The 1988 Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit has been a celebrated movie for decades for its combination of both live-action and animation. Of course, the film also features a wide variety of cameos from beloved animated characters. It appears that one of its original character, however, is holding back the sequel according to director Robert Zemeckis – and it’s none other than Jessica Rabbit.
Jessica Rabbit, the iconic wife of Roger Rabbit, has become recognized as an animated sex symbol over the decades. Of course, this might not be something that’s easy to get across when trying to make a sequel – especially when the franchise is intended to include children as part of its audience.
Director Robert Zemeckis believes this is the reason why the Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel has never gotten off the ground, as he believes Disney isn’t willing to greenlight the script due to Jessica Rabbit. Here’s what he shared on that front while speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“There’s a good script [for a sequel] 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.”
He continued to say that the script, which he believes is quite good, just won’t happen with current Disney. He used an example of Jessica Rabbit’s outfit being changed for her theme park appearance which includes a trench coat and hat.
Referring to the sequel, Zemeckis says it “isn’t ever going see the light of day, as good as it is. I mean, look what they did to Jessica at the theme park. They trussed her up in a trench coat, you know.”
Zemeckis even discusses the original film, which the studio had to be convinced to make even at that time. Here’s how he did it then:
“We were able to make it right at the time when Disney was ready to rebuild itself,” he said. “We were there when that new regime came in, and they were full of energy, and they wanted to do it. I kept saying, and I sincerely say this, I do believe this, ‘I’m making Roger Rabbit the way I believe Walt Disney would have made it.’ The reason I say that is because Walt Disney never made any of his movies for children. He always made them for adults. And that’s what I decided to do with Roger Rabbit.”
Perhaps one day Disney will change its mind, if that is the issue, and Robert Zemeckis will be able to make the sequel. Otherwise, Roger Rabbit may very well be a product of his own time – and that’s fine, too. The film has become a classic of its own whether it receives a sequel or not.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on the potential Who Made Roger Rabbit sequel as we have them. For now, however, it seems unlikely that the film will get off the ground – especially if director Robert Zemeckis’s statements are to be believed.