American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008): Difference between revisions

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<blockquote>"Henry, a famous TV dog, finds himself stranded in the Nevada desert. Out in the world for the first time, Henry's tidy life of scripted triumph has come to an end, and his 2,000 mile trek through the real world is just beginning."<ref>[http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2007/02/13/toon-tuesday-how-disney-is-fixing-american-dog.aspx Jim Hill Media's editorial article about ''American Dog'' including Sanders' description of the plot.] Retrieved 14 Mar '16</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"Henry, a famous TV dog, finds himself stranded in the Nevada desert. Out in the world for the first time, Henry's tidy life of scripted triumph has come to an end, and his 2,000 mile trek through the real world is just beginning."<ref>[http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2007/02/13/toon-tuesday-how-disney-is-fixing-american-dog.aspx Jim Hill Media's editorial article about ''American Dog'' including Sanders' description of the plot.] Retrieved 14 Mar '16</ref></blockquote>


Henry would run into a giant, radioactive rabbit and a cat with an eyepatch who had access to a classic car. He would con them into helping him get back home all the while learning how to interact with normal people and live without being served on hand and foot. John Travolta, Thomas Haden Chruch, and Mario Cantone were rumored to be the voices for the trio<ref>[https://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2006/09/15/5733.aspx Jim Hill Media article about the film from September 2006]</ref>. According to artist Mike Gabriel in the book, ''They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's New Golden Age'', during his travels Henry would come across 'The Lady In Black,' a circus performer from the '30s who had done a fire act with a gorilla. She was now holed up in a mansion in the swamps of Georgia. A mutant girl scout named Ruth (or Ruthie) and a sexy Vegas waitress named Jo Night were also part of the film in some way<ref>[https://www.instagram.com/p/BcqQGYPn9Cr/ Instagram post from artist Mark Anthony Austin showing off artwork of Jo and mentioning Ruth]</ref>.
Henry would run into a giant, radioactive rabbit (named Mr. Buttons in the filename of a piece of concept art) and a cat with an eyepatch (named Spig in a piece of concept art) who had access to a classic car. He would con them into helping him get back home all the while learning how to interact with normal people and live without being served on hand and foot. John Travolta, Thomas Haden Chruch, and Mario Cantone were rumored to be the voices for the trio.<ref>[https://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2006/09/15/5733.aspx Jim Hill Media article about the film from September 2006.] Retrieved 02 Apr '19</ref> According to animator Daniel Chong<ref>[https://archive.ph/NmMUi Archived Twitter thread by animator Daniel Chong with plot details] Retrieved 22 Nov '22</ref>, the cat and rabbit would have lived in a gas station where they kept retirement savings in a giant dinosaur statue. According to artist Mike Gabriel in the book, ''They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's New Golden Age'', during his travels Henry would come across 'The Lady In Black,' a circus performer from the 1930s who had done a fire act with a gorilla. She was now holed up in a mansion in the swamps of Georgia. A mutant girl scout named Ruth (or Ruthie) would have stalked the cat and rabbit at night. A sexy Vegas waitress named Jo Night<ref>[https://imgsed.com/p/BcqQGYPn9Cr/ Instagram post from artist Mark Anthony Austin showing off artwork of Jo and mentioning Ruth.] Retrieved 02 Apr '19</ref>, a fez-wearing, knife throwing gorilla<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230611230734/https://twitter.com/Izaart/status/1310677412212953088 Archived Twitter thread by animator Melody Iza] Retrieved 11 Jun '23</ref>, and a cast of characters inspired by Ocean's 11 were also part of the film in some way. According to an interview with Chirs Sanders,<ref>[https://fumettologica.it/2022/07/intervista-chris-sanders-lilo-stitch/2/ Fumetto Logica interview with Chris Sanders]</ref> Henry was bought at a kennel and grew up working on movie sets, so its all he knows. Then when filming was finished, he would be put in a dark room and his life would be on hold until the filming of the next episode. Once Henry gets loose in the real world, it seems the same to him, just without someone yelling "cut" or "action" and appears to be a bit duller. Because of this, Henry has "bravery born of ignorance", he is driven to do things, but doesn't actually know how to do them. For example Henry would go behind the wheel of a car, but can't actually drive, so a comedic scene of his awful driving skills causing a horrible situation could potentially occur (and thus why he needs the help of the cat and the rabbit).


