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q"Captain EO"
Start date confirmed by visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw in Yahoo! Movies, as well as a production call sheet; LA Times confirmed that the “principal photography was completed in August”.
“Starburst” magazine (December 1986)
With the recent [illegible] in top level management, the Walt Disney Company approached film producer George Lucas with the suggestion of a new type of theater ride, called “Star Tones”. While discussing this revolutionary new [illegible] entertainment, the subject of “Captain EO” came into conversation. “They asked me if I would be interested in working on a 3D movie with Michael Jackson”, explains Lucas. “I said it sounded interesting. They showed me some idea proposals that they’d worked out. I gravitated towards the more outer-space oriented adventure. That was the initial spark that set the whole thing off.”
Michael Jackson
Marty Skylar, Executive Vice-President of creative development at WDI, explained how Michael Jackson became involved.
“Michael’s always been in love with the Pirates of the Caribbean and our animated figures. And then you add to this that his favorite attraction at EPCOT Center was the original 3D film "Magic Journeys", when the opportunity came up to pair Michael and George, it Just seemed natural that they'd do a 3D movie."
Work began on the film in 1985, and was of a highly complex nature. Unlike previous 3D films, the images were recorded on two perfectly synchronized 65mm cameras with polarizing filters over the lenses. Each camera views the scene being shot from a slightly different angle. When the film is projected, the drain combines the superimposed image to create the impression of three dimensions. One problem ts that the cameras have to be set in exactly the same configuration as the human eyes, approximately 24 inches apart. The sheer bulk of the equipment made this impossible, so WDI designed a special rig so that one camera focused on the scene in front of it, and the other pointed towards a mirror or beam splitter. Since two frames of film are being exposed together a great deal of light was necessary. Special low-light film was used which gave the producer more creative control without sacrificing image quality.
A majority of Captain EO's visual magic comes from compositing live-action photography with miniatures and other special animated effects. Again WDI designed and constructed, in conjunction with Eastman Kodak scientists, a sys tern capable of compositing images in post-production with a near perfect accuracy. This was essential, as each frame of film would be magnified on the screen 343 times, showing up the tiniest of flaws. Each print will make 150,000 passes through the "Magic Eye" projectors. As sprockets begin to wear, film prints start to jerk in the gate. WDI had to design special projection systems to minimize this problem.
Special Effects
Creating the special effects for this type of film proved an arduous task for Tom Smith, whose previous credits include ET and Poltergeist. “Captain EO has more special effects in it than most major motion pictures, 150 separate effects shots and 3D shots which triple the complexity of a motion picture. In addition to the special effects on screen, the entire theater is a special effect because you're in the center of all the practical effects: flashing lights, lasers, smoke bombs, everything to make you feel part of the film.
The in-house effects required the rebuilding of a new theater at Disneyland and changes in the Magic Eye Theater at Walt Disney World. A 1,000 square foot perforated screen was developed that allows some of the special effects to burst through the screen Into the auditorium accompanied by the audio. When EO's ship crashes, smoke pours over the heads of the audience, lasers shoot from the weapons of alien craft, colliding against the wall at the back of the theater. When EO saves the evil kingdom of the Supreme Leader from disaster, colors of the rainbow bathe the audience in their warm glow.
John Napier, production designer on "Cats" and "Starlight Express" worked closely with show designers Rick Rothschild and WDI to accomplish the theater enhancement. "This isn't a movie you could put in a can and take anywhere in the world", Napier proudly boasts. “I think it's fascinating that there's a kind of theater-film mixture.” Michael Eisner, Disney's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, adds that "Captain EO breaks new ground in theme park show technology. It's not a flume ride, it is not an audio-animatronic show. It's not an iron ride, like a roller coaster, it's a technology which has never been done before.”
Music and Songs
Michael Jackson wrote the original music and songs for EO, and is accompanied in the film by his musical crew members: Hooter, a little green elephant who sneezes musical notes; Fuzzball, an orange-haired flying monkey; the Geex, a two-headed creature with one right foot and two left feet; Major Domo, whose metallic body doubles as a complete set of drums, and Minor Domo whose sparkling torso transforms into an electronic synthesizer. Those members of the audience who fall in love with their comical antics can buy a range of stuffed toys that crowd the merchandise shops in the parks. Of the musical numbers and Jackson's involvement with the film, George Lucas has a high regard. “He also contributed on the story ideas, he went over the scripts, put in ideas in the shooting and the editing process.” Producer Rusty Lemorande, who co-produced Yentl starring Barbra Streisand, admired the way Jackson took his book of Walt Disney's quotes everywhere he went. This rather unusual volume is given to VIP's by head archivist Dave Smith when they visit the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, California, Lemorande claims that he saw a similarity behind the thinking of both Disney and Jackson.
Angelica Huston, who won an Academy Award for her performance in Prizzi's Honor, plays the villainess--the Supreme Leader, who looks as if she might eventually triumph over the good captain. With a deathly gray complexion and long spiny fingernails, Huston thoroughly enjoyed playing the part. “I think it's great. I'm an avid admirer of Cruella Da Ville and I love the witch in Snow White. They're the two favorite all-time women for me. I think she (the Supreme Leader) is a classical Disney witch, half ugly, half way beautiful, exotic. She's also vain and very greedy.”
Captain EO has been generally well received by the critics, although Richard Corliss of "Time" magazine added “What can be exhilarating and depressing about Walt Disney World is true of Captain EO. It is a triumph of high-tech wizardry and second-hand emotions.” "Time" also claims that the cost of the film was 20 million dollars. The "Daily Express" was rather more conservative and suggested a budget of 10 million pounds. The Disney Company prefer not to comment, although a million dollars a minute was rumored. Whatever the truth, it makes for an expensive 17-minute picture.
Producer Rusty Lemorande believes that Walt Disney would have been proud of the advances his theme park company WDI has made in bringing projects like Captain EO to the screen. “If you have one theater, you can make it the best theater. If you have one rollercoaster, you can make it the best rollercoaster. Keep it the cleanest, the brightest. Make the music the best, the sound the best. So what would Walt have done with this 3D if he was here? It struck me that he would probably try to merge the best of the amusement park and the best of the world of cinema and make the two, one.”
Director Francis Coppola likens Captain EO to “one of those little children's stereo reel masters, that spins while the viewers see beautiful three-dimensional fairy tales, making you wish you could just step in and sit down next to the white rabbit. I think it happens like that here.”
And, as to Captain EO's popularity? Well, as one Disney spokesman replied, when asked how long he thought the film would run, EOns!” he said. Which just about sums it all up.
Francis Ford Coppola, director Entertainment Weekly (June 27, 2009)
I knew him slightly, mainly during the time I worked on Captain Eo. Every Friday, I’d buy him a present — something small and fun — and he’d be very excited about what it was. He was very sweet, but also very deliberate. He loved to learn and during rehearsal he had fun learning how to properly salute and do an about face. He got a kick out of being military. He reminded me of a kid — innocent, eager and joyful.
Yahoo! Movies (December 9, 2015)
By the mid-1980s, the Walt Disney Co. was at a crossroads. While the entertainment conglomerate was still beloved for its classic films and theme parks, it had struggled in recent decades to retain its relevance in the post-Star Wars blockbuster era. Ever since the death of the company’s namesake founder, Walt Disney, in 1966, the studio had churned out only a handful of hits (including The Love Bug and The Rescuers) and no shortage of expensive duds, like Black Hole and Dragonslayer. In 1984, one of the studio’s theatrical hits was a reissued version of Pinocchio — a movie that was by then more than four decades old.
