Context: "Atlantis" character Joshua Sweet Disney milestone sweet for actor, animator

[weber_dubois22]

Dr. Joshua Sweet, one of the heroes of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is a heroic member of the team searching for the undersea world of Atlantis. And he's the first black character in the history of Disney animated feature films. That may surprise you. After all, you may remember Eddie Murphy's routines in Mulan, Samuel E. Wright's rendition of Under the Sea in the Little Mermaid, Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox in Song of the South or the crows in Dumbo. But none of those characters were human. "It has taken a ridiculously long time," says Atlantis director Kirk Wise.

Ron Husband, a black animator now in his 26th year at Disney who drew the Atlantis character, thinks he knows why. Nobody wanted to do it just for the sake of doing it, he says. "I wouldn't have been as thrilled if this were something just tacked on," Husband says. "We're in the storytelling business. We're not trying to make a point."

In this case, Wise imagined Preston B. Whitmore, the eccentric billionaire who finances the 1914 expedition to Atlantis, to be a forward thinker in every way. "His technology is 100 years in the future and his social thinking is, too. He would assemble the best crew he could with no regard to sex, race or age."

Phil Morris, best known as the motormouth Johnnie Cochran sendup, Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, supplies the voice of Sweet.

"My memory banks are filled with Disneyana, but I was not really aware that the character was breaking the door in," Morris says. "But Ron kept saying stuff to me like, 'I'm very happy to be working with you' and 'You're bringing so much to this.' I believe I finally asked him, 'Is this unique? Is the first time?' He said yes. He was so proud of the character."

Husband and Morris were determined to avoid the obvious pitfalls. "He and I were very mindful of not making this character the comic relief," Morris says. "Dr. Sweet has a lot of dimension and a lot of humanity. He is the doctor and a man of science and medicine."

Morris' father, Gregg, who starred for years on TV's Mission: Impossible, was influential in this regard. "My father's image in television and film was always one of integrity," Morris says, explaining one reason he wanted Sweet to be a positive character. Among portrayals, Sweet was special to Morris.

"Now, don't get me wrong," he says, "I'll play a killer in a minute. I'm an actor." Husband is proud of the character, partly because matching the animation to Morris' delivery was a challenge. The animator got the first hint his work would pay off during an early preview screening. "People were laughing along with the lines," he recalls. "That to me is a successful scene, the audience was supposed to laugh, and they did laugh. That to me was a big, emotional thing."

There's more of Sweet to come in a Disney TV spinoff of the film called Team Atlantis. Says Morris, who again supplies the voice: "We're doing a ton of episodes, because Disney has such a great feeling about it. We're full speed ahead."

By Andy Seiler, USA TODAY
Contributing: Susan Wloszczyna
06/13/2001 - Updated 09:20 AM ET
SOURCE

Comments

[huit.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this interview! :)

There's more of Sweet to come in a Disney TV spinoff of the film called Team Atlantis. Says Morris, who again supplies the voice: "We're doing a ton of episodes, because Disney has such a great feeling about it. We're full speed ahead."

I never even knew they had planned a spinoff series. That would have been amazing had they actually pulled through!

[qlbunnies.livejournal.com]

It's really too bad the TV series didn't happen. From what I heard, the animation that was produced for it ended up being lumped together to create the Atlantis sequel. But I haven't seen the sequel, so I couldn't say whether it seemed that way.

Btw, I do think it's great that Atlantis will remain notable in Disney history for at least one reason, but I hope Disney was at least a little embarrassed that this "breakthrough" happened in 2001.