WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT Director Says Jessica Rabbit Is The Main Reason We Still Haven't Seen A Sequel

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT Director Says Jessica Rabbit Is The Main Reason We Still Haven't Seen A Sequel

Fans have been clamouring for a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit for decades, but director Robert Zemeckis is under the impression that Jessica Rabbit is the main reason a second movie never materialized.

By MarkCassidy - Nov 03, 2024 08:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features
Source: Via Toonado.com

Jessica Rabbit is not bad - she's just drawn that way - but Who Framed Roger Rabbit director Robert Zemeckis believes the 'Toon femme fatale's curves might be a little too dangerous for Disney.

If you've never seen 1988's classic live-action/animation hybrid, you might be surprised (or even shocked) by how much risqué content was allowed to be featured in a PG-rated movie. There's kidnapping, voyeurism, drug use, a truly terrifying villain (Christopher Lloyd's Judge Doom), and the rather horrific murder of a cute cartoon shoe that traumatized an entire generation of kids.

Even so, Zemeckis feels that Roger's notoriously seductive wife, Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner), is the main reason we still haven't seen a sequel.

While being interviewed for the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, the filmmaker was asked about a potential Who Framed Roger Rabbit follow-up.

"There's a good script [for a sequel] at Disney, but here's the thing: The current Disney would never make Roger Rabbit today. They can't make a movie with Jessica in it."

Zemeckis added that the script in question, which was penned by original Roger Rabbit writers Peter S. Seamen and Jeffrey Price, simply "isn't ever going see the light of day, as good as it is. I mean, look what they did to Jessica at the theme park. They trussed her up in a trench coat, you know."

Zemeckis went on to explain how he was able to get the first movie greenlit in the first place.

"We were able to make it right at the time when Disney was ready to rebuild itself," he said. "We were there when that new regime came in, and they were full of energy, and they wanted to do it. I kept saying, and I sincerely say this, I do believe this, 'I'm making Roger Rabbit the way I believe Walt Disney would have made it.' The reason I say that 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."

What do you make of Zemeckis' comments? Do you think a sequel has really been held up by the Mouse House's aversion to Jessica Rabbit? Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place.

"Down-on-his-luck private eye Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) gets hired by cartoon producer R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) to investigate an adultery scandal involving Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), the sultry wife of Maroon's biggest star, Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer). But when Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), Jessica's alleged paramour and the owner of Toontown, is found murdered, the villainous Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) vows to catch and destroy Roger."

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tmeadows34
tmeadows34 - 11/3/2024, 8:15 AM
Actually, movie came out in 1988
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/3/2024, 8:21 AM
@tmeadows34 - Actually it was 1988.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/3/2024, 10:41 AM
@ObserverIO - Actually, it was 1888.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 11/3/2024, 1:40 PM
@bobevanz - Actually, 1988 was 1888.
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SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 11/4/2024, 9:30 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - Actually it was 1988
Arthorious
Arthorious - 11/3/2024, 8:15 AM
The 80s were wild my dude with PG movies.
tmeadows34
tmeadows34 - 11/3/2024, 8:19 AM
@Arthorious - and for a good while pg-13 didn't exist till late 80s
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 11/3/2024, 8:45 AM
@Arthorious - some of the greatest films with that PG rating come out during that decade. Heck, Ghostbusters was originally rated PG. There's tons of stuff in that film that would make this era's rating a HARD PG_13.
BigMax89
BigMax89 - 11/3/2024, 9:58 AM
@tmeadows34 - Actually, fun fact: the rating itself was created in July 1984 starting with "Red Dawn", this was in a large part thanks to "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"'s more darker tone, especially the heart ripping out/sacrificial scene that's shown in the middle of the film.
Arthorious
Arthorious - 11/4/2024, 1:47 PM
@tmeadows34 - Makes sense, probably explains a lot of movies
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/3/2024, 8:20 AM
We're so sex negative these days. So a woman is sexually attractive and a femme fatale, sfw?
Dabs
Dabs - 11/3/2024, 9:52 AM
@ObserverIO - some would consider it exploitation while others would call it empowering. Companies will always err on the side of caution out of fear the bottom line will be impacted.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/3/2024, 11:18 AM
@ObserverIO - Putting to one side how the industry deals with the double edged sword or exploitation V Empowerment...

...this was the film that supposedly had to have a rapid post release edit due to disgruntled animator who snuck in a scene that showed Jessica wasn't wearing underwear (when flung from the cartoon car)...

...which had complicated legal issue related to multiple other studios allowing their IP's to be included in a Disney film without a sieable slice of profits...

