Summary
- Tarzan's dynamic movements were inspired by professional skateboarders like Tony Hawk, bringing a unique energy to the character's animation.
- The 1999 adaptation introduced tree surfing based on extreme sports athletes, pushing the boundaries of traditional animation techniques.
- Deep Canvas, a groundbreaking animation technique used inTarzan, paved the way for visually stunning Disney projects likeAtlantis: The Lost Empire andTreasure Planet.
Vert ramps and energy drinks might be totally out of place in the deep foliage of African jungles, but the gravity-defying stunts seen at the X-Games have surprising ties to one of the best films fromthe Disney Renaissance. That's because 1999'sTarzan, yes, the animated feature about a man raised by gorillas, was partially inspired by extreme sports and one of the biggest names in skateboarding,Tony Hawk. Released at the end of the last millennium,Tarzanis a brilliant combination of a heartwarming story, phenomenal music by the unimpeachablePhil Collins, and some of the most dynamic and exciting animation seen in a Disney picture thus far.
It's that fast-paced and expressive animation where the movie finds its connections to skateboarding legends, as the character design and movements of Tarzan himself were modeled after Tony Hawk and other professional athletes of that time.In fact, the intent and spirit of the original source material all led up to this incredibly effective and unique connection between the beloved Disney character and the most recognizable skateboarder that ever lived.
- Release Date
- June 18, 1999
- Runtime
- 88 Minutes
- Director
- Kevin Lima, Chris Buck
- Writers
- Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White
Cast
Alex D. Linz
A man raised by gorillas must decide where he really belongs when he discovers he is a human.
Tarzan's Animator was Inspired by Tony Hawk and Pro Skaters
Written byEdgar Rice Burroughs in 1912,Tarzan of the Apeswas a smash success as the character and story of a man growing up among apes entrenched itself into the cultural mind. But thoughTarzanwas released decades before the invention of the skateboard and countless technologies for animation, the connecting roots were already there. Around 1936, Burroughs himself genuinely considered animation to be the platform for the most faithful adaptation of his story. Inspired by Disney,Burroughs believed that if his story were made into an animation successfully,“It must approximate Disney excellence.”And decades later, that level of "Disney excellence" was achieved, as the uninhibited, acrobatic, and thrill-seeking Tarzan was animated with all the wild spirit he was meant to embody.
Led by legendary animator,Glen Keane, a team of 13 animators at Disney Animation's Paris Studio was in charge of bringing Burroughs' wild hero to life. Keane had correlated the adrenaline-fueled wild man written by Burroughs with a modern equivalent: professional skateboarders.Keane's teenage son was an enormous fan of skateboarding and other extreme sports, which served as inspiration for Tarzan's design and movements.Though previous iterations of Tarzan focused around the idea of swinging vines, the 1999 adaptation introduced tree surfing as a new and dynamic way to move throughout the jungle, based on the movements of extreme sports athletes.
Tarzan Was Released the Same Year As Tony Hawk Completed His Legendary 900
While Tarzan's dynamic and kinetic jaunts through the jungle have become classic Disney imagery, producers at the time were worried that the image of extreme sports would clash with the character. However, they were swiftly assuaged of their fear when Keane showed them test footage inspired by one of the greatest skateboarders of all time. At the time, Tony Hawk was the face of skateboarding and practically a household name, so Keane looked to the Birdman himself as a guide for Tarzan's movements.Keane modeled Tarzan's tree surfingdirectly based on Tony Hawk's skateboarding, which can be most vividly seen in the "Son of Man" sequence in the film.The test footage was enough to convince producers that this was the right animation call, and the rest is history.
The worlds truly did align for Tony Hawk andTarzan in more ways than one,as the pro skater achieved arguably his greatest professional accomplishment the same year that the movie was released. At the 1999 X-Games held in San Francisco,Tony Hawk became the first person to ever officially complete the 900, one of the most difficult vert ramp tricks possible and the white whale of Hawk's own career. And, as Hawk defied gravity with superhuman agility and mobility, it was done with a backdrop of posters advertising Disney'sTarzan; a magical movie moment both in real-life and on the screen.
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Filmmakers Developed New Animation Tools for 'Tarzan'
The animation team working onTarzanpushed the boundaries in more ways than one to create one of the most visually stunning and vibrant animated films to date. In 1996, the directors and animation supervisorstraveled to Africa to learn more about the environment and setting of the film. They visited animal reserves in Kenya and gorillas in Uganda, even making it to Bwindi's Impenetrable Forest, a dense jungle that helped the production team feel the vitality needed to make the movie feel alive.
The animation team also made incredible advancements, the most notable of which was the creation of Deep Canvas.Coined by animator and engineer Eric Daniels, Deep Canvas is an animation technique that utilizes CGI to make backgrounds that look like hand drawn paintings.With a relatively small team working on the project, programmers helped alleviate the burden on the artists by creating software that streamlined the necessary changes in the painted 2D background as the shot moved in a 3-dimensional space. Essentially, the computer software would use the artists' original brushstrokes as the foundation for its changes, keeping it rooted in the original painters' style. Deep Canvas would later be used in other Disney projects, such asAtlantis: The Lost Empirein 2001 andTreasure Planetin 2002. In 2003, Disney was awarded with an Oscar for Technical Advancement in recognition of Deep Canvas' improvements in animation.
When taking a character with as much history as Tarzan and adapting it into animation, Disney needed to make sure that the film embodied the liveliness and kinetic energy of the character — which they were wildly successful in achieving. Skateboarding and other professional sports are part of the cultural zeitgeist and are known as some of the heights of human dexterity, making it a profoundly brilliant idea to use them as the model for a character as spectacular as Tarzan.
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Tarzanis available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
