News Disney is Making a Disney+ Original Movie About the Creation of Disneyland

[Dear Prudence]

Yeah but that's bias really. If Chapek came out on TV to talk about a restaurant renovation they were really proud of, you would think it was cheese no matter how sincere he was being.

The man is incapable of being sincere is the issue. He isn't personable or charming. He doesn't actually care about the company or its legacy or anything beyond profits. He doesn't even know all 12 Disney princesses. I don't think people are mad or dislike at Chapek just because he's not Iger or anybody else. He's just rude. He can't be bothered. Every interview he does, it's clear he doesn't care and everything is an annoyance to him that he has to be bothered. It's the way he responds to literally everything--the Black Widdow lawsuit, messes up on questions of easily-Googled information, his over all smugness (lord, to be that smug and to be that wrong at the same time). Him acting like he can't be bothered and that everything is a waste of his time is what ultimately does it for me.

 

[el_super]

He was not drudging up the past in a way that was self-congratulatory when they haven't truly been innovative or produced anything that impressive or worthwhile in a long time. Walt never had a "remember when we were GOOD??" vibes like these new specials all have.

That's debatable. Did you ever see his Alice in Wonderland TV Special?

The man is incapable of being sincere is the issue. He isn't personable or charming.

Oh I would agree that Chapek is not polished or professional in the way that Iger, Eisner or even Walt were, but I a don't really know him and wouldn't assume that means he doesn't care about the place or isn't a nice guy when you know him. That might be a bit far.

 

[britain]

Isn’t Don Diego also a Spaniard?

Could be. Just like that Anthony Hopkins fellow! Not sure about his wife.

 

[Dear Prudence]

That's debatable. Did you ever see his Alice in Wonderland TV Special?




Oh I would agree that Chapek is not polished or professional in the way that Iger, Eisner or even Walt were, but I a don't really know him and wouldn't assume that means he doesn't care about the place or isn't a nice guy when you know him. That might be a bit far.

I am sure you are referring to the Christmas Alice television special (because there's more than one)--One Hour In Wonderland was before the age of the internet, where everything wasn't readily available at all times, and made when the company still consistently put out innovative and quality products.

Chapek comes across as unprofessional and rude. I didn't do that to him. No one made him a victim.

 

[Dear Prudence]

That's true, Chapek I've always gotten the vibe isn't a big themepark guy.

I doubt he hates Disneyland, he just isn't into it.

He was in charge of the theme parks? or just Disneyland? before. I don't care, I don't have the energy to Google it. My point is: if you are the face of a company, if you are in charge of something, it's your job to represent it. You are its ambassador. You should know everything about it. You should not come off as being rude or bothered in interviews. That's just good business 101. He doesn't even seem to understand how brands and branding works.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I fully agree. Not justifying his job placement, I don't even think he has excitement about working for the Disney company.

He just moved up the chain and figured it was a good position to be in.

I'd say Iger doesn't understand the brand either and that he's Eisner's understudy.

I can't deal with people who get paid that kind of money for doing their job poorly and act like they cannot be bothered. If it were any other company, maybe I wouldn't feel such a way about it, but he's literally in charge of DISNEY.

 

[Dear Prudence]

It's clear he is a product guy, which is his background. I get a company needs both business and creatives to be ran.

But when the business side entirely runs the creative side is when you get a bad outcome.

Eisner was bold enough to do a lot of new things and at least in his early years was incredibly involved in the creative side of things.

There's only one Walt Disney, but Eisner created an entire new generation of Disney fans and understood the family appeal of the brand.

I doubt Chapek gets more involved in an attraction or movie beyond signing off on the budget.

Both Disney and Eisner also respected the intelligence of the people who consume their media.

 

[VJ]

Anyways, a timeline hasn’t been set for this film yet, has it?

production-wise or story-wise? i just read an interview where it was confirmed that the movie will be about walt and roy and the developmental years of disneyland, so that might be a clue

 

[VJ]

Ok just for fun I checked IMDB for people born in Chicago that could end up playing Walt (for historical accuracy of course).

So for consideration:

Michael Madsen
Michael Pena
John C Reilly
Fred Savage
Mandy Patinkin
Andre Braugher
Jim Belushi
Craig Robinson
Joe Mategna
Terrance Howard
Harrison Ford

And of course the most obvious choice to play Walt: Billy Zane.

Honestly, get Ryan Gosling. He might be better fit as a young Walt rather than an older one though.

 

[Disney Irish]

Honestly, get Ryan Gosling. He might be better fit as a young Walt rather than an older one though.

Thomas Ian Nicholas I thought did a pretty good job playing a young Walt in "Walt before Mickey".

 

[smooch]

I would be down to make this a movie event like we did last summer during quarantine. Not sure when this is planned for release, but we can pick a day and watch/roast/enjoy it together.

I would be down, I had a lot of fun doing those movie events on the Discord at the start of the pandemic!

I just checked on Twitter, and this David Gordon Green gentleman is apparently most known for doing gory, bloody, slasher horror films about Halloween. Not sure how that relates to Walt.

Also, from this Tweet 25 minutes ago, Mr. Green appears at indoor events with strangers in Los Angeles County and flagrantly violates LA masking mandates by pushing his mask below his nose. Naughty boy! (Mr. Green is the man on the left, exhaling Covid virus through his exposed nostrils in direct violation of Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors health mandates on mandatory indoor masking.)

http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/docs/COVIDMasks.pdf

Why was covid unnecessarily brought into this thread? Yes it involves the person working on the movie but that has nothing to do with the content of the movie itself.


