Director Robert Zemeckis has had a long career in Hollywood, and during his time in the industry, he has seen things change. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?His late-1980s animated/current action hybrid comedy is widely considered a classic today, but during a recent interview at the Happy Sad Confused On the podcast, Zemeckis suggested that he didn't think the film could be made today.
He also acknowledged that a sequel script exists, but he doesn't believe that sequel will ever be made. “There is a good script [for a sequel] at Disney, but here's the thing: the current Disney would never do roger rabbit today,” he explained. “They can’t make a movie with Jessica in it.”
The director added: “I mean, look what they did to Jessica at the theme park. They tied her up with a raincoat, you know?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It stars Bob Hoskins as a private detective who lives in a world where people coexist with cartoon characters. Hoskins' private investigator is hired to investigate whether star Robert Rabbit's wife Jessica is having an affair with him, but when the owner of Toontown ends up dead, Roger becomes the prime suspect.
The film's legacy has only grown in the decades since its release, and it is widely considered one of the greatest achievements of Zemeckis' career.
“We were there when that new regime came in, they were full of energy and they wanted to do it. I kept saying, and I mean this sincerely, I believe it, 'I'm doing roger rabbit the way I think Walt Disney would have done it,'” he explained. “The reason I say this is because Walt Disney never made any of his movies for children. He always made them for adults. And that's what I decided to do with roger rabbit.”