I walked the Red Carpet at the Oz premiere, meet the stars of the film and interviewed them, watched a chunk of new Iron Man 3 film and interviewed Marvel President Kevin Feige, and I also meet with Mulan Director and Animation Supervisor (identical twin brothers) Tony and Tom Bancroft. Yeah, I can’t quite believe it myself. My time in LA was brief, but amazing.
Tom and Tony Bancroft were sweet, funny, and kind. This is not very profound, but- they are real people. You might have realized this, but I have to confess I found it refreshing to meet such genuine people involved in the movie industry. These brothers were involved in the creation of Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Emperor’s New Groove. My natural inclination would have been that they would be stuffy and somewhat arrogant. This was definitely not the case. Tom and Tony Bancroft were gracious and hilarious.
For instance, they created an original drawing for every single bloggers. That’s 25 original pieces of art! Their thoughtfulness was astounding and I now have a special drawing my family will cherish forever.
Isn’t this amazing!
But of course the meeting was to get the inside scoop on the new Blu-ray release of Mulan. This classic film is celebrating it’s 15 year anniversary this summer and is finally able via Blu-ray. My boys love this film, especially the hysterical dragon Mushu. And on this sunny afternoon at Disney’s Hyperion Bungalow we had a little chat with these two amazing brothers.
Now both brothers are no long with Disney, but in the 1990’s they spent months perfecting little details with each character and scene. As they chatted they actually created the image below right before our eyes. Yes, of course they made it look easy.
Being the father to seven daughters between the both of them, having a strong female role model was an important aspect when creating Mulan. Clearly there would be no damsel in distress, but instead a girl who empowers herself to help her family. I love this!
Clearly, I look enthralled:) I’m not so fond of the look on my face, but I did spend most of the time laughing.
photo courtesy of http://www.insideoutmotherhood.com/
Both brothers have such an obvious passion for Mulan and all the movies they helped create, I couldn’t help but wonder why they are not longer creating Disney movies. Clearly, their work is phenomenal and I for one, would love to see another Bancroft brother collaboration with Disney.
Mulan / Mulan II is available TODAY. Order your copy of this amazing movie now!
My trip to the #DisneyOzEvent was funded entirely by Disney, however all opinions are my own.
He’s quite the artist. We liked Mulan
My nephew would love this! Looks like so much fun!
Boy, I want to be a blogger! lol Sounds like an awesome trip!
How neat! We loved the movie! That is so awesome
What an experience to meet such talented men who so openly shared with all of you!
Love his sketch!!! That is amazing!
Wow, this is such a neat look behind the scenes of one of my favorite Disney movies!
I’m so glad that you had a wonderful time…it looks like it 🙂
What a cool experience! I love Mulan!
It must be really fun to be able to draw characters like that at a whim or have a job associated with making cartoons.
My daughter loved this movie when it first come out
How exciting. What a great opportunity.
How exciting! I love to see how drawings are done.
They have such amazing skill and talent!
This is very interesting. I love it!!
how awesome for you! such a treat to meet them, i bet! they do such beautiful artwork we love Mulan!
Amazing talent there! I am always amazed at how wonderful the whole Disney family is.
Wow! Their work is awesome! You look like you had a lot of fun.What an honor to meet them and have one of their sketches to enjoy.
What a cool opportunity!! I am glad, too, to hear that “real people” are in the movie industry. The media idolizes the rich/famous actors who often seem rather full of themselves. I am glad that these two men helped create some of those great family-friendly movies. Thank you for this post about your experience.
Wow that seems like it was a great meeting and I watched Moulan with my granddaughters, cool movie, sounds like a trip you won’t forget
So cool! You look like you were having so much fun 🙂
Looks like a lot of fun, I love all the sketches, wish I had some of that talent!
Super Talented brothers too bad they are not at Disney any longer Mulan was one of my favorite disney movies
What a fun experience! I haven’t watched Mulan in quite a while, but now I want to give it a re-watch. 🙂
That looks like it was a fun time!
I love Disney Princesses! I wish they’d make more sequels..
Mulan was a good movie I wish I could draw like them! They are lucky to have a talent like that
it looks like you guys had a blast I am so jealous
I love that their daughters (well, strong female role models for them) were the inspiration
I’m so glad that you had a wonderful time
this is one of my favorite disney films! even the version of Mulan on Once Upon a Time is great!
Wow! He’s so talented. I love Mulan!
How awesome!
I love Mulan. He is so talented and I love seeing an artist work as I am always so envious of those who have so much talent.
How much fun that must have been!! That is one of our favorite movies!!