Roy Conli has been associated with many Disney masterieces, most of them animated. And he even won the Oscar for Big Hero 6:
Conli joined Disney in 1993, and after assembling all the creative elements for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and launching the project, he relocated to France to oversee the contributions of the Paris-based animation team over the two-year production schedule. Upon completion of the film, he remained in France and guided production on the animated films “Hercules” and “Tarzan.” Conli returned to the studio in Burbank to produce “Treasure Planet.” He served as producer of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 50th animated film “Tangled,” and he’s part of the executive leadership team for WDAS.
That’s why the biggest question on everyone’s mind was, how did you get picked to direct a Disneynature movie? You seemed to be all about animation!
“They actually approached me, when I just came off of Big Hero 6. I, I didn’t have my next project yet and Paul Barabeau who helps run the label asked me if I’d be interested and I said yeah. I’m a huge animal rights guy. I have pets. I love all animals. I’m a vegetarians, so you know, I really have a lot of respect for that, so, I started off, initially just kind of helping and literally within two months, I started producing.”
Roy is a huge animal rights guy. Disney knew he had room in his schedule and when approached, he jumped at the chance to work with Disneynature! (As an aside, he is also working on next years Disneynature movie about Dolphins.)
I had a million questions for Mr. Conli, I had just seen the movie, and all of the Blu-ray extras. And I strongly suggest that everyone stay glued to their screen to see all of the extra features of this movie, it led me to appreciate the work that went into making this film that I would not have otherwise realized. These vignettes about the different animal species took several years, tons of creativity, and weeks and months of patience. The only way to appreciate that is to watch and listen during the extra features as the staff share that with us, how they lasted, what they did to keep busy, and finally, how luck finally came through and they got some incredible footage:
Disneynature’s new True Life Adventure film “Born In China” takes an epic journey into the wilds of China where few people have ever ventured. Following the stories of three animal families, the film transports audiences to some of the most extreme environments on Earth to witness some of the most intimate moments ever captured in a nature film. A doting panda bear mother guides her growing baby as she begins to explore and seek independence. A two-year-old golden monkey who feels displaced by his new baby sister joins up with a group of free-spirited outcasts. And a mother snow leopard—an elusive animal rarely caught on camera—faces the very real drama of raising her two cubs in one of the harshest and most unforgiving environments on the planet. Featuring stunning, never-before-seen imagery, the film navigates China’s vast terrain—from the frigid mountains to the heart of the bamboo forest—on the wings of red-crowned cranes, seamlessly tying the extraordinary tales together. The film is narrated by John Krasinski.
I loved the scene of the baby Panda rolling down the mountainside. So cute! But until I saw the extra features I had no idea how long it took the photography staff to even find a lone panda in the mountains of China, let alone a female with a cub. And these guys and gals had to wear panda costumes so that the pandas would not get used to seeing humans and lose their defensive instincts!
I share a love of pandas with almost everyone on our planet, here is a little peak:
There were five different sites of filming, Roy shared that he was mostly at the Panda site. He had his own panda costume for his site visits, and said everyone always had to stand back at least 40-100 meters so as to not frighten mama panda away. They were also working on three different continents. Time differences between China, Britain and the US made email the best way to communicate if you wanted to get some sleep!
There are Siberian Cranes in this movie, and Russia is considering turning their habitat into a national park to protect them. Sometimes a film like this spreads the information on what habitats need protecting.They hatch in Russia and then make their way to China.
Even more difficult than finding a mama panda, was finding the snow leopards! It ook 90 days to find them! before they were spotted! Roy told us that he had been supporting the Snow Leopard Trust for 16 years, so he was thrilled to support them in this additional way, by sharing a message of conservation to help keep the species on our planet!
And these folks had an immensely hard time because of the altitude at which they found these snow leopards: “He (Shane Moore, photographer) had to literally shut down, go out of the country, reapply for his visa and come back and it’s, it took eight days to acclimatize because you’re going to sixteen thousand feet, so they, they would come into Bejing, they would then drive eight days up into the steeps, steps and you know, we had medics on the set and we had oxygen on the set always.” They were 14,000-16,000 feet above sea level. Breathing was difficult. It always took a few days for the crews to acclimate themselves to this environment. Oxygen was always on hand as were a crew of medics. And at vest they could only hope to come within 100 meters of the mama leopard, or 40 meters if she was with recently captured prey.
Politics. That was my last question for Roy Conli. The material we read here in America says we are not best friends with China, so how does one get to freely film on their lands? The answer is 90 day visas. A journalist visa runs for 90 days. After that one must reapply and return with a new 90 day visa. And the snow leopards were discovered after 89 days of searching during the first period! Luckily there is always a local crew to keep everything in place. Also, almost a spoiler, there are Rangers in the area to watch over this protected species, the country’s is working to bring this population back. Roy also told us that Disney Shanghai had recently opened so there was a certain level of trust between the country and Disney. Also, the Chinese government was very pro-active in helping in getting this message of conservation out to the people.
Lastly, Roy also shared that at the Premiere of the movie in China, the Chinese people were extremely proud of this view of their lands and their country! None of them vacation at 16,000 feet above sea level, so seeing this view of their own country was a wonderful experience, as Roy found out.
It was a pleasure to speak with someone such as Roy Conli, someone who has been an animal lover and interested in protecting endangered species. It is important that we all do our part to help the other inhabitants of our world to prosper. Sharing this movie with everyone you know can help to inspire folks to think more about what they can do to help our planets many species.
These animals are gorgeous!
Here are your full list of extra feautures, you must see them all to realize how hard this amazing move was to film!
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital:
-Panda Suits and Bamboo Shoots
-Walking with Monkeys
-Masters of Camouflage
-“Everything Everything” Music Video Performed by American Authors
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Visit the official BORN IN CHINA website: http://nature.disney.com/born-in-china
You can buy the movie now, and here is one of the extras in the combo pack, the most adorable group of monkeys who seem to think they can work with the cameramen!
Of course there is a celebrity picture with Oscar winner Roy Conli!
Disclosure: Disney invited me on this press trip and paid all of my expenses. I also received the Blu-ray for review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are always 100% my own and honest.
“Born in China” is the seventh theatrical release for Disneynature, the first new Disney-branded film label from The Walt Disney Studios in more than 60 years. The label was launched in April 2008 to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to capture a variety of wildlife subjects and stories.
- The first six big-screen releases under the Disneynature label—“Earth,” “Oceans,” “African Cats,” “Bears,” “Monkey Kingdom” and “Chimpanzee”—are among the top seven highest grossing feature-length nature films of all time.
- Walt Disney was a pioneer in wildlife documentary filmmaking, producing 13 True Life Adventure motion pictures between 1948 and 1960, including “Seal Island” (1948), “Beaver Valley” (1950), “The Living Desert” (1953) and “Jungle Cat” (1958). The films earned eight Academy Awards®.
Jackie says
This looks like a beautiful movie. I’m looking forward to seeing it.. It was interesting learning more about China while reading this. Thanks for sharing.