The latest thing Walt Disney Studios has done to celebrate a century of their studio is the release of Once Upon a Studio, an animated/live action hybrid short featuring characters from throughout Disney history. The short, written and directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, features a new version of “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins — and in fact, Disney brought back songwriter Richard Sherman to be a part of the re-recorded song, which was reportedly a favorite of Walt Disney’s. ComicBook.com’s Jamie Jirak was aat a presentation and screening yesterday, where Abraham and Correy were joined by producers Yvett Merino and Brad Simonsen for a Q&A.
They also brought in some video testimonials from those involved, including Sherman, who co-wrote the song with his brother Robert, who passed away in 2012. According to Sherman, he recorded the original version in Walt Disney’s office, and he recorded the new one on his 95th birthday…right back in that same spot.
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“Yeah, there were moments [that made us emotional],” Merino said of the short’s creation. “I mean throughout, it was really every once in a while we’d just look at each other in the room. I’m like, ‘We’re doing this.’ And really, I think being in Walt’s office and recording with Richard Sherman was probably, I don’t know, there’s a lot of favorite days, but that was a big one for me.”
“This has been so emotional, this whole thing,” Correy added. “Every time we’d see the rough animation come in and we’re seeing our friends again for the first time and ‘Oh, it’s Belle and Beast and they’re still together,’ and it’s just that rough animation and ‘Wait, we can get Richard Sherman to play the what?’ It is been unreal. I think we’ve all cried of happiness.”
Sherman was the big, notable live-action face to pop up in the short, which featured numerous characters from throughout the 100-year history of Disney animation. According to Abraham, they didn’t really consider trying to get more live-action cameos (maybe for another video!), but that they were excited to have Sherman involved.
“This focuses on a hundred years of Disney animation,” Abraham said. “So we definitely leaned heavily into that, but at the same time we thought it was such a win to get Richard Sherman to be part of this.”
