Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a part-animated/part live-action film set in a fictional version of 1940s Los Angeles. The film unfolds as a parody of 40s detective mysteries, with private eye Eddie Valient (played by Bob Hoskins) investigating a complicated conspiracy involving the development of Toontown, a neighborhood inhabited by famous cartoon characters.

Fast Facts:

1. Premiered June 21, 1988
2. Director: Robert Zemeckis
3. Screenwriters: Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
4. Starring: Bob Hoskins, Joanna Cassidy, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer
5. Academy Awards: 3, for editing and special effects
6. Budget: $70 million
7. Based on the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
8. One of the final films made by legendary voice artists Mel Blanc and Mae Questel
9. Features both Disney and Warner Bros. characters

Making the Film

The script for Roger Rabbit is loosely based on screenwriter Robert Towne's proposed Chinatown sequels. A film which he intended to title Cloverleaf, about the construction of the Los Angeles freeway system, was heavily incorporated into the story of Roger Rabbit, and many scenes directly parody scenes from Chinatown.

Roger Rabbit took several years to create. Zemeckis filmed the live action sequences in England, with actors playing to non-existent characters who would be drawn in later. (For some scenes, actor Charles Fleischer, who voiced Roger Rabbit, would appear on the set in a rabbit costume to help the other performers).

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