Enter former Paramount CEO Michael Eisner. The well-respected exec had been hired to take over Disney and given the daunting task to reverse its sagging showbiz fortunes. One of Eisner’s first ideas was to bring the company’s disparate divisions — movie production, theme parks, and engineering — together for a high-profile project that could showcase its collective might. Together, they came up with Captain EO, a big-budget 3D sci-fi short film that would star Michael Jackson — who, two years after the release of Thriller, was arguably the biggest star in the world. The ambitious, highly publicized mini-movie would play exclusively at Disney parks, and would serve as an announcement that the company was about to enter a new era.
Disney went all-in on the project, bringing in producer George Lucas and director Francis Ford Coppola for what was essentially a multimillion dollar 17-minute-long music video. The plot featured Jackson as a space captain battling an evil queen (Anjelica Huston), while surrounded by a crew of furry, goofy alien puppets and robots right out of the George Lucas interplanetary comic relief playbook. The cutting-edge project — perhaps the most highly pedigreed film to ever feature a farting space elephant — would eventually balloon in cost (with a final budget of somewhere between $17 million and 30 million) and eat up unexpected production time. When Captain EO finally opened at Disneyland in September 1986, EO had achieved the distinction of being, on a dollars-per-screen-minute basis, the most expensive film ever made.
In November, Disney announced that Captain EO — which has run at four parks over the last three decades — would shut down on December 6, replaced by new Pixar and Disney attractions. The show could always be revamped, of course, but if this truly is the end of EO, it’s a decidedly anticlimactic ending to a remarkable and strange story: Never before have so many major talents — including the makers of Thriller, Star Wars, and Apocalypse Now — been brought together for a movie as ambitious as it was silly. This is the story of Captain EO, and all the behind-the-scenes trials, tribulations, and tickle-bouts it entailed.
In 1985, Michael Jackson could be anything he wanted — and he wanted to be a movie star. His adviser, record executive David Geffen, suggested the singer meet with Disney. Jackson had a deep love for the company’s theme parks. He owned a suite at Disney World’s Contemporary Resort Hotel — complete with its own staff — and Disneyland was often opened after hours so he could enjoy it privately with his friends.
Michael Jackson (from his 1988 memoir, Moonwalk): Disney Studios wanted me to come up with a new ride for the parks. They said they didn’t care what I did, as long as it was something creative. … In the end, they asked me to do a movie, and I agreed. I love the movies and have since I was real little. For two hours you can be transported to another place. Films can take you anywhere.
Rick Rothschild, then working for Disney’s in-house theme park engineering team, was given one week for him and his crew to come up with concepts.
Rick Rothschild (Disney Imagineer): One of the [movie] ideas was The Intergalactic Music Man, [in which] the world was all cold and awful, and [Jackson and a team of creatures] come and help [everyone] understand that life is better when it’s all colorful and warm. The second [idea] focused on our understanding that Michael loved various characters and attractions around the park and movies — Peter Pan was one that he was fond of. So we developed a fantasy that was somewhat similar to The Music Man idea, but focused on a band of characters that were more fairy-like and fantastic. We knew that Pirates of the Caribbean was an attraction [at Disneyland] that he really loved.
Jackson (from Moonwalk): Pioneering new ideas is so exciting to me, and the movie industry seems to be suffering right now from a dearth of ideas. So many people are doing the same things. … So many of them are doing the same old corny stuff. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are the exceptions.
Jackson wanted Lucas and Spielberg to produce and direct the project, and Lucas agreed to oversee it. But by the mid-’80s, Lucas’s attention was focused on a number of projects, including Indiana Jones and his effects company, ILM, so Disney hired Rusty Lemorande — who’d recently written and produced the computer-centric comedy Electric Dreams — to oversee day-to-day production. But EO still needed a director. Jackson had requested that Steven Spielberg direct the project, but he was unavailable, so Lucas brought aboard Francis Ford Coppola, his old friend and mentor, who was coming off a rough box-office run, thanks to back-to-back flops Rumble Fish (1983) and The Cotton Club (1984).
Rusty Lemorande (producer): I think it’s fair to say that Francis got the job because of George. I think George was very proud to be able to do that for his friend.
Francis Ford Coppola (director): There was a period in my career when I had gotten into financial trouble over One From the Heart [1981]. I was in a tough, pseudo-bankruptcy situation. I had to do one movie after another to pay the bank and get them off my back, which I eventually did.
Harrison Ellenshaw, who was in charge of creating many of the groundbreaking space backgrounds in the Star Wars films, was brought in to be Captain EO’s visual effects supervisor.
Ellenshaw: Disney was known for its effects — look at Mary Poppins, and all the incredible work for the parks. But they were behind the times. Nobody outside of Disney came to Disney to have their effects done, and that was a big issue for this new regime. They wanted to be such an important player that they [would attract] outside business. I had come off of working on Tron, and I had a little bit of a positive reputation. I remember my first meeting with Francis. I said, “I have to admit to you: I’ve never supervised or done effects in 3D.” And he looked at me and said, “Neither have I! Let’s go do it.”
Coppola: Some projects, like Captain EO, I didn’t have a hand in creating — I had suggestions. Michael Jackson had an idea, and George Lucas had an idea, and Disney had an idea. [So] the director was more someone who took all the fragments that everyone thought of and did the best they can. It’s a lot different than doing something that comes form your own being; you constantly negotiate. When I first thought about [Captain EO], I didn’t know what sense to make of it.
Coppola, Lucas, Jackson, Lemorande, and Ellenshaw — among others — met at Lucas’s office in San Anselmo in April 1985, to revise and finalize the film’s title and story.
Ellenshaw: The title of the show was Space Knights at that time. Francis started to talk about the main character that Michael would play. He didn’t have a name or rank yet. Francis related how the word “Eos” meant “dawn and light” in Greek. And something like that would fit a character who comes to a dark, ugly planet ruled by an ugly evil queen, and change it all with song and dance and magical light beams that transform everything into great beauty. “Eos” was shortened to “EO,” and then it was decided to give the character the rank of Captain.
Lemorande: Michael was very intense about the evil queen — he wanted it to be very scary. He really believed that kids loved scary entertainment. He loved Alien, he loved Snow White. The scarier the better. Shelley [Duvall] was the first choice to play the Queen. The makeup people met with her to put on the plaster casting.
Terri Hardin, (puppeteer): When they went to do the face cast for Shelley, they were going to do pretty much a three-quarter-to-full makeup. She was claustrophobic, and couldn’t handle the process.
Lemorande: She expressed a sudden disinterest in doing [the movie]. The next idea was a far less important actress: Anjelica Huston. She wasn’t that big of a deal at the time. She didn’t have a breakout hit. It was very easy to get her because Francis and George were a big deal.
Anjelica Huston (evil queen): I’m a little bit psychic. I had a dream about a month before I was offered this movie that I was having a wonderful love affair with Michael Jackson. And we were in a desert and we were suspended [in the air]. He was suspended, parallel above me in a landscape, and we were just sort of floating there in midair. And behind us, a stampede of elephants came to us and made a tunnel with their trunks around us. And this was a very impressive dream, one of those that you wake up from and go, “Whoa, what was that?”
