to get to work.

Lighting up a Legacy
The highly sophisticated technical costuming on TRON: Legacy held all of those involved with entranced fascination. Director Joseph Kosinski remarks, “In this film, I really wanted the suits to physically illuminate the characters. Each other. The set.” The costumes in TRON: Legacy could light up on their own with practical lighting built into each one. A full cast of characters emitting streams of light all at once created a unique visual like no one had ever experienced. The actors would wait with a child-like anticipation on a dimly lit set for those magic words, “Light ’em up!”

“The illuminated suits were something we developed for this movie, and they ended up driving how we lit the whole film,” Joseph continues. “The suit lamps look brilliant in a dark room; they don’t look great in a bright room so the lighting of all of our sets had to be dimmed down to a really low level. That came out of my desire to make everything in this film as physical and real as possible. For the actors, it makes a difference to be on a real set, and it makes a difference to be in a suit and watch it illuminate on your body. I think it pays off in the performances and the overall look of the movie.”

Creating Clu
Helping to fully realize the cast was the timeless Jeff Bridges. He wasn’t just returning to his role as the older and wiser Kevin Flynn, who has been a prisoner of the computer grid for two decades, but also as his ageless digital avatar, Clu, who rules that realm. By portraying both roles with separate thought, emotion, and motivation, and through the wonders of modern filmmaking techniques, it is convincingly easy to believe that Bridges does in fact have his younger counterpart to perform against. The results of this talented one-man duality is an amazing artistic marvel to behold, as Kevin continues to impart wisdom upon an irrational Clu that only believes in perfection.

“I don’t see this movie happening without Jeff,” Joseph admits. “He was the first key in getting this going.” The impressive nature of how Kevin Flynn has evolved during the last 28 years is multifaceted. Not only is the importance of this father–son story literal in the biological relationship of Kevin and Sam in the real world, it takes on an undeniable poignancy between Kevin and Clu within the digital world.

Thanks to Rob Klein for his contributions to this article.

7 Things You Need to Know About the Disney+ Docuseries On Pointe

December 17, 2020

By Beth Deitchman

Only the best of the best young dancers are accepted to New York City’s esteemed School of American Ballet (SAB) where, through hard work and dedication, those truly gifted 8-18-year-olds learn to become even better at what they already do so beautifully. The new docuseries On Pointe, coming to Disney+ this Friday, December 18, gives viewers an unprecedented inside look at SAB, as well as the lives of these remarkable dancers and their families over the course of a season.

The older SAB students come to Manhattan from across the U.S. to train for professional careers in ballet, while younger dancers commute to classes from around the greater New York City area and, in some cases, are selected for coveted roles in New York City Ballet’s holiday classic George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker^Ò. They’re all in pursuit of a common dream, and as SAB’s Chairman of Faculty Kay Mazzo notes in On Pointe’s first episode, “Some succeed and some don’t. But if you say, That’s all I can do with my life—I have to dance, you’re in the right place.”

Director/producer Larissa Bills led a small crew that gathered hundreds of hours of footage captured within SAB’s classrooms and dorms, as well as the students’ homes. The filmmakers set the barre high, approaching the project as if they were creating a six-hour documentary film, as opposed to a reality show about SAB. As a warmup, here are a few things you need to know before watching On Pointe:

1. SAB represents the gold standard in terms of ballet schools in the United States.
Legendary choreographer George Balanchine founded SAB with the goal of creating an American ballet company. SAB is now the preeminent ballet school in the U.S., and is inextricably linked to New York City Ballet, for which it serves as the official training academy. “It’s a serious place,” notes young Isabela in On Pointe, which follows the 9-year-old from her audition to acceptance at SAB and her journey to (hopefully) be cast in The Nutcracker. Sixteen-year-old Ruby echoes Isabela’s admiration for the school, sharing, “There’s just so many talented dancers and the fact that they chose me is unreal.”

2. The filmmakers were given unprecedented access to SAB and its students.
“The school was aware that it would be a very small crew, it would be very intimate, it wouldn’t intrude,” Bills tells D23, noting this is the first time that SAB has opened its doors to an outside production. The filmmakers shot verité-style, creating as small a footprint as they could. Executive producer Sara Bernstein explains, “It’s about being as observational as we possibly can to let the real-life events that are unfolding help guide the story, as opposed to trying to push the story in any particular direction.”

