Eric Goldberg is the legendary Disney animator of The Genie. Goldberg draws the beloved character on an episode of the new informational series Sketchbook (premiering this Wednesday April 27th on Disney+). Goldberg discusses how The Genie has remained a core part of his life in the 30 years since Aladdin — and a highly-anticipated Mickey Mouse short and documentary. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: How were you presented with the idea for this very special series?

Eric Goldberg: It came from [Disney Animation SVP, PR] Amy Astley. She was the first one to mention it to all of us who were involved. It just sounded wonderful. Part informational, part tutorial and part “how did you get here?”. Those three things really make for a very interesting series. I think people watching it will understand all the different paths that people take to get to the same spot, in this case Disney Animation.

JM: Animation fans, especially Disney fans, will love learning about your life AND how to draw the Genie. Was it nerve wracking to draw this sketch of the Genie with the cameras really in your face?

EG: (laughs) Actually, it kind of was. I don’t have any problem drawing on camera, but when you have to break down and be slow with it so people understand the steps, that’s harder. That’s more difficult because you’re not making as spontaneous or as natural a drawing. Hopefully I did well enough that people will be able to draw their own Genies just fine.

JM: You did a fantastic job. How has this character, and your sketch of this character, stayed with you now for more than 30 years?

EG: Oh God, I’m old. (laughs) The Genie’s my good luck charm. The Genie is the first character I animated at Disney and he’s been with me ever since. I’ve had so much good fortune attached to this particular character, not the least of which, of course, is getting to work with Robin Williams and getting to animate to his wonderful soundtrack. Befriending Al Hirschfeld — the first time I met him was at the Museum of Modern Art at a work in progress screening in New York. I’m standing at the entrance of the Ziegfeld Theatre with my wife and brother. At the time, Peter Schneider, who was the president of feature animation then, walks by and goes, “By the way you’re Al and Dolly Hirschfeld’s [companions] tonight.” UGH!!

Up comes the limo. Out they come. “MR. HIRSCHFELD!” He was great. To be honest, he gave it the biggest compliment he could. Often Al was very critical of styles that didn’t mesh in Disney animated films, particularly Snow White. He didn’t feel like the live-action characters meshed with the dwarfs meshed with the red backgrounds. When [Aladdin] was over and he was sitting next to me and I said, “What did you think?” he said, “It all looked like it was drawn by one hand.” And I will take that to my grave. 500 of us trying to draw in a consistent style and it made Al Hirschfeld say that.

JM: That’s awesome. I love the line you say in this episode of Sketchbook, you “love animation that looks like it’s enjoying itself on the screen.” You truly believe that animated characters have a soul, and I think that’s powerful.

EG: Absolutely. Our big golden mean for animating is when the characters look like they’re doing it by themselves — doesn’t look like a bunch of drawings pushed around, it looks like the characters are enjoying themselves on screen. They’re doing it. Their thought process. They’re deciding to dance a sailor’s hornpipe. You have to feel like these characters exist if they’re going to be connecting with people. People need to feel like these characters are flesh and blood even though they’re a bunch of drawings.

JM: You’re a four-time Annie Award winner, which is incredible. And also you animated Louis the Alligator for The Princess and the Frog. When that film got nominated for the Academy Award that year for Best Animated Feature, they did this little bit before they presented the award with the characters [from the five movies]. So did you really only have about four weeks to get that clip of Louis onto the Academy Awards show?

EG: I don’t remember the deadline but yes it was fast! (laughs) And it was fun to do!

JM: That’s pretty cool. You’ve got something really interesting coming out: “Mickey in a Minute”, a new short that’s associated with a brand new Mickey Mouse documentary [Mickey: The Story of a Mouse]. What’s the connection that this special has to this documentary?

EG: First of all, I have to credit Jeff Malmberg, the director, who was interested in having some animation in this documentary, and Amy Astley. We sat around and spitballed a bunch of ideas. We settled on this one idea I had of Mickey getting sucked into the vortex from “The Little Whirlwind” and then going backwards through his greatest hits. So you see his style evolve all the way back to “Steamboat Willie”. It’s only a minute long, but it captures what I hope are his greatest moments.

JM: I’m entranced by this already. I can’t wait to see it. This is going to be on Disney+ later this year, and I believe it premiered at SXSW.

EG: That’s correct.

JM: And the reception was good?

EG: The reception was wonderful. I was a little choked up when it got spontaneous applause when they showed the short towards the end of the documentary, which was really great.

JM: What does having Sketchbook on Disney+ mean to you, and what do you think it’s going to mean for the next generation of animators?

EG: For the next generation of animators, this is the kind of program that would captivate me when I was young. There were plenty of people on television who drew on camera at the time. I still have very fond memories of that. I hope the takeaway is that we all started somewhere. We all started as kids. We all started drawing. And anybody can do it. That’s the thing. You’re not born with talent. You have to cultivate it. I hope this series encourages young animators to say, “Yeah, I can do that. That’s pretty cool. I can do that!”

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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