A month later I got the call to do Captain EO. I remember being on set, and Michael had a little green elephant friend in the show called Hooter, and I remember going, “Oh my God, I had a real foretelling dream about this.”
Around the time Huston was offered the job, she won raves for her performance in Prizzi’s Honor (which would later win her an Academy Award for Best Actress). Prizzi’s Honor debuted in early June, weeks before Captain EO began shooting.
Lemorande: We suddenly had a way bigger star. She became famous very quickly after Captain EO. She didn’t have an Oscar before we hired her. If she had an Oscar before we hired her, I’m sure she wouldn’t have done the job.
Huston brought with her another important change.
Lemorande: The original idea was Michael’s transformation of the witch would turn her into a beautiful woman, the traditional kind of Disney thing. We cast a beautiful black girl who was transformed from Shelley Duvall, and that would work, everyone would know it was a fantasy. When we changed it to Anjelica Huston, it didn’t make sense, it didn’t work. So we said, the evil queen can transform into a beautiful version of herself, with makeup and lighting and all of that.
On their first day together, Coppola had his actors improvise in order to get comfortable together. He separated them and whispered their own “secrets” to them, and then tossed out scenarios for them to play out.
Hardin: Francis comes over to [the performers working with the alien puppets] and says, “[In your scenario], you guys are going to be the kids at a camp.” Our secret was that, under no circumstances were we to listen to Michael at all. Michael’s secret was that if we didn’t behave, he could be fired. Anjelica’s secret was that she was the owner of the camp and her goal was to fire him. And so, “Action!,” off we go. [Michael’s] standing above us, and we’re pulling on him and laughing like kids. And he’s going, “Please, I could get fired! Behave, behave!”
[Anjelica] takes one giant step and says, “Michael Jackson!” He stiffens up like a board and starts to shake, and she walks over to him very slowly, picks him up by his shirt, and lifts him up about 10 inches off the ground. And she pulls his face toward her face and says, “You insignificant little worm! You’re fired!” and she throws him back across the soundstage, and he falls on his butt.
Huston: In rehearsal, he was so shy. He found it very hard to express anger.
Rothschild: [EO’s companions] were the classic band of misfits. A lot of that was early on, very clearly conceptually laid out. Then there was a lot of work that went on between Francis and Michael and our team to develop the characters.
Lemorande: I came up with Hooter, because I’d always loved elephants. When I was a kid, I had a fantasy miniature elephant and I made him, in my mind, crawl up my pencil and live in the inkwell. So it’d be a small elephant, but he’d play his nose like a reed instrument — I used to have a bagpipe, so I said I’d make it sound like a bagpipe.
The puppets were not very complicated. The only one that was complicated was Fuzzball, which was moved with cable, and that was done by Rick Baker. Michael just loved that character so much and wanted that character to get as much screen time as possible.
Rick Baker (puppet designer): [Lighting consultant] Vittorio Storaro decided at the last minute that the aliens should all be like the colors of the rainbow, and they wanted Fuzzball to be red. And he wasn’t made red initially; we made him a natural color. So at the last minute we had to paint him red, which I wasn’t too pleased about. But it was just that one character. I was on the set for a day or two but I don’t have a lot of memories of it.
Kirkland: Michael loved the creatures. He was more fascinated with those than anything, really. When we were up at our meeting at George’s place, he was looking at the characters. They were like toys to him.
Jeff Hornaday (choreographer): [Michael also had] a real playfulness. I remember we were up at the Lucas ranch while they were editing, it was just us going over footage and sequences. I looked over and Michael was giggling. And later, I went to the bathroom and I looked at my back and there was a piece of paper taped to me that said, “Please kick me in the ass.”
Hardin: One day, we were both sitting on the steps, eating our lunch, silent for a little bit, and I say, “Michael, let’s pretend I’m a genie. I come down to earth and say, for all your goodness and kindness, I want to grant you three wishes. So what would they be?” And Michael thinks a little bit and says, “Wow, nobody’s ever asked me that before.” And then he says, “Well, my first wish would be to have my childhood.” And for wish No. 2, he said he would like to go to a mall without having to buy it.
PART III: Lights, Camera, Dancing
Captain EO began filming on July 15, 1985 on a soundstage in Culver City, California. Though it was only a short film, and not nearly as epic on the scale of, say, Apocalypse Now, Coppola approached the production with a number of grand ideas.
Ellenshaw: It was the first day of production, and Francis had insisted that we put the interior of the spaceship on a gimbal [with] big hydraulics. And rather than shake the camera, we’d shake the whole gimbal. It was hugely ambitious, and cost a crap-load of money. You have to raise [the gimbal] up, get these hydraulics underneath it, and pump pumping water in and out to make it go down.
Peter Anderson (cinematographer): As Michael starts to rise up, the ship lurched and then tilted precariously, and then the lights start going out. One of the high-pressure lines had ruptured, and it was hosing down the whole stage. Michael got hurt, pinched his hand in an elevator. He went to the doctor. After lunch, Michael was back and said he was fine, and he said let’s continue.
Lemorande: [Michael] was as dedicated as any filmmaker, any artist, any dancer, any ideas guy. He was in The Wiz years before, but he hadn’t come into his own [as an actor]. That’s all he talked about: He wanted a film career. He was really tired of doing the videos.
Anderson: [Captain EO] was a closed set, but the A-listers were always there. Warren Beatty, Sophia Loren, [or] Elizabeth Taylor would come in, to the point where there was a barista to make sure they got their afternoon coffee. Elizabeth Taylor walked up and started to talk to Michael, and when he was strapped in to the body pan [for a flying stunt], she started tickling his feet.
Huston: She had a notoriously bad back from a fall on National Velvet when she was a kid, and I remember her turning to Michael during my one moment off, when I was on the floor with him, and she said, “Michael, you should have given me [Anjelica’s] part.” Like hell [she] would have done it! [laughs]
Jackson wrote two new songs for the film, one of which, “We’re Here to Change the World,” was used in the climactic stand-off between Captain EO and the queen, and culminated with Jackson leading an army of dancers.
Kirkland: I remember going up to George’s house with Michael — we flew on a regular jet, believe it or not. Francis was there. He and George were great old buddies and chatting away and chatting away, and poor Michael didn’t know what to do with himself. He was standing in the corner wondering why he was there a little bit. He was very quiet and incredibly shy. Then Francis asked “Where are we on music?,” and Michael suddenly lights up and goes on and on.
Huston: I’ll never forget this moment [during the shoot]: He’s on a platform and, as it happens, the platform rises. And I kind of dip in the shot, just sitting there and watching. Playback starts, and something happens to Michael and I swear, I gasped. His transformation from the Michael I’d been rehearsing with — who was a little shy and giggly and retiring — all of a sudden, the power of him, when he was singing, was something so extraordinary. My jaw dropped. [Performing] was the full expression of who he was. All other times, he was at half speed.
Coppola: I knew I wanted the big dance at the end to be more integrated with the story, rather than [the movie] be this short little dumb story and have a music video tacked on the end of it. But Michael Jackson was really wily, and no one knew what the music or song was going to be until the time that they did it. He felt he didn’t want the dance to be integrated within the story. So we shot this little story, and then he came and had the song, and we did it the best we could. [The dance number] was tacked on to the end. I thought it should have been more integrated into it. But I found Michael [to be] very sweet, and I was fond of him. He was like a big kid.