==Availability==
==Availability==
Ultimately, the film was considered too surreal and ''"too bold"'' by the executives at Disney. Sanders got kicked off the project in late 2006 and replaced by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, spurring Sanders to leave Disney entirely and later join DreamWorks Animation.<ref>[http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/07/28/former-disney-animator-speaks-out-against-management/ Sanders' comments against Disney management.] Retrieved 14 Mar '16</ref> The film was soon re-written and became ''Bolt'', which was released in 2008. In honor of ''American Dog'', Sanders reused the eyepatch-wearing cat (who would become the character Mittens in the final film) in his webcomic, ''Kiskaloo''.
Ultimately, the film was considered too surreal and "too bold" by the executives at Disney. Sanders got kicked off the project in late 2006 and replaced by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, spurring Sanders to leave Disney entirely and later join DreamWorks Animation.<ref>[http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/07/28/former-disney-animator-speaks-out-against-management/ Sanders' comments against Disney management.] Retrieved 14 Mar '16</ref> According to the book ''Creativity Inc.: overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration'', one of the largest plot elements that caused the reworking of the film was Ruthie. "...somewhere along the way, the plot had also come to include a radioactive, cookie-selling Girl Scout zombie serial killer. I'm all for quirky ideas, but this one had metastasized...which while we prided ourselves on always remaining open to new ideas-seemed a tad dark for a family film. Despite our misgivings, though, we decided to give the movie a chance to evolve. Finding a movie's throughline always takes time, we told ourselves. But after ten months of Story Trust meetings-and very little improvement we concluded that the only option was to restart the project." Another issue was trying to rationalize Henry's actions. <blockquote>Chris Sanders: It had a lot to do with rationalizing what this dog was. 'Can he drive a car or can he not?” The answer was yes and no. He can make the car go but, no, he can’t drive. And that would become a big sticking point. In my mind, that idea wasn’t that weird, it was pretty simple; in other people’s minds at the studio, it wasn’t making any sense.
 
In an interview with Slashfilm<ref>[https://www.slashfilm.com/501473/interview-john-lasseter/ Slashfilm interview with John Lasseter]</ref>, John Lasseter also mentioned a lack of suspension of belief with the characters:
 
/Film: Oh definitely. What do you think the biggest change was in the direction that you took "Bolt" from what Sanders was doing to what it is today?
 
John Lasseter: Well I think part of it was focusing on the believability of this dog, and we could set it up so the audience can understand how this dog could believe that this is all real. And so there's a little focus on kind of making the animals in the film feel a little bit more like real animals</blockquote>The film was soon re-written and became ''Bolt'', which was released in 2008. Several of the animators from ''American Dog'' moved on to the ''Bolt'' production. In honor of ''American Dog'', Sanders reused the eyepatch-wearing cat (who would become the character Mittens in the final film) as well as the rabbit in his webcomic, ''Kiskaloo''.