3. SAB’s older students come to New York from all around the country to train for careers in ballet.
The teenagers featured in On Pointe come from very different backgrounds and cities across the U.S., but all of them have made the choice to move to New York City to attend SAB and live away from home. Bernstein acknowledges, “There is tremendous dedication and sacrifice for parents to say, ‘OK, I’m going to send my 15-year-old to New York City of all places to follow their dream.’ I think there’s something really beautiful in that.” The stakes are high, but so is the level of commitment. In On Pointe, viewers will see how the teens balance their dance classes with academic studies, through online learning or at a nearby professional school many SAB students attend in person. Bills emphasizes, “They’re like Olympic athletes and they’re training at a really high level.”

4. The younger dancers also make a huge commitment when they enter SAB.
SAB’s 8-13-year-old students attend school during the day before braving long commutes to SAB’s Manhattan campus from their homes around the New York area—with homework still waiting for them after their classes end and they return home for the night. On Pointe’s filmmakers accompany these young dancers and their parents on the subway as they travel to and from SAB and take viewers inside their homes to shine a light on the commitment and sacrifice that are shared by the entire family. “There’s an incredible amount of dedication there, especially in terms of these families that have to shuttle their kids back and forth all the time to the school,” Bills underscores.

5. On Pointe presents a unique look at New York City through the lens of SAB and its students.
“Living in New York, at the age of 16, you do need a certain level of independence,” Sam, who moves to New York from Richmond, Virginia, points out in On Pointe. Director/producer Bills shares, “I think what’s really great is that this isn’t just a portrait of the school, but it’s a bit of a portrait of being a kid in New York City… These are kids from all over and really diverse backgrounds.” As part of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, SAB casts a wide net to find students for its younger programs through an audition process that isn’t confined to Lincoln Center’s Upper West Side neighborhood but extends to Harlem, Chinatown, Queens, and beyond. The younger students who appear in On Pointe are true “city kids,” many of whom were drawn to SAB after first seeing George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker performed during the holiday season, as well as children who have never before experienced a live professional ballet performance and now find themselves preparing to dance on the Lincoln Center stage.

6. The docuseries takes viewers behind the scenes of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker like never before.
During a typical year, it’s a time-honored holiday tradition for New Yorkers and visitors to the city to converge upon Lincoln Center for New York City Ballet’s annual production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. On Pointe begins as SAB is embarking upon a new school year and follows the 8-13-year-olds through the audition process for roles in The Nutcracker, as well as rehearsals and ultimately, the staged production of the iconic ballet. Since 2020 is far from a typical year, Bernstein is happy that On Pointe allows viewers to be able to experience the production in a new way, given that New York City Ballet won’t be performing George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker live this year. “I think it becomes that much more special for Disney to be able to share this with audiences,” she says.

7. On Pointe is set within the world of ballet, but it has a powerful message that translates to any chosen pursuit.
In On Pointe, you’ll rarely see a kid focus on a smartphone or tablet rather than the world around them while they’re working toward a challenging goal. Bernstein believes that the SAB students’ commitment and hard work will resonate with anyone who watches On Pointe, whether they’re an aspiring dancer, athlete, artist, or scientist. She shares, “I hope that viewers are inspired by seeing kids live out their dreams and dedicate themselves to something that is rigorous and isn’t easy, and understand that with practice and training, you can excel.”

5 Fantastic Things to Watch This Weekend

December 17, 2020December 16, 2020

By Zach Johnson

Christmas is coming early, thanks to ABC, Disney+, and Nat Geo WILD! It all starts Friday when Disney+ makes the films Eddie the Eagle and Into the Woods available and also debuts the highly anticipated season two finale of The Mandalorian. The next night, Nat Geo WILD will deliver an un-fur-gettable season finale of Secrets of the Zoo: North Carolina. Then, on Sunday, ABC will broadcast the fan-favorite movie The Sound of Music.

Eddie the Eagle—Friday, December 18, on Disney+
Joining the Disney+ library, this 2016 film from 20th Century Studios and director Dexter Fletcher tells the inspirational story of British athlete Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton). Cut from the Olympic ski team, Eddie travels to Germany to try his luck at ski jumping. Fate leads him to Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a former ski jumper who now works as a snowplow driver, who agrees to train the determined and spirited underdog. Though his country discounts him, Eddie makes it all the way to a historic and unlikely showing at the 1988 Winter Olympics. But does he have what it takes to medal in Games?