PART IV: Auteurs in Outer Space
There was a wealth of talent on the set of the film, which led to groundbreaking work — but also some difficulty. Everyone had strong opinions (and other projects) vying for their attention, which slowed down Captain EO considerably.
Anderson: Every day, we start with a plan and at the end of the day, you try to figure out what that plan was. … I was the DP, but after Francis came on board, he wanted to bring on Vittorio as a consultant, and he was the lighting director. And Vittorio is a wonderful creative person, but he had never lit live-format 3D. So sometimes it was a little bit of a strain. We were shooting in 3-D, which requires more light; we were shooting in 30 frames-per-second, not 24, which is a better rate to get Michael dancing. Each one of these required more light. There were lots of little things I was doing just to make it more viable without trying to get into a disagreement.
Ellenshaw: George Lucas had good intentions. After Jedi came out two years earlier, he said he was exhausted, [and] needed to take two years off. Which he did, but when he came back into doing stuff, he was very ambitious, and that’s George’s nature. So he had not only Captain EO to worry about — he [also] had ILM to worry about, he had a computer division — which was later to become Pixar — going, he had Star Tours, he was building stuff out at the ranch, and he went through a divorce. So he could never give Captain EO or any of the other things full attention. So it’s kind of like having Michelangelo come by every other day for half an hour and telling you, “If I had the time, I’d do the Sistine Chapel, but since I don’t, let me tell you what you need to do.” And then he’d wait two days, and then he comes by and says, “You didn’t do it right, do this, do that.” Everything was constantly in flux.
Lemorande: George wanted the set dressing to look more used. One of the things he did with Star Wars originally that was very avant-garde was that it was a “used future.” Fabrics were tattered. Moving vehicles had rust patches on them or black patches from the emissions of the energy source. There were junkyards. Prior to that, everything in space was sparkling. So we beat everything up, made it like a space trailer park.
Ellenshaw: There two models [for the ships]. We had built them, we had shot them, and they were in the can. And then George decided, “I don’t like the designs.” All of those got dumped, and [Star Wars designer] Joe Johnston made two new designs, which were really cool. ILM basically went and shot the designs that Joe had done.
The 3D technology for EO was groundbreaking, but also led to a rather deliberate produciton.
Kirkland: I’m sure Francis might have been a little frustrated because it was taking longer because he cared, but when he gets into something, he’s 100 percent there.
Anderson: Francis brought his Airstream trailer with him. It had a lot of tape decks and [editing equipment], and a hot tub. So once or twice during the lunch hour, I was invited to join Francis, who was soaking in his hot tub watching dailies, and also watching audition tapes for Peggy Sue Got Married, which was going to be his next feature.
Lemorande: We knew we had Francis for two weeks of shooting, because he was scheduled to do Peggy Sue, and that was a firm start date.
Ellenshaw: We needed a union supplemental director to [direct a second unit at night]. Francis said, “My son Gio [Gian-Carlo] is a member of the DGA. He’ll do it, and Harrison and others will help him.” You could tell that Gio had inherited some genes somewhere.
Anderson: If it’s a Coppola, there’s film and wine running through their blood. Gio knew what he was doing, [and] he was easy to work with, he was great. Francis was great too, don’t misunderstand that. But Gian-Carlo [seemed] more interested in what we were doing.
Ellenshaw: On occasion, Michael would stay late to help get some shots. We would usually finish by midnight.
Anderson: At about 5 o'clock in the evening [on the last day of Coppola’s shoot], production manager John Romeyn went for a break. These tables come out and a fully catered dinner comes out for us. … This was a nice soirée. And then at the end of the meal, Francis and Vittorio said, “Thank you, everybody,” and they left.
I didn’t expect this, nor did anybody else on the crew. But that was the end of the 14th day of principal photography. Then we cleared the tables out of the way, we reset the actors, redressed the floor, and Gian-Carlo took over directing the first unit.
Ellenshaw: Francis kind of stepped away. [He] didn’t want to get involved too much in the politics, and was happy to have his name associated as long as it came out decent. But that dynamic basically delayed the postproduction period, which eventually became nine months, and the release date kept being postponed. You’re spending a lot of money, you’re making a lot of changes, and it became chaotic and extremely stressful for all concerned.
Ellenshaw’s initial budget, submitted in September 1985, provided for 40 effects shots and put the film’s final cost at around $11 million. By January 1986,EO had grown to include nearly 150 effects shots, and the countless revisions and additions meant the film’s original $11 million budget would soon begin to swell too.
Ellenshaw: [Captain EO] took years off my life. The studio said, “We can’t allot more money to this. In fact, we think you’ve spent too much already, so we’re not going to spend any more money.” Which is typical of any business anywhere, unless you’re being financed by an oil-rich megalomaniac.
I was in a situation where they said, “We want something no one has ever seen before … but we don’t want to pay for it.” In a nutshell, we went from great hopes, great ambition, to more hopes, more ambition, less money. By the time we were at the end of production, we were starting to descend into madness, because it was so illogical. It was so crazy.
Photo courtesy Harrison Ellenshaw
Anderson: George was involved in pre-production; he would offer support and creativity and input and so on, but he was just sort of there as a Grand Poobah, basically. It was interesting because it wasn’t [initially] an ILM project, and it wasn’t something he was familiar with and he wasn’t directing it, but he was the supreme leader consultant on the project.
Ellenshaw: George would show up a little bit more often in [postproduction than in production], but not enough to really help you and guide you. When I was working on Empire, George would come by every day and look at dailies, so it was easy. You did the best job you could, you showed it to George, and he’d say “change this” or “change that.” But during EO, it was more like, “Is George coming by this week?”
Disney was also starting to have some reservations about their big star.
Anderson: Michael had a propensity to do his crotch-grabs. It was kind of unheard of back then, and this was Disney. I was told to crop the upper torso or go for a tighter shot or something like that, [but] they were part of his routine. So it wasn’t like [he was only] occasionally doing it. It was on his beat. Disney started cutting [the film] together and saying, “Oh dear, oh dear.”
Ellenshaw: The whole issue was pretty silly, even at the time. [And] the editor could work around crotch-grabs without a problem. But this was a [movie] that would be shown to families at Disneyland, and the new management was especially aware that some people might find a dancer grabbing his genitalia as being offensive.
Anderson: [Michael also] had a rather high-pitched voice. People weren’t used to hearing him talk — they were used to hearing him sing. The studio was trying to figure out how to modulate or replace his voice for the talking scenes. There were groups of people at Imagineering and some at the studio that were afraid that that would make [EO] feel too comedic. There was some playing around with [the idea of] changing the octave. There was even a discussion about doing voice replacement for him… There was a whole thing going on in the background of, “How do we do it and not offend him?” And I remember sitting there and saying, “You’re actually going to change Michael’s voice?” They desperately wanted to, but no one had the guts to approach him on it.
Ellenshaw: When we got to the end of the [movie], it screened at Disneyland for all the bigwigs. Back then, [that] included a lot of Disney execs in charge of everything from the theater design to the color of the paint on the outside of the building. Suddenly everybody’s a critic, telling me what to do, even though they were never part of the process. I felt like saying, “Hey, tell you what: You stick to picking the material for the upholstery on the seats, and I’ll stick to the visual effects.”
