67 Fun Facts About Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Robert Zemeckis. Earlier films that mixed actors and cartoons kept the camera locked in place to spare the animators; he insisted on moving it as freely as in any live-action film.

Who plays private detective Eddie Valiant?

Bob Hoskins. His cartoon co-stars were animated only after filming, so he worked with a mime coach to make grappling with a rabbit who wasn't there look real.

Who provides the voice of Roger Rabbit?

Charles Fleischer. The stand-up comic asked for a Roger costume, rabbit ears included, and wore it on set while delivering his lines from just off camera.

Which actor plays the villainous Judge Doom?

Christopher Lloyd. He reasoned that a toon would never need to blink, so he held his eyes open through each take to make the judge more ominous.

Roger Rabbit's Judge Doom plans to erase Toontown to build what?

A freeway. In the film's 1947, Doom imagines a road lined with billboards as far as the eye can see, and Eddie scoffs that only a toon could cook up such a lamebrain idea.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which Warner Bros. star plays This Little Piggy with Eddie's fingers as he dangles from a building?

Tweety. He counts off Eddie's fingers one little piggy at a time, runs out of piggies, and the detective drops.

Which three chemicals make up Judge Doom's Dip in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Acetone, benzene and turpentine. All three are real paint thinners, which is why the mixture can dissolve characters made of ink and paint.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Judge Doom shows what his Dip can do by lowering what into it?

A shoe. Doom dissolves the squeaking little toon shoe to prove his Dip can kill a toon, long thought impossible; Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, supplied its cries.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was loosely adapted from which 1981 novel?

Who Censored Roger Rabbit? In the book the cast are comic-strip stars who talk in speech balloons, and Roger is not framed for a murder but murdered himself.

What is the name of Roger's glamorous toon wife?

Jessica. Her animators borrowed Rita Hayworth's glamour and Veronica Lake's peek-a-boo hair, and Eddie, who turns up expecting a rabbit, is floored to learn the nightclub bombshell is Roger's wife.

Which actress provided the uncredited speaking voice of Roger's wife?

Kathleen Turner. She had to return to record the character's breathing separately so the animators could finish the body, and says fans now ask her to sign the cartoon more often than her own photo.

Which actress, then married to one of the film's executive producers, sang 'Why Don't You Do Right?' for Roger's wife?

Amy Irving. She supplied only the singing: a second, uncredited star spoke the character's lines, and a third woman performed the number on set for the animators to work over.

Roger's wife famously insists, 'I'm not bad, I'm just...' what?

Drawn that way. The femme-fatale look is only ink, since she turns out to be devoted to Roger, and the Library of Congress quoted the line to sum up the spirit of the whole film.

Eddie secretly photographs Roger's wife and Marvin Acme playing which game?

Patty-cake. Among toons the clapping game counts as cheating, so the photos leave Roger distraught over his wife and make him the obvious suspect when Acme turns up dead the next morning.

Which company bought the city's Pacific Electric railway and is set to buy Toontown at midnight?

Cloverleaf Industries. Its sole shareholder turns out to be Judge Doom, so the lawman hunting Roger for Acme's murder is the very man who stands to gain from it.

What was the name of Eddie Valiant's murdered brother?

Teddy. The Valiant brothers used to love working Toontown cases and thought them a lot of laughs, which is why Eddie's flat refusal to work for toons after the murder is such a turnaround.

How did Judge Doom kill Eddie's brother years earlier?

Dropped a piano on him. It fell fifteen storeys onto both brothers and Eddie escaped with a broken arm, remembering only the killer's high, squeaky voice, the same voice that finally gives Doom away.

Which actress, Blade Runner's replicant Zhora, played Eddie Valiant's girlfriend Dolores?

Joanna Cassidy. Her Dolores does the legwork Eddie won't: it is her trip downtown to check the probate records that turns up the mystery bidder about to take over Toontown.

Which cartoon studio owner hires Eddie to investigate Roger's wife?

Maroon is later shot dead mid-confession while admitting he only meant to blackmail Acme into selling.

Benny, the wise-cracking toon who drives Roger and Eddie away from the weasels, is what kind of vehicle?

A taxi cab. The weasels have him locked in their wagon; asked "Benny, is that you?" he snaps "No, it's Eleanor Roosevelt", and once freed he insists on doing the driving himself.

The Hollywood-set Who Framed Roger Rabbit shot most of its live action in which country?

England. The animators were based there, so 1947 Hollywood was recreated at Elstree Studios, with only a short spell of filming back in California.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, how did Judge Doom win his post as judge of Toontown?

He bought the election. A police lieutenant recalls him spreading a pile of simoleons around Toontown a couple of years earlier, cash the finale traces to an unsolved bank robbery.

Which animator directed the animation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Richard Williams. He told the film-makers he hated cartoons mixed with live action because it never worked, then took the job vowing to throw out every rule of the genre.

