Roger Allers (born June 29, 1949) is an American film director, screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist, and playwright. He is best known for co-directing Disney's The Lion King (1994), the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, and for writing the Broadway adaptation of the same name. He also directed Sony Pictures Animation's first feature-length animated film, Open Season (2006) and the animated adaptation of The Prophet.
Life and career
Early life
Born in Rye, New York, but raised in Scottsdale, Arizona,[1] Allers became a fan of animation, at the age of five, after seeing Disney's Peter Pan (1953). Deciding that he wanted to pursue a career in animation, and even work alongside Walt Disney himself, a few years later, he sent off to Disneyland for a do-it-yourself animation kit.[1] However, Allers, by then a high school student, grew discouraged about achieving his dream when he had heard of Disney's death in 1966.[2]
Despite not getting the chance to meet Walt Disney, Allers still pressed on to receive a Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University. However, when he attended a class at Harvard University, he realized that his interest in animation had been revitalized. After receiving his degree in Fine Arts, he spent the next two years traveling and living in Greece.[1] While there, he spent some time living in a cave, and eventually met Leslee, whom he later married.[3] As a young adult, Allers accepted a job with Lisberger Studios, where he worked as an animator for projects such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Make a Wish, and various other commercials.
In 1978, he relocated to Los Angeles with Steven Lisberger to work on a feature film titled Animalympics (1980) to which he provided story work, character design and animation for the film. Three years later, Allers found work serving as part of the storyboard team for Tron, which was the first theatrical feature film he worked on. In 1980, Allers and his family moved to Toronto, Canada, where he worked for Nelvana Studios as an animator on a feature titled Rock & Rule (1983). Following a brief return to Los Angeles, Allers provided character design, preliminary animation, and story development for the Japanese-produced animated feature, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989). For the next two years, he resided in Tokyo to serve as an animation director overseeing the Japanese artists.[1]
Disney
Returning to Los Angeles in 1985, he heard that Disney was looking for a storyboard artist to work on Oliver & Company (1988). When he applied for the job, Allers was asked to draw some sample character model sheets as a tryout, and worked on a portfolio. He was hired shortly thereafter.[1] Since then, he served as a storyboard artist on The Little Mermaid (1989), The Prince and the Pauper (1990), and The Rescuers Down Under (1990). For Beauty and the Beast (1991), he was appointed as Head of Story, leading a team of story artists to illustrate sketches from Linda Woolverton's screenplay.[4] When Beauty and the Beast was nearly finished, Allers joined the King of the Jungle project as a director alongside George Scribner.[5] He temporarily left the project to help storyboard sequences for Aladdin (1992).[5][1]
In October 1991, Allers rejoined King of the Jungle, in which he recruited Brenda Chapman, who would become the film's Head of Story. Afterwards, several of the lead crew members, including Allers, Scribner, Chapman, and production designer Chris Sanders, took a safari trip to Kenya, in order to study and gain an appreciation of the environment for the film. After six months of story development work, Scribner decided to leave the project, as he disagreed with the decision to turn the film into a musical, as Scribner's intention was to make a documentary-like film more focused on natural aspects.[6] Following Scribner's departure, and dissatisfied with the original story, Allers along with Don Hahn, Sanders, Chapman, and Beauty and the Beast directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale conceived a new story outline for the film over the course of two days in February 1992.[7] In April 1992, Rob Minkoff was added as a co-director,[1] and the title was changed to The Lion King (1994).
After nearly four years on Kingdom of the Sun, Allers decided to leave the project due to creative differences with Mark Dindal and Peter Schneider, then-president of animation at Disney.[13] Ultimately, the project was reworked into The Emperor's New Groove (2000), and Allers left to work on Lilo & Stitch (2002) as a story artist. In 2001, he was approached by Hahn to direct the short film, The Little Matchgirl (2006).[14] The project underwent about two years of work, as it was planned to be attached with the proposed Fantasia 2006 film. It was however included as a bonus feature on The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD. At the 79th Academy Awards, The Little Matchgirl was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[15][16]
Meanwhile, Allers pitched the Celtic folk ballad tale Tam Lin to Michael Eisner, who at the time was in a corporate struggle with Roy E. Disney. Once Eisner recognized the project was Disney's "baby", he declined to green-light the project.[5]
In January 2012, it was announced that Allers will oversee the narrative structure, as well as supervise the production of an animated adaptation of The Prophet.[19][20] In May 2014, a work-in-progress version of The Prophet (2014) was screened at the Cannes Film Festival,[21] and was given a limited release in August 2015.[22]
Personal life
Allers married Leslee Hackenson in 1977. In March 2020, Allers filed for divorce from Hackenson.[23] They have a daughter, Leah, and a son, Aidan.[1][2]
^ abcdefgh"The Lion King: Film Notes" (Press release). Walt Disney Pictures. May 25, 1994. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2015 – via LionKing.org.
^Laporte, Nicole (May 24, 2011). The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks. Mariner Books. pp. 208–209. ISBN978-0-547-52027-8.