Into the Woods—Friday, December 18, on Disney+
The streaming service is adding the Rob Marshall Oscar®-nominated adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s beloved Broadway musical to its library. The story follows a childless couple (Emily Blunt and James Corden), who have been cursed by a formerly beautiful witch (Meryl Streep). Three days before a blue moon rises, the couple heads into the woods to find ingredients that will reverse the curse. Along the way, they meet Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), and Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), each of whom is on a quest of their own. Rounding out the cast are Christine Baranski as Cinderella’s Stepmother, Tammy Blanchard as Florinda, Disney Legend Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf, Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel’s Prince, Chris Pine as Cinderella’s Prince, Lucy Punch as Lucinda, and Tracy Ullman as Jack’s Mother.

The Mandalorian—Friday, December 18, on Disney+
All season long, the titular Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), has been trying to reunite Grogu, aka The Child, with the Jedi. His adventures have reunited him with familiar faces such as Cara Dune (Gina Carano), Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), Mayfield (Bill Burr), Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), and Fennec Shand (Disney Legend Ming-Na Wen), and also introduced him to new ones, including Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff), Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), and Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison). After Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) captured Grogu, Mando will stop at nothing to get him back. As our hero warned the Darksaber-wielding villain in the penultimate episode, “You have something I want. You may think you have some idea what you are in possession of—but you do not. Soon, he will be back with me. He means more to me than you will ever know.”

Secrets of the Zoo: North Carolina—Saturday, December 19, at 10 p.m. ET on Nat Geo WILD
In the season finale, “Running Otter Time,” North Carolina Zoo’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is busier than ever! Four orphaned otter pups are nearly ready to be released into the wild, but first they need to pass fish school. Meanwhile, the veterinary team is called to rescue seven huge, confiscated pythons that are in need of urgent medical treatment. Then, the zookeepers rush to assist a pair of arctic foxes that have sustained mysterious injuries.

The Sound of Music—Sunday, December 20, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC
Based on the real-life von Trapp family, who fled their home to escape the Nazis in 1938, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s cinematic classic is coming to network television! Disney Legend Julie Andrews stars as Maria von Trapp, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey. She becomes a governess in the home of a widowed Captain George von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) with seven unruly children, bringing a new love of life and music into the home. Gather the family to celebrate the Academy Award®-winning film featuring the songs “Climb Every Mountain,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” “The Lonely Goatherd,” “My Favorite Things,” and “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” as well as the title song, “The Sound of Music.”

It’s a Brazzle Dazzle Anniversary: Celebrating Pete’s Dragon!

December 16, 2020December 16, 2020

By Melissa Pankuch, Walt Disney Archives

Originally conceived to be an episode of the Disneyland television series, Pete’s Dragon tells the story of a young orphan named Pete and a mischievous dragon, Elliott, which takes place in the quaint town of Passamaquoddy, Maine. On the anniversary of its general release in 1977, let’s take a look and uncover some of the magic behind the film!

Fantasia at 80: Exploring Bach — Pete and Elliott. *Pete’s Dragon* (1977)

One of Walt Disney’s major contributions to the art of motion pictures was the novel technique of combining live-action photography with animated cartoons. This concept was utilized in multiple Disney projects prior to Pete’s Dragon, including The Three Caballeros, Mary Poppins, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In these examples, live-action characters had to interact with animated characters and backgrounds. Pete’s Dragon, however, posed a unique challenge to the studio: the process needed to be reversed. Placing an animated character into the live-action shots required incredible precision, and relied on the art direction of Disney Legend Ken Anderson and animation direction of Don Bluth to bring the character to life.

In a 1977 interview with American Cinematographer, Ken Anderson commented that “Every shadow had to fall exactly right. Whenever we drew an animated sequence. We had to know exactly where the light was falling in the live-action scene. Also, human skin tones change along with the quality of the light as they move from one exposure to another and at different times of day. Elliott’s color had to be adjusted accordingly.” The need for understanding the light within the scene led to a large collaboration between the live-action crew and the animation team. In essence, each live-action scene had to be composed with the animation in mind. Zooming in for a shot was nearly impossible due to the animators’ inability to match the action on the animation stand, and panning could only be done if the camera was tightly secured and there were precise points of reference in the shot that would help the animators find their marks. Overall, Elliott appeared in 1,770 feet of animation, amounting to 22 minutes of the final film.