This was a juggling act of immense proportions. I would have people come to me who clearly weren’t that technically savvy with outrageous demands, and I had to go, “No. I can’t do it.”
Harrison Ellenshaw on the set of ‘Captain EO’
The diverse opinions and demands stemmed in part from the fact that the crew wasn’t just making a movie; they were also designing and building an entire theater that would operate in sync with the film’s effects, with rocking seats, smoke-covered aisles, and zipping asteroids projected overhead. That meant constant tinkering.
Ellenshaw: Rusty was getting kind of nutso, coming up with new ideas. I think it was a reaction to the desperation. He went off and he cut his own version on Betamax, which [Captain EO editor] Walter Murch was not very happy about. Rusty thought he had the magical solution — he was hoping a wizard of 3D would come down from the sky, and every now and then he’d come up with an idea that didn’t make sense. [Update: After the original publication of this piece, Lemorande emailed us to say “The video edit, including animatics for additional photography, was an essential part of the completion of Captain EO.”]
Lemorande: This [film] was, in its moment, revolutionary. We kept getting new ideas that were really cool, and that would require budget increases. So we would have to go Disney and pitch and hold out our hat.
Ellenshaw: Jeffrey Katzenberg — who was in charge of this the whole time, until the film was released — he kept saying, “No more, no more, no more.” And George Lucas kept saying, “I want more. I want this changed. I want that changed.” Who’s to argue with George Lucas? He seemed to do pretty well at this point in his career about being able to do it that way. So he leverages with his power and reputation with the studio by saying, “I’m not happy with it yet, I need more money to do this and that.”
It was up to Peter and myself and others to keep filling in and adding pieces to the puzzle. We were reinventing the wheel in a lot of ways, and I can’t give enough credit to so many people who went out of their way and made the impossible possible. It was pretty stunning
Eventually, Lucas brought in Tom Smith,the legendary Star Wars special effects maestro, and other ILM staffers to help finish the job, and EO wrapped production in May 1986. But by then, the movie was way over-budget — though no one knows for sure by just how much. Some estimates claim it came in around $17 million, others point to a figure as high as $30 million. By the time the film’s fall of 1986 opening date was released, everyone in the Magic Kingdom — as well as in Hollywood — was wondering the same thing: “Will anyone show up to see Captain EO?”
PART VI: EO Takes Off Without Its Captain
On Sept. 18, 1986, Huston sat in a convertible riding down Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A., leading a parade in celebration of Captain EO ’s opening. Coppola and Lucas were also at the premiere, which was attended by a quintessentially ’80s assortment of celebrity guests, including Alan Thicke,, Charles Bronson, Jackie Collins, Dolph Lundgren, and original Mickey Mouse Club member Annette Funicello (O.J. Simpson was there too). The more than 2,000 onlookers in attendance were treated to music performances by the likes of Belinda Carlisle, Starship, and Moody Blues — but Jackson, who had recently taken a year away from the public spotlight, was nowhere to be found
“When Disneyland Debuted His 3-D Movie Marvel, Michael Jackson Was in Another Dimension” (People magazine, Sept. 29, 1986): After photographs of Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber had appeared earlier that week, some jokesters suggested that he was too tanked to show up.
Michael Eisner (speaking at the Sept. 18 event): Michael Jackson is here. … But he is disguised either as an old lady, an usher, or an Animatronic character.
Huston: Michael never showed. I think La Toya was there. It was sort of eye watering to go down the main street of Disneyland in a horse carriage, a little embarrassing. It was lonely not to be there with Michael. I don't’ know where he was, or why he didn’t show up that day.
Rothschild: Talking to George before we opened, one of the questions I asked him was, “What was this experience like for you guys, now that we’re on opening day?” And he said, “We had no idea what we were getting into.”
“Close Encounter of the 3D Kind in ‘Captain EO’” (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 9, 1986): For all its wondrous imagery, Captain EO is nothing more than the most elaborate rock video in history: Like a hollow chocolate Easter bunny, it’s a glorious surface over a void. No one expects an amusement-park diversion to be Gone With the Wind, but given its production team credits and the film’s lavish budget (rumored to be between $15 million and $20 million, although Disney refuses to release any figures), audiences have a right to expect more than empty flash.
Still, while critics weren’t wowed by the film, many audience members connected with Jackson’s outer space tale.
“‘EO’ Preview Wows Audiences at Disneyland” (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, 1986): During one of several preview screenings, the audience “ooh-ed,” “aah-ed” and broke into applause several times at the numerous elaborate special effects, costumes and intricate sets. … Exiting the 17-minute attraction, audience members praised the film with one-word descriptions like “brilliant,” “outstanding,” and “genius.”
Jeff Heimbuch (author, Main Street Windows): I first saw it in 1988 or so, the first time I went to Walt Disney World. I was 5, so pretty much the entire experience to me was mind-blowing. Something about seeing a 3D film, set in outer space with zany characters and musical numbers, was just some more icing on the mind-blowing cake.
EO was an incredible achievement for Disney. Not only was it a full-fledged sci-fi film, but it featured some top talent and some exclusive MJ songs, and the only place you could get to see it was in the parks. It was a coup, and I think in a lot of ways, it helped inch the Disney parks more into American pop culture during the ’80s. It wasn’t just for kids. It was edgy. It made it OK for some people to like Disney.
Disneyland was open for 60 hours during EO’s first weekend, with the film playing on a continuous loop. The park took in $2 million at the gate that weekend.
Ellenshaw: At the end of the day, it was a huge hit. 93 percent of the attendees said that was their reason to visit Disneyland. It was a phenomenon.
Captain EO wound up running at Orlando’s Epcot until 1994, and screened at Disneyland from 1986 to 1997, — at which point Jackson’s scandals had alienated some of his fanbase. But the outpouring of grief that occurred after the singer’s death in 2009 led Disney to return Captain EO to many Disney parks the following year. When it closes this year, EO will have run for nearly two decades and in four locations.
Heimbuch: Disney pushed the limits of theme-park entertainment, [with EO] and opened the gates for collaboration between other intellectual properties and outside people. I think, in a lot of ways, we wouldn’t have Star Wars in the parks if it wasn’t for EO.
Anderson: They were taking a certain amount of risk with this project. [Michael] was a pop icon, but Disney at the time wasn’t built on pop icons. They wanted to make sure that Grandma and Grandpa would like the show, too… Imagineering is about presenting people and taking them to different universes using technology. The studio is about entertainment, Michael is about song and music, and this combined the best of all three of them. There had been nothing out before that came anywhere close to this.
Captain EO will stand alone. It’s not the greatest movie ever made, but it’s a great musical piece, up there with Thriller. And it’s survived the test of time.
“MousePlanet” (December 30, 2009)
“Jackson was a huge fan of our parks, sometimes visiting several times a month, in and out of disguise,” said Michael Eisner. “He knows more about Walt Disney than anybody who ever existed. He certainly knows more than I do.”
Michael's older brother Jackie once stated: "[Michael] always studied Walt Disney. He loved Walt Disney. He read books on him every day on the road. He worshiped the guy."
...A month after Eisner took over as CEO of the Disney Company in 1984, he arranged for filmmaker George Lucas to take a tour of Disney’s Imagineering facilities in Glendale and encouraged Lucas to create some new theme park attractions. Having a good relationship with Eisner when he was at Paramount and supported Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucas was very open to coming on board, especially on developing a flight simulator ride based on his popular Star Wars franchise.
