| My Peoples | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Barry Cook |
| Written by | Ian Southwood[1] |
| Produced by | Kendra Haaland[1] |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mark O'Connor[1] |
Production company | |
| Country | United States |
My Peoples (also known asOnce in a Blue Moon,Elgin's Peoples,Angel and Her No Good Sister andA Few Good Ghosts) is a cancelled animatedfantasy film that was to be directed byBarry Cook, the co-director ofMulan (1998). It was scrapped in favor ofChicken Little (2005).[1]
Set in Appalachia, Texas in the 1940s,My Peoples was to tell the story (similar toRomeo and Juliet) of two feuding families: the Harpers and the McGees (modeled after theHatfields and McCoys), whose two children, Elgin and Rose, fall in love. Elgin Harper creates dolls from various household objects, and ships one doll named Angel to woo Rose McGee. However, a magic potion from Rose's father, Old Man McGee, backfires and brings the dolls to life. Angel abandons her mission and proceeds to leave town, at which the other dolls pursue her so she can unite the families.[1]
Five months after directingMulan (1998), Barry Cook began developing a pitch for an animated film based on a short story he had previously written titledThe Ghost & the Gift, which involved three children and a ghost helping an Appalachian couple get together. In 2000, Cook pitched his idea toMichael Eisner andThomas Schumacher, both of whom agreed the idea showed potential but were reluctant. Eisner demurred about the project's simplicity while Schumacher felt the project was "too human" and more appropriate for alive action film.[1] Looking back over the research, Cook remembered how many of the residents there dabbled in the creation of household-item induced dolls. He then retooled his idea and added seven folk art characters into the story.[2] For the next pitch meeting, he created a maquette of the character Angel which he hoped to use as a visual aid. However, because he was located at theFeature Animation Florida studio, Cook could not physically attend the meeting.[1]
Not to be deterred, Cook shipped a maquette in a wooden violin case toBurbank, California, at which point he phoned up an assistant, instructing him to place it on the conference room table at the meeting. When the meeting came, Cook re-pitched his idea to Schumacher over the phone and told him to open the case. Charmed by the idea, Schumacher green-lit the project into active development.[2][3] The story was then revised into being about mischievous mountain spirits inhabiting the folk art dolls.[2] By May 2003, the film was re-titled again toElgin's People.[1] In June, during a meeting about the studio's future animation slate,Pam Coats told Eisner the project had been re-titled toAngel and Her No Good Sister. Stainton believed the new title suggested "automatic conflict".[4] In October 2003, the project was re-titled once more toA Few Good Ghosts.[1] One month later, Eisner viewed a rough cut screening of the film's first act. To the crew's surprise, Eisner reportedly praised the film exclaiming, "You folks finally have a movie here!"[1]
However, on November 14, Stainton announced in a company email that production onA Few Good Ghosts had been cancelled.[3] Cook believed the project was cancelled becauseChicken Little (2005) was more marketable for a release.[1] The project's cancellation and the subsequent closure of the Florida studio led to nearly 260 artists losing their jobs.[5]
The characters for the film were used in Disney's 2007 animated filmMeet the Robinsons as part of the failed inventions of Cornelius Robinson.[6]