When the actors in the film sought to interact with Elliott on screen, they required a way to help visualize him within the scene. For some sequences, layout artist Joe Hale would provide the actors with a “dragon finder”—a handheld shadow box that showed drawings of Elliott. By using this tool, the actors would be able to see how the scene would eventually look. In other instances, a physical manifestation of Elliott was necessary.

One such scene featured actress Helen Reddy; the script called for Reddy to give Elliott a kiss after he relights the wick of a lighthouse beacon, saving a ship from crashing into the rocks below. Seen in the below photographs, production provided a latex model of the dragon head for Reddy to rehearse with, which helped the actress to understand the dimensions of the character’s head and the distance she would need to move for the kiss to land. In a 1992 interview, Reddy explained: “When they were ready to shoot, they took the model away, and I worked without it. One does feel a trite foolish kissing thin air, so my first thought seeing it (on-screen) was, ‘Wow! There’s Elliott!’”

From Passamaquoddy to a screen near you, be sure to catch Pete’s Dragon now streaming on Disney+!

Everything New You Can Stream on Disney+ in January 2021

December 15, 2020

By Zach Johnson

Welcome to a new reality! On January 15, Disney+ and Marvel Studios will present WandaVision, with Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprising their roles as Wanda Maximoff and Vision, respectively, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In anticipation of Marvel Studios’ first original scripted series for the streaming platform, Disney+ will debut Marvel Studios: Legends on January 8, an exciting refresher for the various heroes and villains making their way to the highly anticipated streaming shows debuting on Disney+. And, naturally, the first two episodes will shine a spotlight on Wanda Maximoff and Vision.

Prior to the premiere of WandaVision, the late-night talk show Earth to Ned will return with 10 brand-new episodes on January 1. The series’ star-studded lineup of guests will include Ginnifer Goodwin and Alan Tudyk; D’Arcy Carden and Oliver Hudson; Yvette Nicole Brown and Jack McBrayer; Kevin Smith, Aisha Tyler, and Ben Schwartz; Sherri Shepherd and Penn & Teller; Alyson Hannigan and Ben Feldman; Roy Choi and Brenda Song; Mayim Bialik and Margaret Cho; Molly Ringwald and Chris Colfer, and Grace VanderWaal; and Jason Ritter and Tig Notaro. Debuting on January 22 is Pixar Popcorn, a collection of mini shorts starring your favorite characters in all-new, bite size stories. All the while, the weekly rollout of Behind the Clouds extras will continue through January 29.

Library titles coming to Disney+ in January 2021 include Disney Fam Jam, Doctor Doolittle 3, Ferdinand, Isle of Dogs, Mary Poppins Returns, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Toy Story That Time Forgot, and The Wolverine (2013), as well as all four volumes of Star Wars Forces of Destiny!

All the film and television titles coming to Disney+ in January are listed below:

Friday, January 1
700 Sharks
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!
Great Shark Chow Down
Mega Hammerhead
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
The Wolverine (2013)
Earth to Ned (New Episodes)
Beyond the Clouds: A Firm Handshake (Extras)

Friday, January 8
Disney Fam Jam
Ferdinand
Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Volume 1
Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Volume 2
Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Volume 3
Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Volume 4
Toy Story That Time Forgot
Beyond the Clouds: The Anatomy of Emotion (Extras)
Marvel Studios: Legends (Premiere)

Friday, January 15
Disney Elena of Avalor (Season 3)
Doctor Doolittle 3
Isle of Dogs
Mary Poppins Returns
WandaVision (Premiere)
Beyond the Clouds: The Concert of a Lifetime (Extras)

Friday, January 22
Wild Uganda
Pixar Popcorn (Premiere)
WandaVision (New Episode)
Beyond the Clouds: The Finishing Touches (Extras)

Friday, January 29
Dinosaurs (Season 1)
Dinosaurs (Season 2)
Dinosaurs (Season 3)
Dinosaurs (Season 4)
Epic
The Incredible Dr. Pol
Ramona and Beezus
Texas Storm Squad
WandaVision (New Episode)
Beyond the Clouds: A Promise Kept (Extras) (Finale)

Raven-Symoné and Issac Ryan Brown are “Mad About Yuletide” in a Brand-New Raven’s Home Holiday Episode

December 15, 2020December 14, 2020

By Beth Deitchman

Raven’s Home stars Raven-Symoné and Issac Ryan Brown always look forward to the holidays but this year they’re positively mad about them. Between them, the two actors are joining fellow Disney Channel stars for three must-see holiday specials, as well as a festive one-hour episode of Raven’s Home called, fittingly, “Mad About Yuletide.”

