The Dad Behind The Myth: An Interview With Walt Disneys Daughter Diane

Walt Disney was a very special person indeed. Known throughout the world for his animated films, live-action features, television programs, the theme parks and his beloved cartoon character creations, Walt was also a technical innovator, pushing ahead with pioneering uses of storyboards, sound (and later stereo surround), color, widescreen, D and special effects, as well as animatronics ! "real# animated robot characters. $n top of all this, he was also a loving husband to wife %illian, and Dad to his daughters Diane and &haron. 'orn in () , Diane was *oined *ust a few years later by adopted sister &haron, and the two grew on the sets of their Dad+s films and had sneak previews of pro*ects in development. ,fter Walt+s passing, &haron remained a very private person, while Diane continued to be involved in the family business by way of marriage to -on .iller, who produced many of the &tudio+s wonderful pictures in the ()/0s and early 10s. .ore recently, she has championed Walt on the web, with the Walt Disney 2amily .useum, which seeks to preserve the life, work and philosophy of her father. 3n 400(, in recognition of Walt+s centenary year, both studio and family pooled resources to produce Walt: The Man Behind The Myth, a wonderful 4-hour biographical documentary that celebrates Walt the man, and Disney, his company, which took a while but is now available in wide release on D5D. ,fter a harrowing *ourney through red-lights and rush hour traffic to make my appointment, 3 had an opportunity to talk to Diane about Walt+s life at home and at the &tudio, and find out more about the Dad behind the myth6 Animated Views: 7hanks for taking the time out to talk with us, and congratulations on The Man Behind The Myth film, 3 really en*oyed it. Diane Disney Miller: $h, thank you. AV: 3 have to say it is a privilege to talk to you because 3 am a huge Walt fan in both the pro*ects he created and his way of life, and growing up he was a real inspiration to me because most of what 3 learnt was from his films. 8e was known throughout the world as 9ncle Walt, so how did you feel growing up ! was there a sense that you were sharing him with the rest of the world: DDM: 3 think my sister and 3 didn+t feel that way when we were very young but as we each got a little older 3 think we began to, and 3 kind of resented it although he was still ours. 'ut 3 resented the fact that it was obvious that a lot of people our age felt that they owned him as much as we did, so yes 3 did feel a little of that later. AV: 8ow was life at home split with life at the studio for Walt and how did he cope with dealing with those two different sides of his life: DDM: Well when he was home, he was home, you know: 8ome was important to him, and so was his family, and they always had been. 'ut he was with .om and he was happy to be home. 7hey were wonderful companions, sweethearts forever and 3 learnt later from his sister, ,unt -uth, that he wanted a big family. 8e told her he was going to have ten kids and let them do anything they wanted to do; 8e only had the two of us, but our home was a wonderful place, almost like anyone else+s home, 3 think. Dad would come home from work, he would have dinner. We+d do our homework, e<cept that after a certain point in time, 3 think it was about in the late forties, he put a pro*ection room in, so very often we+d see a movie after dinner. &o that was rather unusual. 3 think he did it when he started Song Of The Southand we would see dailies, as he would see them at home rather than at the studio. ,nd 3 think that+s one reason he built the room, when he was getting into more live action movies.

AV: ,nd what was it like at home when he put his own money into pro*ects, for instance like Disney%and: DDM: $h he always did have his own money and we always lived well, but 3 realise now that there were times when it was very difficult, 3 think it was during the War, after Fantasia and all that =the ()>( &tudio strike?, and 3 think he felt it. 'ut he never lost confidence in himself and his disappointments were not devastating to him. 8e @uickly would go on, he talked about it openly. 7o get Disney%and started he borrowed on his life insurance. 7hey had *ust built a second home down in Aalm &prings and he banked on that, because he had great confidence that it was going to work. 3f it hadn+t worked things would have been a lot different; AV: Buite throughout his career Walt took ma*or gambles and luckily they all paid off, which is some thing 3 find very inspiring. DDM: 'ut you know his own hard work and energy was still a driving force in the end, and 3 think that he had such confidence in himself and in what he envisioned. AV: ,nd when it was finally completed, how did you feel going to Disney%and for the first time: DDM: $h, let+s see, 3 was the mother of one little boy, and my husband was in the army, and 3+d come down for their =Walt and %illy+s? anniversary party the night before the opening of Disney%and. 7hey had it on the big .ark 7wain riverboat with all their friends, and it was a wonderful party. $f course 3+d been down, walking around and seeing it as it was built over the couple of years that it took, and first of all 3 thought that it was wonderful, but 3 was an adult with a small child of my own, but 3 was still pleased with it. AV: Coing back to the documentary 3 noticed that the version on the D5D is very different to the 58& cut. Who pushed for the D5D release, and why is the cut different: DDM: Well, we were able to put more in it. 3 think that+s what so wonderful about the D5D. 7he 58& was frustrating because we only had little soundbites from all the people that we interviewed and we couldn+t include everybody that 3 wanted to be part of it, and the D5D gave us the space do to that. AV: ,nd what kind of control did you have over the final version: DDM: 3 think we pretty well determined what we wanted to have on it and what we thought was important. 3 know 3 was very emphatic that we didn+t have .ary Dosta or 3lene Woods on the 58& and 3 thought their interviews were wonderful and you know my Dad+s life with those films was so important and so lovely, and they brought so much to it. AV: 7here+s a great deal of archive footage in the documentary, a lot of which is shown widely for the first time. 8ow much were you conscious of showing to the public and are there any other clips that could have been included that you didn+t want to show: DDM: Eo, 3 think we included *ust about as much as we could. 3 would love to show more film of my parents when they were younger, my Dad trying to ice-skate, things like that, because in it you see the influence of Dharlie Dhaplin, 8arold %loyd and .ickey .ouse; 3t+s all in my Dad right there; 8e was @uite a Dhaplin fan at the time, from the time in his childhood and 3 think .ickey showed a lot of influence of those famous silent films that he was in. AV: Eowadays Walt+s nephew -oy F. Disney runs the animation department of the &tudio, as well as being an e<ecutive. 8ow much involvement do you have as a family with Walt+s company: DDM: We have no involvement at all. 7he only involvement was that we contracted with the company and they produced and distributed the DD--oms =the ())1 3ntimate 8istory disc? for us and it didn+t do very well, but with the film, ,'D+s buying it, 3 was very pleased that they did it, it seemed so right and it aired once on the Disney show a year ago.