Who composed the score for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Alan Silvestri. The director's composer since Romancing the Stone, he wrote the cartoon passages in the style of Carl Stalling, whose scores had driven the classic Warner Bros. shorts.

Which famous ensemble recorded the score for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

London Symphony Orchestra. The composer conducted it himself and added a jazz band, and the two had to keep pace with slapstick written at cartoon speed.

Which Disney and Warner Bros. stars fight a dueling-pianos battle at the Ink and Paint Club?

Donald Duck and Daffy Duck. Warner Bros. lent its stars only if they got the same screen time as Disney's, so the two share one stage, and their duet soon turns into all-out war.

Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny share a scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit doing what?

Skydiving. They drift down beside the plummeting Eddie, and when he begs for their spare parachute, Bugs hands him the spare: a spare tyre.

Which two characters share the final shot of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Tinker Bell and Porky Pig. Porky stammers out "That's all, folks", decides he likes the sound of it and says it again, and Tinker Bell taps the screen dark with her wand.

Under which Disney banner was Who Framed Roger Rabbit released in the United States?

Touchstone Pictures. Disney's bosses judged the innuendo and adult themes too risqué for the family label, so the studio's grown-up banner carried the film instead.

In the cartoon shoot that opens Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger ruins the take by seeing what instead of stars?

Birds. The script calls for stars, but little birds keep circling Roger's head however many times the fridge lands on it, the slump that drives his studio boss to call in a detective.

Which film out-grossed Who Framed Roger Rabbit in US cinemas to finish as the top release of 1988?

Rain Man. The road movie did not open until mid-December, kept selling tickets deep into 1989 to overtake the summer's biggest hit, and then won the Oscar for Best Picture as well.

Which film lost three Oscars to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Die Hard. It lost Film Editing, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects to the rabbit, and went home empty-handed from four nominations.

Roger Rabbit's streetcar-buyout subplot was inspired by which 1974 neo-noir film?

Chinatown. That film hides a real Los Angeles scandal, the scramble for the city's water, inside a private-eye story; this one does the same with the Red Car trolleys the city lost.

Which comedian voiced Roger in the 1983 test footage before losing the role?

Paul Reubens. Then barely known, he voiced the rabbit for Disney's early test reel and lost the part when the film was finally made, by which time Pee-wee Herman had turned him into a star.

Roger's bar-room number, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down, is best known as the theme of which cartoon series?

Looney Tunes. Judge Doom finds the record in the bar, sneers that it is quite a loony selection for a roomful of drunks, and knows at once that the rabbit must be close.

Which actor auditioned for Judge Doom but was rejected as too terrifying?

Tim Curry. His reading was so frightening that the film's producers turned him down, and the villain went instead to an actor the director had already worked with.

When the cameras stop rolling, Roger's co-star Baby Herman turns out to be a gruff adult with a taste for what?

Cigars. The moment the director yells cut, the gurgling infant stalks off to his trailer, and he is later found puffing a stogie and grumbling that he has a fifty-year-old's urges in a three-year-old's body.

Judge Doom's last words in Who Framed Roger Rabbit echo the villain of which classic film?

The Wizard of Oz. He shrieks that he is melting as the Dip he brewed to erase the toons dissolves him, just as a bucket of water did for the Wicked Witch of the West.

The Ink and Paint Club, where toons perform for humans-only crowds, mirrors which segregated Harlem nightclub?

The Cotton Club. In the Jazz Age it put Black stars such as Duke Ellington on stage for whites-only audiences, and the film's "toon revue, strictly humans only" turns that rule into a cartoon.

The Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble played in cinemas before which 1989 film?

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Disney double-billed it with the new seven-minute cartoon, which helped the family comedy feel like an event in the summer of Batman, and some fans bought tickets just for the rabbit.

What password gets Eddie Valiant past the gorilla on the door of the Ink and Paint Club?

"Walt sent me". Eddie says it through a speakeasy-style peephole to Bongo, the tuxedoed gorilla bouncer, who later catches him peeping through a dressing-room keyhole.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which cartoon star operates the Toontown elevator that Eddie rides?

Droopy. The mournful hound greets Eddie with a deadpan "Going up, sir", and the film's own animation director stepped up to the microphone to voice him.

Eddie Valiant's actor later called which of his films the worst job he ever did?

Super Mario Bros. Asked years later for his worst job, his biggest disappointment and the one thing he would change about his past, he gave the 1993 video-game film as the answer to all three.

Which working title did Who Framed Roger Rabbit carry during production?

Dead Toons Don't Pay Bills. The makers ran through at least half a dozen titles, from the blunt Toons to Murder in Toontown and The Toontown Trial, before settling on the question that sums up the plot.

When Judge Doom offers a reward for Roger, a barfly says he sees a rabbit and introduces which imaginary friend?

Harvey. The joke borrows the unseen giant rabbit of the James Stewart film, and it comes from Angelo, the loudmouth Eddie was sure would sell Roger out for a nickel.