The special episode of Raven’s Home, premiering Friday, December 18 (8 p.m. ET/PT), finds the Baxter/Grayson family snowed in at three separate locations when a storm hits Chicago and thwarts their plans to spend Christmas together at a cabin on the lake. Raven and Chelsea are lost in a snow tunnel, while dads Devon and Garrett are stuck at the cabin and kids Booker, Nia, Levi, and Tess are home alone. For the Baxter/Graysons, this was already shaping up to be a different kind of holiday than years past… but will they find a way to keep the spirit of the season—not to mention their inner “Christmas Cray”—alive?

“The awesome thing about this episode is we get to see how our favorite characters handle a quarantine holiday,” Brown shares. “I love the way our showrunners and writers handle this. They’ve shown so beautifully how this Christmas isn’t going to be like every other Christmas. Sometimes we aren’t going to able to do the things we want to do; we can’t see the ones we love. But then again, we have to find a way to make it an awesome holiday.”

The positive message on screen in “Mad About Yuletide” reflects the resilience of the Raven’s Home cast and crew, who are also adjusting to a new normal on the soundstage. Raven-Symoné says, “I really commend the writers and the showrunners for taking these challenges of safety and social distancing and showing how important it is in front of the camera and behind the camera to put safety first. I think they did a wonderful job at combining all of that [in the holiday episode].”

Of course, fans of Raven’s Home already know that Booker’s “Christmas Cray” is a powerful and festive force. “But this year, the rest of the holidays have been a bit of a letdown. Booker is trying to find a way to find his ‘cray’—even though the holidays aren’t the same,” Brown explains. You guys are going to see Booker go through a bit of a journey trying to find his ‘cray.’”

Brown isn’t having any difficulty finding his own holiday ‘cray’ this year. In addition to “Mad About Yuletide,” he recently joined Miranda May (BUNK’D) and other Disney Channel fan favorite stars for Disney Channel Holiday House Party. The hilarious holiday edition of the sketch comedy show for kids and families was filmed remotely and features the comedic ensemble virtually decking the halls with a merry mélange of characters and comic sketches, including a Gen Z influencer take on a Charles Dickens classic, a Disney Channel Wand ID fail, and a High School Musical throwback that goes waaayy back. Brown also gets his carol on in Challenge Accepted! Disney Channel’s Epic Holiday Showdown, which puts Santa and Mrs. Claus in the seasonal spotlight as they enlist the help of Disney Channel stars to save the holidays from Ebenezer Scrooge, played by Brown’s Raven’s Home co-star Anneliese van der Pol.

There’s more Disney Channel merry-ment to be found in Disney Holiday Magic Quest, virtually hosted by Raven-Symoné. The special finds ZOMBIES 2 stars competing in a high-stakes holiday adventure inside Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort, facing off in a series of challenges and obstacles through iconic Disney attractions as they attempt to restore the holiday magic that’s been stolen by Disney villains Maleficent and the Evil Queen. As stars compete for the grand prize, proceeds will be donated to Toys for Tots, a nonprofit organization that delivers hope and the magic of the holidays to less fortunate children.

Raven-Symoné was thrilled to be part of the special and watch the ZOMBIES 2 stars live out her fantasy Magic Kingdom experience. “I always wanted to just run through Disney World and Disneyland and the Disney Parks overnight without anybody around, just so I can really feel it. The fact that these teams got to do that is so cool,” she says. “Going on the Seven Dwarfs ride and doing all these different things, and going in the moat—you never see anybody in the moat!” Given what a huge Disney Parks fan Raven-Symoné is, does she believe that she could have won the grand prize? “Obvi,” she says with a laugh. “But I did the next best thing and that’s help [the teams] through the journey!”

