The company took some notable risks with the movie, butMichael Jackson’s participation wasn’t one of them.
One anecdote stands out in particular.
He’s looking to change the subject.
LUKE FRAZZA/AFP via Getty Images; Everett Collection
And he obviously loves Disney so much.
He said he’d love to come to my studio, watch the movie, and talk about it.
So we got in touch with Disney Animation.
They said, ‘Meet with him!
If he likes it…well, see what he says.'"
“Michael said, ‘I would like to produce the songs and record some of them.’
What do we do now?
Michael left,” Menken said.
“We got in touch with Disney.
It was like somebody dropped a hot poker into a fragile bowl with explosives.
‘Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.'”
I go, ‘OK, could someone tell him this?’
It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney.
In retrospect, it was the right decision.
Menken was probably right about Jackson’s identification with Quasimodo.
Disney and the Michael Jackson estate didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment on this story.
Read the full oral history over atSlashFilm.