Soon afterward, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had just come on board as chairman of the Disney Studios, took Michael Jackson around the Imagineering facility and first opened discussions with the pop star about appearing in a Disneyland attraction.
In 1984, Jackson had been considering developing several movie projects as he discovered he enjoyed the process of filmmaking. David Geffen had suggested that if Jackson was serious about starring in a movie that he should make a movie for Disney. Geffen called his long-time friend, Katzenberg with the idea. Katzenberg and Eisner countered with creating a 3-D movie/rock video for Disneyland to duplicate the unprecedented success of the innovative Thriller video that had been released about two years earlier and was still popular.
“We wanted to create something with Michael Jackson, who appealed to teenagers, but also to young kids, and even their parents,” Eisner said.
Jackson liked the idea, but to protect himself, insisted that either George Lucas or Steven Spielberg be a part of the project. Imagineering's Rick Rothschild drew up three different storylines. Both he and Jackson picked the same one to do: Captain EO.
The name EO comes from the Greek Goddess of the Dawn—EOS. Her rosy fingers open the gates of heaven to the chariot of the sun. Rothschild became the Show Director. In addition to many other credits, Rothschild would later head the teams for other Disney 3-D attractions including Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, It’s Tough To Be A Bug and Mickey's Philharmagic at Walt Disney World.
Spielberg was unavailable, working on the film The Color Purple. On the other hand, Lucas was already working closely with the Disney Company on Star Tours.
Lucas brought in Francis Ford Coppola, Rusty Lemorande, and Angelica Huston for the film. Coppola, a longtime friend of Lucas, needed to repair his reputation after the recent box office failure of the film The Cotton Club so he was brought on as the director.
Lemorande, who had produced and scripted a recently released science-fiction-themed film with comedy elements, Electric Dreams, was to script Captain EO with input from Coppola and Lucas. Lemorande had also recently produced Yentl, so he would be the on-site producer. He later did uncredited work as a second unit director and film editor. Lucas would be credited as the executive producer.
Huston, who would win the Oscar for her performance in Prizzi’s Honor, which was released in 1985, would play a spider-like H.R. Giger Alien-version of the Evil Queen from Disney’s classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, suspended in the air by web-like cables.
In later years, Lemorande shared that one of the factors that made Captain EO a troubled production was the resentment that Disney Imagineers had about “outsiders” being brought in to handle a Disney theme park attraction. In fact, the high hourly rates charged by Imagineering resulted in Katzenberg giving some of the work on the film to outside contractors.
Tony-award winner John Napier, who had just been recognized for his work on the musical Cats, was brought in and he built a miniature theater in scale to demonstrate the interactive effects for the show. That model greatly impressed Eisner and later, when Napier wanted to lift the ceiling of the theater to eliminate an interfering beam, Eisner quickly approved the additional expense.
Napier worked on the costumes that not only had to represent the evil nature of the dark planet and its twisted metal and steaming vents, but still had to have the flexibility of movement for the dancers to showcase Jackson’s style of movement.
“What I am doing with the costumes is trying to make people able to move in these things, where they won’t fall apart in these robotic characters," Napier said. "I put in a lot of detail that should work well in 3-D.”
Most of the project was supervised by Katzenberg but Eisner occasionally dropped by to see the work in progress and felt that this was “his” project that would demonstrate how he could revitalize Disneyland.
Jeff Hornaday had done the choreography for Flashdance (1983), and had recently worked with Paul McCartney and Jackson on the Say, Say, Say music video so he seemed a natural addition as choreographer.
“We wanted the dances to be a storytelling element, directly connected to a character,” said Hornaday, who was supervising 36 dancers. “Working with Michael for me has been a unique experience in that usually a choreographer will devise sequences of dance and then give it to the dancers to do. Michael’s talent and approach is so unique that you are limiting yourself by just giving him what you do.”
Rick Baker who had done the makeup for Jackson's Thriller video was brought in to supervise the makeup for Captain EO. Tom Burman (who had done work on the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special) did the makeup design for Huston’s character and it took three hours each day to apply that detailed makeup.
Lance Anderson, who among other credits was a creature designer on the recently released Ghostbusters is credited as the co-designer for EO’s ragtag crew of Hooter, the Geex, and Major and Minor Domo. Baker was credited as being responsible for Fuzzball.
James Horner, who had recently scored Disney's Something Wicked This Way Comes (and decades later would score Titanic) provided the original score for the film. Jackson himself wrote the two songs featured in the film: "We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me."
“Another Part of Me," later appeared on Jackson's hugely successful Bad album (1987) but "We Are Here to Change the World" was not officially released until 2004 as part of Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection.
Pre-production on the project began March 1985. There was three weeks of principal photography. The same big blue screen from Disney’s sci-fi film Black Hole was used for filming the scene where Michael Jackson danced out over the audience’s heads.
It was not surprising that this production, with all this high-profile talent, quickly ran over the budget. While Disney never confirmed the actual cost, it was reported that the 17-minute film ended up costing somewhere between $17 million and $30 million, or roughly more than a $1 million a minute, making it at the time the most expensive film ever made. The original budget was $11 million.
“Captain EO ran over budget. The biggest factor was special effects, some 150 of them, more per minute than Lucas had used in Star Wars,” Eisner said.
The film tells the story of Captain EO, the leader of a spaceship's “ragtag crew," which included a dwarfish, clumsy green elephant-like creature called Hooter; a small, long-tailed orange flying creature called Fuzzball; two conjoined creatures know as the Geex (Idy and Ody—also sometimes spelled Idee and Odee) who served as the navigator and pilot; and a robot security officer named Major Domo who had a smaller robot, Minor Domo, attached as a module to his back.
Commander Bog (a holographic head performed by the talented comedian Dick Shawn who was never on the set) was displeased by the bungling of this group of misfits and has given them one final mission to redeem themselves.
They are to follow a “homing beacon” to a forbidding, dark industrial planet of sinister twisted metal and to give a gift to the Supreme Leader (Angelica Huston). Crashing on the planet, the crew finds its way to the palace of this witch queen creature and are captured by her army and threatened with torture for their unauthorized visit.
Captain EO agrees to that punishment, but also tells the queen that she is beautiful, but without a key to unlock that beauty. His crew transforms into a musical band, but before he can share his magical song, Hooter accidentally stumbles into the equipment rendering it momentarily useless, angering the queen who orders her guards to capture Captain EO and his crew. A short battle ensues before Hooter repairs the equipment. EO’s song transforms the dark, mechanical inhabitants into agile and colorful backup dancers.
EO is able to defeat the queen’s Whip Warriors and change not only the queen into a beautiful woman, but also her palace into a peaceful, vibrant Greek temple. The planet is transformed into a verdant paradise reminiscent of the work of artist Maxfield Parrish. EO and his crew dance off back to the ship and leave the planet as the grateful inhabitants wave them good-bye.
The finished footage, supposedly hidden for a time from Eisner, was not as impressive as hoped. Jackson lacked a commanding presence as the lead character, Huston’s role had been trimmed severely and the attempts at humor and urgency felt flat and forced. Even the staging of the 3-D effects seemed to pale in comparison to Kodak's “Magic Journeys that had previously run in the theater.