All three specials are available to watch throughout the month on Disney Channel and on DisneyNOW, and Raven-Symoné says that Disney Holiday Magic Quest will be part of her Christmas Day viewing this year. Disney will also be part of Brown’s holiday this year. He’s got some “super-awesome” LED décor that gives his house the not-so-hidden Mickey treatment, along with a Mickey Mouse waffle maker that is definitely being put to good use on Christmas morning. “Then there’s all the classic Disney Channel holiday specials, and, of course, all the Disney Channel classic holiday movies, soundtracks, and everything—Disney is a huge part of the holidays for me.”

5 Fantastic Things to Watch This Week

December 14, 2020

By Zach Johnson

What would we do without Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas?” The annual programming event continues this week with dozens of fan-favorite holiday episodes, series, and specials, including Prep & Landing and Miracle on 34th Street (1994). If you’re looking for something merry and scary, look no further than FX’s A Christmas Carol. But if it’s holly, jolly laughter you seek, Disney Channel is premiering a Raven’s Home holiday special you can’t miss! Cap off the week with the brand-new Disney+ docuseries On Pointe, which follows aspiring dancers following their dreams and overcoming obstacles at the School of American Ballet.

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice—Tuesday, December 15, at 10:30 p.m. ET on Freeform
The yuletide adventures of elves Lanny (voice of Derek Richardson) and Wayne (voice of Dave Foley) continue in this 2011 holiday special. With the Big 2-5 fast approaching, Wayne and Lanny must recover classified North Pole technology that has fallen into the wrong hands. Holiday hijinks ensue as Lanny and Wayne set off to find hacker Grace Goodwin (voice of Emily Alyn Lind)—who, it turns out, might not deserve a spot on the naughty list.

Miracle on 34th Street—Thursday, December 15, at 10:30 a.m. ET on Freeform
Written and produced by John Hughes, this remake of the original 1947 film stars Mara Wilson as 6-year-old Susan Walker, who is skeptical of Santa Claus—a belief reinforced by her mother, Dorey (Elizabeth Perkins). When Dorey must hire a Santa Claus to pose with kids at a department store, she enlists a man with the curious name: Kris Kringle (Richard Attenborough). He claims to be the real Santa Claus! All the kids in New York City believe him… except for Susan, of course. But after Kris’ claims are contested in court, his lawyer, Bryan Bedford (Dylan McDermott)—along with Susan and Dorey—finally begin to believe.

A Christmas Carol—Thursday, December 17, at 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET on FX
An original spin on the classic story, writer and executive producer Steven Knight’s dark and modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ iconic tale follows Ebenezer Scrooge (Guy Pearce) as he’s haunted by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Andy Serkis), Present (Charlotte Riley), and Future (Jason Flemyng) to expose the man whose very name is synonymous with greed. Rounding out the cast of the film are Stephen Graham as Jacob Marley, Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchit, Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchit, Kayvan Novak as Ali Baba, Tiarna Williams as Belinda Cratchit, Lenny Rush as Tim Cratchit, and Johnny Harris as Franklin Scrooge. Be warned: This dark and twisted tale is sure to haunt anyone who doesn’t have holiday spirit!

Raven’s Home—Friday, December 18, at 8 p.m. ET on Disney Channel
In the holiday special “Mad About Yuletide,” the Baxter/Grayson family are trying to make the best of Christmas Eve after a storm hits, disrupting their plans to celebrate together at a cabin on the lake. Snowed in at three different places—moms Raven (Raven-Symoné) and Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) are lost in a snow tunnel, dads Devon (guest star Jonathan McDaniel) and Garrett (guest star Johnno Wilson) are stuck at the cabin, and kids Booker (Issac Ryan Brown), Nia (Navia Robinson), Levi (Jason Maybaum), and Tess (Sky Katz) are home—they must lean on each other to keep their “Christmas Cray” alive!

On Pointe—Friday, December 18, on Disney+
This six-part docu-series, premiering exclusively on Disney+, captures a season in the School of American Ballet in New York City. Featuring unprecedented access to the famous institution, the series follows the lives of students ages 8 to 18 as they pursue their dreams of becoming ballet dancers. While older students from all over the country rigorously train for professional careers, younger students from New York City must go toe to toe with them as they rehearse and perform in New York City Ballet’s holiday classic George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. Discovering their potential won’t be easy.

Good for the Soul: 7 Things to Know About Pixar’s New Movie

December 14, 2020December 11, 2020

By Zach Johnson

What is the meaning of life?