AV: ,nd how do you think Walt would find what 7he Walt Disney Dompany is todayG it+s grown to such massive proportions. DDM: Hes it has grown, it+s huge, but he was going in other directions. ,t the end of his life, without knowing it was the end of his life, Fpcot was what he was looking atG looking beyond entertainment, but in a sense it was. 8e always used to say he felt that school should not be boring ! school should be entertainment, and he felt that somehow engaging people in a stimulating and pleasant way was a way to achieve everything, even selling progress to people and industry. 8e really felt that at that point in his life that he knew that he had the support that he lacked in earlier years. 8e didn+t have to go and plead with the bankers to get them to give him money to continue a film, or pestering my 9ncle -oy =$. Disney, Walt+s brother? ! he was the one who was charged with doing that and did it so well ! but he was really at a point in his life where he could have gotten the support from *ust about anybody to do anything; 8e created an art school, the 3nstitute $f 7he ,rts, and Fpcot, which he thought was a wonderful way for industry, what they wanted to do, to showcase the future and the products of the future, so that the public could be e<cited about it and could accept it. AV: Walt himself did obviously push forward with embracing new technology and for instance, with computer animated films, a lot of people are saying "oh, it+s not 4D, and it+s not cel animation, Walt wouldn+t like that#. 3+m with the crowd who believes that he would have been open to that technology way before it actually took off with Toy Story and films like that. 8e was interested in computers in the I0s, wasn+t he: DDM: 3 don+t know about computer animation, but 3 do know that the .r %incoln that they did for the World+s 2air was audio-animatronic figures ! that was computers, and the computer was huge, rather it was a large room, and it made .r %incoln stand up and sit down, and talk and all that, so that+s the only use that 3+m aware of. 3 do know that they used the Jero< process in Dalmatians and he was not happy with that at first and 3 think that caused Ken ,nderson a great amount of grief, but he later said "Eo, 3 like it#. 3 loved it, 3 loved the rough-lines.

AV: 2or me, The Jungle Book is such a vibrant and lively film because of that Jero< processG 3 think the animation really springs to life in that film. DDM: 7hat was in the making when he died. 7hat+s about the last film that has any imprint of Dad on it. AV: ,nd there+s a Jungle Book 2 coming out in 2ebruary. Walt famously once said "you can+t top pigs with pigs# regarding a se@uel to the Three Little Pigs. &o what do you think he might have felt about the

se@uels the &tudio is currently releasingG there was another Peter Pan last year, and they have a Dum o and a Bam i lined up6 DDM: 3 don+t think he would have done that. 3 really don+t. AV: 7he official Disney website hosts 7he Walt Disney 2amily .useum on the internet. &o how does that work with the &tudio, do you actually maintain that yourselves: DDM: Well -ichard and Katherine Creene maintain that, but the &tudio gave us the name Walt-Disneydot-com. ,nd 3 thought that that was @uite lovely. 3t runs under their portal, they host it, we are a part of their website. AV: 3t+s nice that the company does look back and recognise who Walt was, who he is, and how important he is, and that+s something that you don+t get with, for instance, the Warner 'rothers or any of the other companies. 'ut he is such a part and parcel of what the company is even now that it *ust feels "right# to have Walt around. $ut of all of his creations, be it animation, live-action, theme parks, or anything else he was involved with, what is your favorite: DDM: 7hat 3 can+t say; 3 didn+t like everything of course, but 3 loved so many of them, and really loved them, and kind of knew them in my Dad+s mind in a sense that they were developing then. 3 could say Mary Po!!ins, 3 thought that was a wonderful, wonderful movie, but as far as animation goes6 oh, Sno" White# Pino$$hio# Dum o# Bam i ! there are so many;Dalmatians, 3 really loved that, all of them; %inderella# Slee!ing Beauty6 AV: Hou+re like me, you can+t pick a favorite; DDM: Eo; ,nd this is from all of them, you know. Dharacters, moments. 3t+s *ust, 3 think, the whole thing. AV: ,nd how do you find the current crop of Disney films, like Beauty &nd The Beast and The Lion 'ing: DDM: Hou know what 3 like, what 3 really love that+s been done is taking them on to 'roadway, on to the stage and combining some of that and doing beautiful stage productions, because 3 think that live theater needs some support, and 3 think that these Disney productions have been so popular and so beautifully done. AV: 3 hear they+re soon to be *oined by The Little Mermaid, which should also be a sight to see. DDM: 7hat should be interesting. Animated Views: Well, 3 think our time here is done, so can 3 *ust thank you again ! it+s been a real pleasure to talk to you; Diane Disney Miller: 7hank you, 'en.