Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshiis an American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote. He has been involved in numerous television projects as director, writer, producer and animator...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCartoonist
Date of Birth29 October 1938
CountryUnited States of America
I thought I had the rights to The Lord of the Rings. I don't know how Jackson ended up with the rights.
I wouldn't leave Disney to do Disney.
I hired Bob at Terrytoons. He was my assistant animator, and then became an animator himself. He had just come from Boston with his family and was a brilliant draftsman as well as a great jazz guitarist. We had lots of fun nights in Greenwich Village together and then later hanging in LA. Bob worked on Fritz the Cat , Heavy Traffic , Coonskin , and on Wizards . I am terribly saddened by his passing and will miss him dearly.
Most of the animated films I watched, the emotions are all prepackaged like canned music, the hand actions, the sighs.
Lord of the Rings made me realize that I'm not interested in doing anyone else's work.
I'm having the same problems today that I had when I first started, saying that outrageous adult animation works.
All the old great companies were run by guys who knew what an animator meant, and guys who knew how to draw. All the companies today are run by executives.
I miss animation very passionately. Not continuously, but every once in a while I would die to do another film.
I would like to have the original ending to my Lord of the Rings instead of the one they released. In my original cut I had the victory at Helm's Deep as the final sequence.
I animated 20 years at Terry Toons. It's important to know that animators like pizza and a raise once in a while, and you've got to treat them with love.
The rise of anime had to happen. If the Japanese could tell better American stories, it would go through the roof. They still tell stories which are very much oriental. I take my hat off to them.
Wizards was my homage to Tolkien in the American idiom. I had read Tolkien, understood Tolkien, and wanted to do a sort of fantasy for American kids, and that was Wizards.
You cant second-guess yourself as a filmmaker.
Look what Disney's done to their animation department. There wasn't an animator in charge of their animation unit!