Still, very little production material and artwork of ''American Dog'' has been released or leaked to the public and all that is known to currently exist of ''Bolt'''s original incarnation is test footage of the film shown at SIGGRAPH 2005.
Still, very little production material and artwork of ''American Dog'' has been released or leaked to the public and all that is known to currently exist of ''Bolt'''s original incarnation is test footage of the film shown at SIGGRAPH 2005.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
===Concept Art===
====Mark Anthony Austin====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Mark Anthony Austin American Dog Ruth.jpg|Art of Ruth the mutant Girl Scout.
File:Mark Anthony Austin American Dog Jo Night.jpg|Art of Vegas waitress Jo Night.
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 1.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 2.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 3.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 4.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 5.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 6.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 7.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony Austin - Ruthie 3.jpg|
File:Mark anthony austin - ruthie - american dog.png|
</gallery>
====Gregorio Miller====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:PhoneBooth v4.9p.jpg|Art of a Phone Booth.
File:American Dog 1.jpg|Concept art of the rabbit.
File:Area51.jpg|Art of Area 51.
File:DeathRay v6Pres.jpg|Art of a Death Ray.
File:Jupitorstation1 5.4flatRes.jpg|Art of "Jupitor Station", a location from the film.
File:Jupitorstation2 v5.3pRes.jpg|
File:Dinosaur-gas-station.jpg|
File:Greg Miller - set concept art.jpg|Concept art of a Hollywood set
File:Gregory miller - scenery.jpg|Concept art of scenery
File:ADogGarage.jpg|Art of a garage.
</gallery>
====Sean Eckols ====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:American dog - sledding.jpg|Concept art of Henry, Spig (the cat) and Mr. Buttons (the rabbit) sledding
File:Sean Eckols - character 1.jpg|Concept art of a character
File:Sean Eckols - character 2.jpg|
File:Sean Eckols - character 3.jpg|
File:Sean Eckols - character 4.jpg|
File:Sean Eckols - character 5.jpg|
File:Sean Eckols - Jo Night.jpg|Concept art of Jo Night/Knight
</gallery>
====Brian Kesinger====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Downhill escape.jpg|Concept art of a downhill escape
File:Henry on set 1.jpg|Concept art of Henry on set
File:Henry on set 2.jpg
File:Henry's wrecked trailer.jpg|Concept art of Henry's wrecked trailer
File:Safari casino 1.jpg|Concept art of the Safari Casino
File:Safari casino 2.jpg
File:Safari casino elevator version 1.jpg|Concept art of the Safari Casino elevator
File:Safari casino elevator version 2.jpg
File:Sleezy hotel view 1.jpg|Concept art of a sleezy hotel
File:Sleezy hotel view 2.jpg
File:Spig's garage storeroom.jpg|Concept art of Spig's garage storeroom
File:Spig's garage.jpg|Concept art of Spig's garage
File:Wrecked nascar 2.jpg|Concept art of a wrecked Nacar
File:Wrecked nascar.jpg
</gallery>
==== Mike Gabriel====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 1.jpg|Concept art of The Lady in Black's home
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 2.jpg|Concept art of The Lady in Black
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 3.jpg
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 4.jpg
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 5.jpg
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 6.jpg
File:American Dog - Mike Gabriel - 7.jpg
</gallery><gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
</gallery>
====Sai Ping Lok====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:American Dog - Sai Ping Lok-1.jpg
File:American Dog - Sai Ping Lok-2.jpg
File:American Dog - Sai Ping Lok-3.jpg
File:American Dog - Sai Ping Lok-4.jpg
File:American Dog - Sai Ping Lok-5.jpg
</gallery><gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
</gallery>
====Uncredited/Other====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Americandoglogo webp.png|Title Treatment.
File:Tumblr m6vtl0ooaf1r2w685o1 1280.jpg|Concept art of Henry and the eyepatch-wearing cat.
File:Paul Felix American Dog concept art.jpg|Concept art of Henry in a casino. By Paul Felix.
File:Ad-garage-interior.jpg|Concept art of a Garage. By Paul Felix.
File:Henry fleeing.jpg|Concept art of Henry fleeing a casino by Paul Felix
File:American dog 4.jpg
File:Americandog1old.jpg|Concept art of the cat.
File:Cat-w-eye-patch.jpg|Concept art of the one-eyed cat.
File:EVX76NeU4AE1dWe.jpg|Concept art of the cat and rabbit. By Daniel Chong.