Also early on in the thread I understand Disney does a lot of PC stuff now and is revising rides to add diversity but I found it tiring to read multiple posts absurdly claiming Disney's going to make a mermaid in Tomorrowland's Lagoon a "transgender white-passing latinx woman" out of nowhere. I don't get the obsession of getting angry at Disney / anyone in general over something they have not even hinted at doing and very likely wouldn't include in the movie anyways, it's just manufactured rage over a topic that is completely unrelated to the thread, much like bringing up a tweet complaining about someone not wearing their mask over their nose. Disney hasn't had a trans character yet, they announced it in April or so of this year there will be a trans character in an upcoming Pixar project but aside from that there has been no instance of Disney trying to shoehorn a trans person storyline into an unrelated project like is being claimed with the lagoon posts. Disney will shoehorn in plenty of things to make Walt Disney look like a better person but they will hopefully work with the plot and make sense, the way they did with Saving Mr. Banks, they're not going to focus on a storyline of a mermaid CM out of nowhere. I know that it's probably not what was meant when posting those posts, but randomly getting angry over a storyline you made up in your head about a trans CM multiple times unprompted just feels wrong and like there's anger towards trans people in the posts, but I am hoping it was just meant as frustration with the push for PC content in Disney media.



Anyways, my thoughts, I am not expecting much out of this movie, I will watch it for sure mostly out of curiosity. I really hope they do a good job, even if they sacrifice some historical accuracy to improve the pacing / etc. for the story being told. Nothing too crazy changing, though. My big wish is to get to see a lot of Disneyland being built / opening day Disneyland recreated through CGI and such, like the portion of Mr. Banks at the park but on a larger scale. All in all I am more excited to see the movie to see just what they change / remove / add to the story of Disneyland. Would also be cool to see concept art from Disneyland's planning phase, but who knows.

 

[Mac Tonight]

Since David Gordon Green is directing, I predict Danny McBride as Walt.

And the more that sinks in, that's the only version I'd want to see.

 

[TP2000]

Why was covid unnecessarily brought into this thread? Yes it involves the person working on the movie but that has nothing to do with the content of the movie itself.

If Mr. Green is going to appear and be photographed in Los Angeles at indoor events, he needs to fix his mask. He's representing Disney now.

Also early on in the thread I understand Disney does a lot of PC stuff now and is revising rides to add diversity but I found it tiring to read multiple posts absurdly claiming Disney's going to make a mermaid in Tomorrowland's Lagoon a "transgender white-passing latinx woman" out of nowhere. I don't get the obsession of getting angry at Disney / anyone in general over something they have not even hinted at doing and very likely wouldn't include in the movie anyways, it's just manufactured rage over a topic that is completely unrelated to the thread, much like bringing up a tweet complaining about someone not wearing their mask over their nose. Disney hasn't had a trans character yet, they announced it in April or so of this year there will be a trans character in an upcoming Pixar project but aside from that there has been no instance of Disney trying to shoehorn a trans person storyline into an unrelated project like is being claimed with the lagoon posts. Disney will shoehorn in plenty of things to make Walt Disney look like a better person but they will hopefully work with the plot and make sense, the way they did with Saving Mr. Banks, they're not going to focus on a storyline of a mermaid CM out of nowhere. I know that it's probably not what was meant when posting those posts, but randomly getting angry over a storyline you made up in your head about a trans CM multiple times unprompted just feels wrong and like there's anger towards trans people in the posts, but I am hoping it was just meant as frustration with the push for PC content in Disney media.

It's a joke. A transgender Latina mermaid in the 1950's Disneyland submarine lagoon is a joke.

Is it the funniest joke in the world? Probably not. But it's just a little hee-hee joke. Like you just sort of think "hee-hee", and then continue reading the rest of the sentence.

I don't actually think they are going to write a plot into this movie that involves one of Disneyland's 1950's mermaids being a transgender Latina, by the way. Which is why it's a joke.

 

[DLR92]

I don’t know if it something I would want to watch…I would be more inclined with an outsider touching Walt biography though. Not Disney. I fear a lot of thing would be clean version of what truly happened in the past.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I don’t know if it something I would want to watch…I would be more inclined with an outsider touching Walt biography though. Not Disney. I fear a lot of thing would be clean version of what truly happened in the past.

Yep. I’d feel more comfortable with an independent producer making a Walt Disney biopic/Disneyland film. I’d even say that I would trust Warner Bros, Paramount, and even Universal to do a more proper job.

Anyone but Disney, pretty much. They can’t be trusted.

 

[Djsfantasi]

They are ACTORS. Their trade is portraying someone that they are not. I don’t care if LMM took on a role as an Irishman. As long as he acted it believable. For that case, he played an Englishman in a role that Dick Van Duke created. Are you saying that he should not have been cast. If an actor can create a believable character well, then I’m comfy. Also, Directors and Producers might benefit if they had a role specific racial actor.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I don’t know if it something I would want to watch…I would be more inclined with an outsider touching Walt biography though. Not Disney. I fear a lot of thing would be clean version of what truly happened in the past.

Even the Walt Disney Family Museum does not shy away from Walt's faults, and have done a marvelous job highlighting people who worked for the company during the Walt era who checked off multiple intersections. It's presented very factually, which I appreciate. Obviously, his daughter had some bias, but they do a great job presenting stuff as history, nothing more. Like, I don't know if I would have mentioned using the real life Lincoln death mask for an animatronic....

 

[britain]

Read more of the article, apparently this is more of a Walt and Roy story than anything else.

 

[truecoat]

Will Smith will be cast as Walt Disney.

 

[wtyy21]

Walt on his deathbed gripping a plan for Epcot Themepark (not the city) and California Adventure: "Roy, build it, make it happen".

It would be interesting to see how end credits showcasing the construction and grand opening of WDW in a tribute to Walt. For me, the Disneyland movie should also tell us about Walt's death and the his impact of WDW.