By this point, Coppola was already involved in his next film, Peggy Sue Got Married that would open a month after Captain EO, and Lucas was struggling with Howard the Duck, which would open one month before Captain EO—and work on the “Star Tours” attraction was falling behind schedule.
Reportedly, Lemorande and Jackson did some reshooting and recutting for the film (at one point using a spray painted ball cock from a toilet as a stand-in for the head of the Minor Domo puppet that couldn’t be found). While there had been plans for Disney’s Imagineering to work on the special effects (the talented Harrison Ellenshaw is listed in the credits), Lucas gave the film to Industrial Light and Magic to “fix” and delays on giving the film to Disney was credited to Lucas’s notorious “perfectionism.”
However, it could have been the worse film ever made and it would have made no difference, because it was done at the height of “Jackson Mania” and the opportunity to see Jackson singing and dancing to two new songs he had composed guaranteed its success.
Captain EO opened at Epcot on September 12, 1986, but the big premiere was scheduled for its Disneyland opening on September 18, 1986. The film would later open in Tokyo Disneyland in 1987 and Disneyland Paris in 1992.
Although built for Captain EO, Disneyland's Magic Eye Theater, that seated about 700 guests, opened in May 1986 with the amazing Magic Journeys, the original 3-D movie from Epcot's Imagination pavilion, in preparation for the Captain EO debut. Live theater special effects were added for the Captain EO presentation including lasers, fiber-optic stars, and fog effects that were all painstakingly synchronized with the action on screen.
Frank Wells renegotiated Kodak's contract so that Kodak agreed to pick up some of the costs of producing the film, building a theater at Disneyland and renovating Epcot’s 3-D Theater to accommodate the new special effects.
The week of the grand opening, the “National Enquirer” printed an odd photo of Jackson lying inside a hyperbaric chamber. It was theorized that, in order to live to be 150 years old, he slept in it each night to get that influx of oxygen. In reality, several biographies of Jackson pointed out that Jackson himself leaked the picture purposely at that time to draw attention to the premiere of Captain EO, especially with its “sci-fi” aspect.
There were more than 200 members from the international press who attended the Disneyland premiere and were herded into the Tomorrowland Space Place eatery, where they were given a press kit containing nine separate releases, six photos and a commemorative Captain EO T-shirt. Surrounded by free coffee, soft drinks and croissants, the press could watch a trailer about the making of the film on an endless loop.
Also in the Space Place were opportunities for interviews with people connected to the production like choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday and Tom Smith.
Smith, the former general manager of Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic effects shop recalled, “The special effects shots were done one camera, two passes.” Smith also revealed that the last effects shot for Captain EOwas that of the logo that juts out into the audience
The big parade of celebrities started around 2 p.m. A variety of celebrities attended the grand opening of the film at Disneyland, including Catherine Bach, Elizabeth Montgomery, Alan Thicke, Erik Estrada, John Ritter, Lisa Hartman, Whoopi Goldberg, Charles Bronson, Sissy Spacek, Sarah Purcell, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Debra Winger, Elliot Gould, Dolph Lundgren, Apollonia Kotero and even Jack Nicholson, who rode with his then-girlfriend Angelica Huston down Main Street in an antique car waving to cheering fans.
However, Annette Funicello seemed to get the loudest and most enthusiastic response from the audience. Molly Ringwald was one of the few stars who refused to ride down Main Street as part of the parade.
Jack Wagner, well known as the “Voice of Disneyland,” announced the celebrities as they drove by. The parade from the front of the park to the Hub did not end until 3:30 p.m. and officially, there were 125 celebrities who participated. Even Michael’s sister LaToya and his mother Catherine were chauffeured down the street.
By 5 p.m., the rising heat had made things uncomfortable and the children brought by their celebrity parents were beginning to show how tired they were, but it was still not time to see the film. Jack Wagner introduced the Pine Bluff High School and Washington High School Marching Bands and Gregg Burge, from A Chorus Line who was perhaps chosen because he was a young male African-American with a singing and dancing background to perhaps represent the absent Michael Jackson.
Burge burst into an original Disney song about “Let’s make way for tomorrow!” followed by a float featuring costumed character versions of Hooter, the Geex and Major Domo.
At the end, CEO Michael Eisner smiled and addressed the crowd, “Michael Jackson is here.” The crowd got very excited but Eisner continued, “But he is disguised, either as an old lady, an usher, or an Animatronic character.”
Nobody in the audience, especially the journalists, believed Eisner.
After a speech by Kodak’s vice chairman, Coppola, Lucas and Angelica Huston gathered at a red ribbon drawn across the entrance of the theater. Nearby were Coppola’s nephew Nicholas Cage and the newest Jackson superstar, Janet.
Reading from cue cards, they proclaimed:
Huston: “For all those who still believe in the magic world of fantasy and imagination…”
Lucas: “For all those who are still moved by the wonders of music and dance…”
Coppola: “For all those who share Walt Disney’s dream and delight in the promise of the future, we cut this ribbon signifying the opening of the 3-D musical motion picture space adventure, Captain EO!”
Helene Phillips, assistant choreographer, “People” magazine (September 14, 1987) (archived) (archived scan of magazine article)
“I didn’t see anything freaky,” says Helene Phillips, assistant choreographer on Captain EO. “No big ego. He was friendly and had a good time. I’d sit on his lap to discuss shots.”
Barry Lather, background dancer, Christina Chaffin interview (September 4, 2012) (archived)
Lather first worked with Michael on the set of 1985’s “Captain EO” as a background dancer. He said he had recently moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Los Angeles and was excited to audition. “I auditioned in Los Angeles for the role as a background dancer with 12 hundred other dancers and Michael picked 40 of us,” Lather said. “At the end of the project, I asked if I could get a picture with Michael, and we were still in costume from filming.”
George Lucas' second big-budget 1986 film opens this weekend, but no matter what the critics have to say about it, or how many people go to see it, he doesn't have to worry about it crashing to Earth like "Howard the Duck." "Captain EO" figures to fly.
"Captain EO," the most expensive and most ballyhooed short subject in film history, premieres Friday night at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla., and Saturday afternoon at an "A list" party at Disneyland. It will become part of the regular attractions, one more line to get into, at both family parks Sept. 19.
After more than a year of treating the project like the Stealth bomber, Disney suddenly turned its publicity and marketing machines loose and made the opening of "Captain EO" into either the film event of the year, or the rock video event of the decade, or the 3-D event of the century. Take your pick.
By now, everyone is aware of its pedigree. The star: Michael Jackson. The director: Francis Coppola. The executive producer: George Lucas. The budget: Astronomical. The host: Mickey Mouse.
Add to the credits producer Rusty Lemorande ("Yentl"), set designer John Napier ("Cats," "Nicholas Nickleby"), art director Geoffrey Kirkland ("The Right Stuff)"), choreography Jeffrey Hornaday ("A Chorus Line") and photographic consultant Vittorio Storaro ("Reds") and . . . well, yes . . . this might be something.
Disney is officially mum on all costs connected with "Captain EO." Estimates of the film's budget have run as high as $20 million. It could be more. According to one Disney executive, Lucas stuffed more special effects into these 17 minutes than there were in two hours of "Star Wars."
In addition, both parks had to build special 700-seat theaters for a film that is not just a film, but an all-sensory experience. It is state-of-the art 70-millimeter 3-D accompanied by state-of-the-art digital sound recording and playback. It is also state-of-the-art staging, with lights, lasers, smoke and audio concussive effects. The seats may even move. They wouldn't tell us everything.