File:Ad-w-woman-porch.jpg
File:Ad-james-bond.jpg|Concept art of Henry.
File:Ad-with-cape webp.png|Concept art of Henry.
File:Aad4.jpg
File:1 - bill perkins.jpg|Concept art of Henry by Bill Perkins
File:2 - bill perkins.jpg|Concept art of a house by Bill Perkins
</gallery>
=== Renders===
====Roger Borelli====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Roger-borelli-dfa-american-dog-bmbb.jpg|Model of "BMBB".
File:Roger-borelli-dfa-american-dog-bmbe.jpg|Model of "BMBE".
File:Roger-borelli-dfa-american-dog-waitress.jpg|Model of "Waitress".
File:Roger-borelli-dfa-american-dog-tomm.jpg|Model of "Tomm".
File:Roger-borelli-dfa-american-dog-bmoc.jpg|Model of "BMOC".
</gallery>
====Gregorio Miller ====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:MrButtons Final Res.jpg|Model of "Mr. Buttons".
File:SagoPalm v2F Res.jpg|Model of "Mr. Buttons" with a bush.
File:BananaTree v3Fnew.jpg|Model of a banana tree.
</gallery>
====Phil Zucco ====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:American dog character 1.png|Model of a character
File:American dog character 2.png|
</gallery>
====Dan Platt====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Dan Platt - car 1.jpg|Model of a car
File:Dan Platt - car 2.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 3.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 4.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 5.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 6.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 7.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 8.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 9.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - car 10.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - house 1.jpg|Model of a house
File:Dan Platt - house 2.jpg|
File:Dan Platt - house 3.jpg|
</gallery>
====David Mooy====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:David Mooy - car 1.jpg|Model of a car
File:David Mooy - car 2.jpg|
File:David Mooy - car 3.jpg|
File:David Mooy - car 4.jpg|
File:David Mooy - car 5.jpg|
File:David Mooy - car 6.jpg|
File:David Mooy - car 7.jpg|
</gallery>
====Hal Lewis====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Hal Lewis - gas station dino.jpg|Model of the "Jupiter Station" dinosaur
File:Hal Lewis - henry test model 1.jpg|Test model of Henry
File:Hal Lewis - henry test model 2.jpg|
File:Hal lewis - henry turnaround - american dog.gif|Turn around of the test Henry Model (animated gif)
File:Hal lewis - henry and spig - american dog.jpg|Models of Henry (bottom left by Goob) and Spig (bottom right)
File:Hal lewis - spig turnaround - american dog.gif|Turn around of the Spig model (animated gif)
</gallery>
====James Stapp====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:James Stapp - heinrich.jpg|Model of "Heinrich"
File:James Stapp - jo night.jpg|Model of Jo Night/Knight
File:James Stapp - stuffed gorilla chair.jpg|Model of a plush gorilla chair
</gallery>
==== Mark Anthony Austin====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 5.jpg|Model of Jo Night/Knight
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 1.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony austin - jo night 3.jpg|
File:Mark Anthony Austin - Ruthie 1.jpg|Models of Ruthie
</gallery>
====Raffaello Vecchione====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="175">
File:Raffaello Vecchione - ruthie.png|Model of Ruthie
File:Raffaello Vecchione - Ruthie 1.jpg|Model of Ruthie
File:Raffaello Vecchione - Ruthie 2.jpg|Model of Ruthie
</gallery>
===Footage===
{{Video|perrow  =2
{{Video|perrow  =2
   |service1    =vimeo
   |service1    =vimeo
Line 26: Line 228:
   |service2    =youtube
   |service2    =youtube
   |id2          =BICMtFBCjE8
   |id2          =BICMtFBCjE8
   |description2 =Compilation of test footage for the film.
   |description2 =Compilation of test footage for the film. Animated by Gregorio Miller
}}
}}
<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
===Videos===
Tumblr_m6vtl0ooaf1r2w685o1_1280.jpg|Concept art of Henry and the eyepatch-wearing cat.
{{Video|perrow  =2
Paul Felix American Dog concept art.jpg|Concept art of Henry in a casino. By Paul Felix.
  |service1    =youtube
American Dog 1.jpg|Concept art of the rabbit.
  |id1          =ESvLa4Axq3o
American dog 4.jpg|Concept art
  |description1 =ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.
Americandog1old.jpg|Concept art of the cat
|description2=Model turn around from animator James Stapp (around 1:26)|service2=vimeo|id2=https://vimeo.com/602815199}}
Mark Anthony Austin American Dog Ruth.jpg|Art of Ruth the mutant Girl Scout. By Mark Anthony Austin
 