A cancelled Roger Rabbit prequel script, The Toon Platoon, would have sent Roger off to which war?

World War II. Roger was to enlist, rescue his future wife from a Nazi spy and come home to a parade, where his long-lost father is revealed to be Bugs Bunny.

Roger Rabbit tells a furious Eddie that he could slip out of their handcuffs only when what?

It was funny. Roger had cuffed himself to Eddie with handcuffs that had no key, then casually slides a hand free while Eddie is sawing at the chain, because a toon obeys comedy, not physics.

What colour is Roger's bow tie?

Blue. The polka-dot tie was borrowed from Porky Pig, one of several classic stars the animators raided for parts, along with Mickey Mouse's gloves.

Which legendary voice actor reprised Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Mel Blanc. It was one of his last performances, and he voiced five of his classic characters but left Yosemite Sam to Joe Alaskey, who went on to become one of his regular successors.

Which Disney character does Roger's studio boss say he has on loan, along with half the cast of Fantasia?

Dumbo. He flaps past the office window while the boss gloats that the best thing about borrowed Disney stars is that they work for peanuts.

Judge Doom's weasel gang is a parody of which group of Disney characters?

The Seven Dwarfs. The gang was planned as seven weasels with dwarf-style names before two were cut, which is why the survivors still answer to the likes of Greasy, Stupid and Psycho.

In an early script, Judge Doom turned out to be the killer of which Disney character?

Bambi's mother. In a 1986 draft Eddie says the toon who murdered his brother was "the guy who killed Bambi's mother", a culprit the finished film quietly left out.

An early Roger Rabbit script gave Judge Doom a briefcase jury of twelve toon animals of which kind?

Kangaroos. It was a literal kangaroo court: on Doom's cue twelve joeys popped out of the pouches holding cards that spelled out YOU ARE GUILTY.

Which cartoon duo is missing from Who Framed Roger Rabbit because the film-makers failed to secure the rights?

Tom and Jerry. Deals brought in stars from Disney, Warner Bros. and several other studios, but no agreement could be reached for them, or for Popeye and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Which classic Disney rabbit does Roger name as his uncle in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Thumper. When Eddie talks of checking the probate, Roger says his Uncle Thumper had trouble with his probate too, and had to take big pills and drink lots of water.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Marvin Acme's missing will turns out to have been written in what?

Invisible ink. It was Acme's own Disappearing-Reappearing Ink, so the blank sheet on which Roger had scribbled his wife a love letter turns out to be the will that leaves Toontown to the toons.

What flattens Judge Doom, revealing him to be a toon in disguise?

A steamroller. It leaves him paper-thin until he peels himself off the floor and reinflates, a shot the film-makers did with stop-motion puppets rather than cartoon cels.

How does Eddie dispatch four of the weasels in the Acme factory?

Makes them laugh themselves to death. The detective who has not cracked a smile since his brother died sings, dances and juggles until four weasels expire giggling, then boots their leader into the Dip.

Roger's stammering catchphrase is 'P-p-p-' what?

'Please' became 'P-p-p-please' only after casting: the filmmakers asked Roger's voice actor to invent a speech impediment, reasoning that most classic cartoon stars have one.

Which comedian passed on the Valiant role because acting with cartoons sounded ridiculous, to his later regret?

Eddie Murphy later ranked it with Ghostbusters and Rush Hour as his three 'wish I would have done' films, each a giant hit made without him.

Which Monty Python member was offered the director's chair but passed, calling it too much work?

Terry Gilliam was approached when the project was still just a novel; he read it, did not want to get into animation, and later put the refusal down to 'pure laziness on my part'.

How was the flashing-sequin effect on the nightclub dress of Roger's wife created?

Light filtered through a scratched plastic bag gave each sequin its star-shaped twinkle: an effects artist ran steel wool over the bag, liked the result, and it went into the film.

Which Roger Rabbit cartoon is being filmed on a soundstage as the film opens?

Somethin's Cookin' breaks off when its director storms on to bawl Roger out for blowing the take; the other three titles are real shorts Disney released in cinemas after the film's success.

The actor who played Eddie Valiant suffered what for months after filming wrapped?

Hallucinations of weasels and rabbits were the price of months acting opposite thin air: he said he had trained himself to hallucinate his co-stars, and a weasel would still 'creep out of the wall' at him.

Who talked CEO Michael Eisner out of shutting production down when the budget hit $40 million?

Jeffrey Katzenberg, then the studio's chairman, had argued from the start that the live-action and animation hybrid would 'save' Disney's animation department.

What happens to Roger Rabbit whenever he takes a drink of alcohol?

He shrieks like a steam whistle, loudly enough to shatter every glass in the room; Eddie later uses the trick, slipping the rabbit a bourbon to break up his execution.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit earned a Special Achievement Academy Award for what?

Animation direction earned its director a Special Achievement Oscar. He had taken the job on a promise of help distributing The Thief and the Cobbler, a passion project he had been toiling on since the 1960s.