...and whose lead actor literaly went mad filming it with full blown psychosis for a long while after so there are a number of things that reduced chances of a sequal to almost zero.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/3/2024, 2:11 PM
@Apophis71 - I didn't know about Bob Hoskins going mad, but I certainly think that him going dead would probably impact the chances of a sequel.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/3/2024, 2:18 PM
@ObserverIO - That too, lol, but yeh he had to have psychiatric help due to seeing weasels everywhere from what he had said on talk shows, went through a rough time of it after having to 'imagine' seeing and interacting with what wasn't there so much he ended up with a kinda PTSD.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/3/2024, 2:34 PM
@Apophis71 - That poor man... I really shouldn't laugh, but... and may he rest in peace and all that but... well that's pretty [frick]ing hilarious I can't lie LMAO....
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 11/3/2024, 8:20 AM
Is that the WWII prequel script or something else? I need to seek it out for a read.
MaximusTheMad
MaximusTheMad - 11/3/2024, 8:21 AM
Funny how we go from modest to carefree and back again.
HermanM
HermanM - 11/3/2024, 8:25 AM
He's not wrong.

Not just Disney, either... all of them.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/3/2024, 8:29 AM
This movie was never meant for kids.
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 11/3/2024, 8:30 AM
So why cant they just make the movie and put her in a different outfit?
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/3/2024, 8:33 AM
The sequel should reveal that Jessica was a drag queen. That should work today and make a billion.
BigMax89
BigMax89 - 11/3/2024, 9:54 AM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - Do you want many people's childhoods or adulthoods to be ruined with that revelation? 😡💢 Don't even joke about that, Jessica was woman through and through, not everything needs to be PC, leave the movie alone as is and not have a sequel, let alone that tidbit, happen at all.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/3/2024, 10:42 AM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - good one hyuk hyuk
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/3/2024, 12:09 PM
@BigMax89 - LOL!
KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 11/3/2024, 12:29 PM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - User Comment Image

User Comment Image
Mrtoke
Mrtoke - 11/3/2024, 1:47 PM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - no. It literally showed her cat when she was in the air
ZaphodDent42
ZaphodDent42 - 11/3/2024, 1:54 PM
@BigMax89 - if that would ruin somebodies childhood then they probably need some help anyway!!!
BigMax89
BigMax89 - 11/3/2024, 2:23 PM
@ZaphodDent42 - You just don't get it, Jessica was a woman through and through, end of story.
ZaphodDent42
ZaphodDent42 - 11/3/2024, 2:41 PM
@BigMax89 - bless ya.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 11/3/2024, 4:45 PM
@Mrtoke - Well now I know what I'm watching tonight.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 11/3/2024, 8:47 AM
Awesome film with characters coming from different companies together. More than anything, I think this film should just be left alone. A sequel is not needed.
BigMax89
BigMax89 - 11/3/2024, 9:49 AM
@lazlodaytona - Thank you, someone who (outside of my friends and family) gets what I've been saying all along! 👍

What with most sequels these days being either crummy, poorly-written, unnecessary, or uninspired cash grabs, or just all of the above, this just proves how I feel abut most sequels these days — I'm looking at YOU "Star Wars Sequel Trilogy"! 🙄

That said, it is only know and again if a sequel does come along and do a surprisingly good job — here's looking at you, movie version of "Sonic the Hedgehog 3"🥂😀!

And with my thoughts established, if Disney HAD to make a sequel to "Roger Rabbit", they'd have done so years ago, or at the very least, make a GOOD prequel showing what Eddie and Teddy's relationship was like before the latter's death at the hands of Judge Doom, outside of the hints we were given in the actual movie.
FusionWarrior
FusionWarrior - 11/3/2024, 9:06 AM
Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers is the closest thing to a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit will ever get and even that still doesn't use Jessica Rabbit, just a name drop. I can think of many annoying examples of modern media, especially revivals to popular shows refusing to use sexy cartoon characters such as The Powerpuff Girls 2016 (Miss Bellum) and Animaniacs 2020 (Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink).
SanFranLand
SanFranLand - 11/3/2024, 6:20 PM
@FusionWarrior - Rescue Rangers movie is hilarious
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 11/3/2024, 9:40 AM
This is a movie in which the main character is an alcoholic toon-bigot and the villain is genocidal maniac and they're worried about some cartoon boobs?
🤣

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dragon316
dragon316 - 11/3/2024, 10:23 AM
Disney have problem at there family theme parks with kids there Jessica rabbit wear long dress out in public but Disney have no problem selling alcohol little kids are not allowed to have ?si=Gs2JP3Y0TYNN7vP9
philinterrupted
philinterrupted - 11/3/2024, 8:19 PM
@dragon316 - alcohol is served at loads of family places. This guy not having self control ain’t Disney’s fault.

You can get beer at Chuck E. Cheese.
Order66
Order66 - 11/3/2024, 10:24 AM
Geez I remember that cute toon being killed and as a kid I was mortified lol
NonPlayerC
NonPlayerC - 11/3/2024, 1:58 PM
@Order66 - it was horrifying, I loved this movie as a child. Probably haven’t watched in 25 years, might need to find it and show it to my nephew
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