Mark Anthony Austin American Dog Jo Night.jpg|Art of Vegas waitress Jo Night. By Mark Anthony Austin
==See Also==
</gallery>
===Advertisements===
*[[The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
*[[The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
*[[Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)]]
 
===Animation (Disney)===
*[[Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)]]
*[[Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)]]
*[[The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)]]
*[[Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)]]
* [[Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)]]
*[[Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)]]
*[[Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)]]
*[[Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)]]
*[[Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)]]
*[[Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)]]
*[[Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)]]
* [[The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)]]
*[[Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)]]
*[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)]]
* [[Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)]]
*[[Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)]]
*[[My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)]]
*[[Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)]]
*[[The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)]]
* [[The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)]]
* [[Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)]]
*[[Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)]]
*[[Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)]]
*[[Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)]]
*[[Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)]]
 
===Animation (Pixar)===
*[[A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)]]
*[[Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)]]
*[[The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)]]
*[[Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)]]
*[[Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)]]
*[[Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)]]
*[[Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)]]
*[[Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)]]
* [[Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)]]
*[[Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)]]
*[[Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)]]
*[[WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)]]
 
=== Audio===
*[[Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)]]
*[[Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)]]
*[[Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)]]
*[[Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)]]
*[[The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)]]
*[[Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)]]
*[[Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)]]
 
===Live Action===
*[[101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)]]
*[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)]]
*[[Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)]]
* [[Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)]]
*[[Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)]]
 
===Short Films===
*[[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)]]
*[[Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)]]
*[[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)]]
*[[Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)]]
*[[Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)]]
*[[Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)]]
*[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)]]
*[[Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)]]
* [[The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)]]
*[[Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)]]
*[[Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)]]
*[[Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)]]
*[[Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)]]


==External Link==
==External Links==
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(2008_film)#Production Wikipedia page for ''Bolt'' (2008) which includes information about ''American Dog''.] Retrieved 14 Mar '16
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(2008_film)#Production Wikipedia page for ''Bolt'' which includes information about ''American Dog''.]
*[https://cgsculpture.com/projects/NNaGd Roger Borelli's CGsculpture page]
*[http://www.gregoriomillerartworks.com/disney-feature-animation-vis-dev/ Gregory Miller's webpage which includes some concept art for ''American Dog'']
*[https://twitter.com/threebarebears/status/1249168192049762304 Daniel Chong's Twitter thread about the plot]


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 21:08, 15 January 2024

AmericanDogTitleTreatment.jpg

Original title treatment.

Status: Partially Found

American Dog was a Disney animated film written and directed by Chris Sanders (who also directed and written Disney's 2002 animated feature film Lilo & Stitch), that was due to be released in 2007. However, due to production issues and Sanders reportedly refusing to listen to the advice given by Disney executives on how to fix the film, he left the film's production and the film's concepts later became realized in Disney's 2008 animated feature film Bolt.

Plot

The protagonist of the film was a canine actor, Henry, who stars in his own show where he's a secret agent. Sanders described the plot as follows:

"Henry, a famous TV dog, finds himself stranded in the Nevada desert. Out in the world for the first time, Henry's tidy life of scripted triumph has come to an end, and his 2,000 mile trek through the real world is just beginning."[1]