As a story, "Captain EO" falls into the high-concept category that sets studio execs to drooling. It is the story of a space commander (Jackson) and his crew of robots and fuzzy-wuzzies who crash-land on a colorless, hostile Orwellian planet ruled by a hideous queen (Anjelica Huston) and, through song and dance, transform its inhabitants into peace-loving creatures.
Captains EO's crew, which includes a dwarf elephant, a Gizmo-like fur ball, a two-headed creature with two personalities and a pair of robots that, on command, transform into mechanical instruments that the other crew members play.
Michael Jackson wrote two songs for "Captain EO"--"We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me"--and the song-and-dance segments take up about seven of the film's 17 minutes.
The storyline was conceived by four Disney "imagineers" during a four-day brainstorming session in February, 1985.
"We were asked to come up with some concepts to go with three elements," said Rick Rothschild, of Walt Disney Imagineering in Florida. "The elements were George Lucas, Michael Jackson and 3-D."
Rothschild said he and his colleagues came up with three concepts and pitched them to Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, Lucas and Jackson on Valentine's Day. They all agreed that day, he said, to go with the one they had called "The Intergalactic Music Man." It was changed to "Captain EO" after Coppola was brought in as director. (It's from the Greek word eos , which means dawn.)
The film went into production at Laird Studios in June, 1985, and principal photography was completed in August. But the work had just begun. At least half the shots in the movie are said to be special-effects shots. The visual effects were all done at Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic in Marin County. The animated effects were done at the Disney studio in Burbank.
Although "Captain EO" has not been shown outside Disney's extended family, the studio isn't hurting for interest. Patrick O'Neill, Disney's corporate director of marketing for "Captain EO," said the RSVPs for the two Disneyland premieres came back in record time.
The three principals--Jackson, Coppola and Lucas--are scheduled to appear at Saturday afternoon's Disneyland premiere, along with more than 100 celebrities who will participate in what O'Neill described as an "A-plus party."
The Saturday program will be used to conclude two of Disney's biggest promotions for "Captain EO." One is an NBC-TV special, which will air Sept. 20 (8-9 p.m.). The other is a one-hour documentary on the making of the movie. The documentary, being narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, will be shown on the Disney Channel in December, according to O'Neill.
A second premiere, for press and other guests, will be held in Tomorrowland, outside the new Magic Eye Theater, Sept. 18, on the eve of the public opening. Will "Captain EO" ever come to a theater near you?
Not likely, said O'Neill. The costs would be prohibitive. But you may eventually hear the songs on your car radio, and you may someday see a video on TV.
"They are both possibilities," O'Neill said. "They are in the discussion stages."
For now, O'Neill said, "Captain EO" is a Disney exclusive, "presented at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Epcot Center and nowhere else in the universe!"
Be it ever so humble . . .
Anjelica Huston, "The Supreme Leader" (evil queen) actress, “Time” (June 26, 2009) (archived)
I met Michael on the first day of rehearsal, and I was stunned — even though, obviously, I knew his image very well — at how incredibly sweet and how modest and how innocent he was. And fragile too. In person you felt he was almost breakable. But then this thing happened when he would start to work: your heart would beat faster and the hair on your arms and the back of your neck would stick up as he literally took your breath away. I think he was the most electrifying performer I've ever seen.
I think it was very hard for Michael to express anger. He was, I have to say, one of the most polite people I have ever met in my life. I never heard Michael say a swear word, even when he was upset. He had the most beautiful manners. And I think music was really the only way in which his passion could come through unguarded. It was immense. He was on fire as a performer — I've never seen a talent like it. I think, actually, there was a lot of the otherworldly in Michael. He had this talent that I've never encountered before, and I've seen a lot of extraordinary people perform. He was, I think, very misunderstood.
Rusty Lemorande, producer, “Iconic” magazine, Issue 15 (July 2014) (archived)
“Iconic”: When did you first meet Michael?
Rusty Lemorande: Shortly after I met with Jeff Katzenberg and then with George Lucas, there was a big meeting with Michael and some of the big men at Disney and engineers of the theme park division. I was in a conference room when I first met Michael. From that point on I met him a few times at his house to discuss how the project was developing and to get his approval on things. He had to constantly approve many aspects of the show and he was smart about what he liked and what he didn’t like. During the development stage, Michael was very happy with the screenplay and the creatures, who he really wanted to be unique.
“Iconic”: In the screenplay, were there any ideas that did not make the final cut for the movie?
Lemorande: In the screenplay, the search for the Queen when they landed was much more detailed. In the final product there is not much time spent on that search: they leave the ship, walk through a junkyard and they are captured right away. Also, inside the spaceship where we meet the creatures, there was a scene with them cleaning up the ship. The little robot was supposed to be a vacuum cleaner clearing up the garbage. We shot some of that but it was cut in the end!
“Iconic”: How was Michael on and off set?
Lemorande: Was Michael different? He was always very quiet. He would be in his trailer between shots but that is typical of any actor. He was very professional and attentive to everything that needed to be done. He was also a very good student. What he didn’t know he learnt quickly and asked questions but he was very respectful of the process. I should also mention – sorry I forgot – he was concerned about the 3D element. He really wanted it to be strong and unique. You have to remember at that time, no one was doing 3D movies.
Michael was really concerned about the dancing of course and the choreography. He also had a fascination with transformation, which was also a huge part of “Thriller”. He liked the Transformer toys which were new at the time. He wanted to see all the designs.
Chris Cadman, author, “Michael Jackson the Maestro”
Michael wrote the screenplay with Francis Ford Coppola.
Initially there were three ideas put on the table for Michael to consider as an attraction for Disneyland. One was to be featured on an exclusive ride, of which plans were drawn up. The second was a possible 3D project in the Carousel of Progress building, which appealed to Michael. Eventually it was the Captain Eo idea which won him over and work began on it in 1985.
Rick Rothschild put together three different storylines for Captain Eo before filming commenced. But Michael only agreed to do it if either Steven Spielberg or George Lucas were on board.
Jeff Hornaday was taken on to do the choreography; he had worked with Michael on Say Say Say with Paul McCartney.
The cost of Captain Eo went over budget with it firstly estimated as costing something between $14 – $30 million. In the end it was reported to have been completed for $23.7 million.
Production started March 1985.
Delays were frequent, sometimes because Michael took different mixes of the songs to the studio for ‘Another Part Of Me’ and ‘We Are To Change The World’ that were to be included in the film.
EO comes from the name of the Greek goddess Eos - the Goddess of Dawn. Angelica Houston plays the Wicked Supreme Leader.
The plot is for Captain Eo to deliver a gift to the Supreme Leader, accompanied by his crew: Fuzzball, Ody, Major Domo, Minor Domo and Hooter.
Eo and his crew have to battle to release the wicked supreme leaders inner beauty with a gift they deliver. The song We Can Change The World begins that process as Eo and his fairy friends do battle. Using his powers Eo eventually turn the supreme leader into a beautiful woman and the planet into peaceful bliss. The 17 minute 3D adventure ends with the song ‘Another Part Of Me.’
...Michael suffered a strained wrist while film and had to go to hospital.
Visitors to the set included Gene Kelly and Sophia Loren.