It’s a loaded question, and it’s one Disney and Pixar’s new movie Soul attempts to answer—or, at the very least, ponder—through the eyes of Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx), a middle school band teacher with dreams of becoming a professional jazz musician, and 22 (voice of Tina Fey), an untethered soul who just doesn’t understand what Earth has to offer.

In early November, the aforementioned actors joined co-stars Angela Bassett (voice of Dorothea Williams) and Phylicia Rashad (voice of Libba Gardner), as well as the film’s director and screenwriter Pete Docter, co-director and screenwriter Kemp Powers, and producer Dana Murray, for a virtual press conference to discuss the existential adventure film, available exclusively on Disney+ (where the service is available) starting December 25. The film’s premise boils down to three essential questions, Docter said: “What are we going through? What’s the world about? What am I supposed to be doing with my life?”

Early on, the filmmakers decided jazz would be integral to Joe because, as Docter put it, “You don’t go into jazz to get rich and famous. You do it because you love it and you have a passion for it. It’s fascinating to watch. When you see somebody play, it’s like a magic trick.” In the film, they call that being “in the zone.” And something everyone at the virtual press conference agreed upon was that they, too, felt “in the zone” as they were working on Soul.

Here are seven more things we learned from the press conference:

1.There is no Joe Gardner without Jamie Foxx.
Foxx, who won an Oscar® in 2005 for his portrayal of music legend Ray Charles, was the filmmakers’ first and only choice for the leading role. Although he didn’t need much convincing, his 11-year-old daughter helped seal the deal. “She be looking at me like, ‘When’s it gonna take off for you?’” Foxx said with a laugh. “Like, ‘You’re Pixar now. You made it!’” All jokes aside, Foxx is honored to voice Pixar’s first Black protagonist: “I know my grandmother, who is looking down, would be proud we are doing something like this.”

2. Soul is rich in varied experiences and perspectives.
“Not only do we have a dream cast, but we have a dream consultant team,” said Murray, who cited Britta M. Wilson, vice president, Inclusion Strategies, as a “great partner” in “building out who the consultants were going to be.” The cultural and music consultants included Dr. Peter Archer, Jon Batiste, Dr. Christopher Bell, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Daveed Diggs, Herbie Hancock, Marcus McLaurine, George Spencer, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and Bradford Young. “The depth of the bench was crazy,” Murray said, “and we were just really lucky.” An in-house team, dubbed the Pixar Cultural Trust, was also formed and included Frank E. Abney III, Aphton Corbin, Robert Grahamjones, Jessica Heidt, Katrina Henderson, Searit Kahsay Huluf, Paige Johnstone, Albert Lozano, Mara MacMahon, Sean Muriithi, Rod Pearson, Nicole Pellerin Chandler, Montaque Lamont Allen Ruffin, Gini Cruz Santos, and Michael Yates. Unlike the other consultants, who would weigh in weekly or monthly, “They were part of the daily process.”

3. New York City is as energetic and vibrant as ever.
From the jazz clubs he frequented with his father to the local barber shop where everyone knows his name, the animators created a stylized version of the city where Joe was born and raised. “I didn’t find it specific to one area of the city necessarily,” said Rashad, who herself has lived in the city and whose character owns and runs a tailor shop in Queens. “However, it was a real neighborhood. There were businesses and shops, and people lived there. And there are a number of neighborhoods in and around New York City like that,” she said. “I thought it was so authentic. And I loved the colors! I loved the colors so much.”

4. Black voices add authenticity to the story.
Powers, an accomplished playwright and television writer, offered invaluable insight into who Joe is—down to the smallest detail. “Joe getting a suit was a plot point. I said to Pete, ‘Well, he also needs a haircut, right?’ And someone said the haircut isn’t as important as the suit. I said, ‘I wouldn’t have even come up to Pixar for the interview if I couldn’t have got lined up. So, I’m gonna disagree and say that the haircut is every bit as important as the threads,’” Powers recalled. Other cultural and music consultants agreed, and Powers said Docter and Murray “encouraged us to lean into that stuff as opposed to shying away from it.” In fact, he added, “There were a lot of times in making this film where I kept going, like, ‘Can we really do this? Are we gonna be able to say jazz is black improvisational music? Is the guy gonna be able to say he can’t catch a cab? Are we gonna be able to do all these things?’ And, honestly, no one even batted an eye. And I don’t think it hurts the film at all. I think it’s part of what makes the texture of this film so rich and so honest and so sincere.”