Henry would run into a giant, radioactive rabbit (named Mr. Buttons in the filename of a piece of concept art) and a cat with an eyepatch (named Spig in a piece of concept art) who had access to a classic car. He would con them into helping him get back home all the while learning how to interact with normal people and live without being served on hand and foot. John Travolta, Thomas Haden Chruch, and Mario Cantone were rumored to be the voices for the trio.[2] According to animator Daniel Chong[3], the cat and rabbit would have lived in a gas station where they kept retirement savings in a giant dinosaur statue. According to artist Mike Gabriel in the book, They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's New Golden Age, during his travels Henry would come across 'The Lady In Black,' a circus performer from the 1930s who had done a fire act with a gorilla. She was now holed up in a mansion in the swamps of Georgia. A mutant girl scout named Ruth (or Ruthie) would have stalked the cat and rabbit at night. A sexy Vegas waitress named Jo Night[4], a fez-wearing, knife throwing gorilla[5], and a cast of characters inspired by Ocean's 11 were also part of the film in some way. According to an interview with Chirs Sanders,[6] Henry was bought at a kennel and grew up working on movie sets, so its all he knows. Then when filming was finished, he would be put in a dark room and his life would be on hold until the filming of the next episode. Once Henry gets loose in the real world, it seems the same to him, just without someone yelling "cut" or "action" and appears to be a bit duller. Because of this, Henry has "bravery born of ignorance", he is driven to do things, but doesn't actually know how to do them. For example Henry would go behind the wheel of a car, but can't actually drive, so a comedic scene of his awful driving skills causing a horrible situation could potentially occur (and thus why he needs the help of the cat and the rabbit).

Availability

Ultimately, the film was considered too surreal and "too bold" by the executives at Disney. Sanders got kicked off the project in late 2006 and replaced by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, spurring Sanders to leave Disney entirely and later join DreamWorks Animation.[7] According to the book Creativity Inc.: overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration, one of the largest plot elements that caused the reworking of the film was Ruthie. "...somewhere along the way, the plot had also come to include a radioactive, cookie-selling Girl Scout zombie serial killer. I'm all for quirky ideas, but this one had metastasized...which while we prided ourselves on always remaining open to new ideas-seemed a tad dark for a family film. Despite our misgivings, though, we decided to give the movie a chance to evolve. Finding a movie's throughline always takes time, we told ourselves. But after ten months of Story Trust meetings-and very little improvement we concluded that the only option was to restart the project." Another issue was trying to rationalize Henry's actions.

Chris Sanders: It had a lot to do with rationalizing what this dog was. 'Can he drive a car or can he not?” The answer was yes and no. He can make the car go but, no, he can’t drive. And that would become a big sticking point. In my mind, that idea wasn’t that weird, it was pretty simple; in other people’s minds at the studio, it wasn’t making any sense.

In an interview with Slashfilm[8], John Lasseter also mentioned a lack of suspension of belief with the characters:

/Film: Oh definitely. What do you think the biggest change was in the direction that you took "Bolt" from what Sanders was doing to what it is today?

John Lasseter: Well I think part of it was focusing on the believability of this dog, and we could set it up so the audience can understand how this dog could believe that this is all real. And so there's a little focus on kind of making the animals in the film feel a little bit more like real animals

The film was soon re-written and became Bolt, which was released in 2008. Several of the animators from American Dog moved on to the Bolt production. In honor of American Dog, Sanders reused the eyepatch-wearing cat (who would become the character Mittens in the final film) as well as the rabbit in his webcomic, Kiskaloo.

Still, very little production material and artwork of American Dog has been released or leaked to the public and all that is known to currently exist of Bolt's original incarnation is test footage of the film shown at SIGGRAPH 2005.

Gallery

Concept Art

Mark Anthony Austin

Gregorio Miller

Sean Eckols

Brian Kesinger

Mike Gabriel

Sai Ping Lok

Uncredited/Other

Renders

Roger Borelli

Gregorio Miller

Phil Zucco

Dan Platt

David Mooy

Hal Lewis

James Stapp

Mark Anthony Austin

Raffaello Vecchione

Footage

Test footage from the film shown at SIGGRAPH 2005.

Compilation of test footage for the film. Animated by Gregorio Miller

Videos

ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.

Model turn around from animator James Stapp (around 1:26)

See Also

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Animation (Disney)

Animation (Pixar)

Audio

Live Action

Short Films

External Links

References