5. Tina Fey brings her signature sense of humor to 22.
The team at Pixar was tickled whenever the Emmy® – and Golden Globe® Award-winning actress and writer would pitch a new joke. And although Fey mostly stuck to the script, a few of her lines did make the final cut. “I went into a lot of sessions, and I would come back and there’d be rewrites and new pages of sequences as they evolved,” Fey remembered. “There were tiny bits of improv here and there. But you can really only do that when the structure is solid. And the script is really good, so the credit really goes to Kemp and Pete.”

6. Jerry is a deceptively complex character.
Cheery and (mostly) all-knowing, the ubiquitous Counselors in The Great Before are all named Jerry. Voiced by Richard Ayoade, Alice Braga, Fortune Feimster, Zenobia Shroff, and Wes Studi, the Counselors’ job is to wrangle new souls and help them develop unique personalities until they find their spark. “We figured if the souls just ran around amok, no one would ever get born,” explained Docter. “It would just be bedlam up there.” The Counselors describe themselves in Soul as the universe dumbing itself down for humans to comprehend… which explains why they resemble wires twisted into the shape of a person. “It’s not quite two-dimensional; it’s a little bit three-dimensional,” said Docter. “We thought, ‘Oh, these will be very simple, because they’re just a line.’ Well, it turned out—in typical computer form—you never know what you’re getting into. That was one of the more difficult characters to do not only in the film, but in our library of characters at Pixar.”

7. Don’t lose sight of your dream—or it could turn into a nightmare!
Joe is so intent on making his dreams come true that he loses sight of everything—including the manhole that is literally right in front of him. Of course, being so single-minded can be as advantageous as it can be dangerous. “This [film] talks about being focused on your dreams,” said Bassett. “But maybe sometimes too much focus, or hearing negative chatter from outside, can derail you and take you to a dark vortex or space.” She hopes people who watch the film are inspired to live their best lives—with balance, of course. Said Bassett, “Live it with gusto. Live it with pride. Live it with spark and vitality!” To that point, Foxx added, “The world has been here however many billions of years, so, 70, 80, 100 years is what? It’s a blink of an eye. So, I say to everybody: ‘Don’t waste your blink.’”

Fantasia at 80: Exploring Schubert

December 14, 2020

By Katie Strobel, Walt Disney Archives

We’re continuing our Fantasia (1940) composer series by exploring the life and music of Franz Schubert.

Ave Maria (1825), streaming now on Disney+
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Fantasia: 01:58:22-02:04:15

Franz Schubert may not be a household name like Beethoven, but he too was an important figure in bringing about the Romantic era of Western classical music. The Viennese composer wrote music for only about half of his short 31 years, and yet he managed to compose operas, symphonies, overtures, masses, string quartets, quintets, piano sonatas, choral works, and six HUNDRED songs! Unfortunately, Schubert was not seen as a major composer during his lifetime because he tended to write older forms of music, music for domestic settings, and he was not a virtuoso as were Bach and Beethoven. But that didn’t stop him—in 1823, he even started work on his song cycle Die schöne Müllerin while in the hospital!

We all recognize Schubert’s beautiful “Ave Maria” from the finale of Fantasia (1940). But the history of the composition is not what it seems. The music of “Ave Maria” was indeed composed by Schubert, but with different words and under the title “Ellens dritter Gesang” (“Ellen’s Third Song”). It was one of seven songs that Schubert wrote in 1825 as part of a song cycle based on the text from Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. As was common in Romantic-era music, composers drew upon themes from other art forms, such as paintings or literature.

So where else can you see (or hear) Schubert? Check out Almost Angels (1962), streaming now on Disney+! The film revolves around the Vienna Boys Choir, of which Schubert was a member in 1808. And be sure to check back for a look at Modest Mussorgsky!

Almost Angels (1962), streaming now on Disney+

00:20:58-00:25:10 – In this scene in Max Heller’s office, you can see a bust of Schubert on his desk. You can also hear Schubert’s song “Der Lindenbaum” played by Heller on the piano and sung by choir boys Peter Schaefer and Toni Fiala.

Did You Know? Schubert idolized Beethoven: he was a torchbearer at Beethoven’s funeral, and today they are buried next to each other in a circle of musicians in Vienna’s Central Cemetery.

In case you missed it, click here to see our spotlight look at Ludwig van Beethoven!