Copyright Chicago Tribune
English actor Jeremy Irons showed his claws earlier this month during a video-captured interview with “GQ” magazine, discussing that he was “upset with Disney animators” after the first time he saw the look of his animated villainous alter ego screen character “Scar,” the latter featuring his vocal talents in the 1994 feature film “The Lion King.” “I assumed (during the recording session) I’d see an animated lion on a screen and I’d be making my voice try to match what his (the lion’s) mouth was doing,” said 77-year-old Irons during the interview. “But no. We arrived to some room in London, and all around the walls were the storyboard sketches for the film, people with video cameras, and I sat at a desk as they threw lines at me to record while people were sketching me. Then, about four months later, we met again for a second time, this time in Canada, and they all came and got more stuff together to begin to find the character, and we tried more lines as they sketched me. And then, I saw the (completed) film, and I was really upset because James Earl Jones (who voiced Mufasa, king of the pride) as HIS character looks wonderful, muscular, and this fantastic mane in his gloriousness. And yet I (as Scar) was this scraggy, mangy-looking lion, with thin jawline, a terrible tail and terrible mane. I thought to myself, ‘Is THAT what they saw when drawing me?’ I was very, very upset, and even more so when we saw it at Radio City Music Hall for the New York Premiere.” Greg Manwaring, 63, of Crown Point, started his career in animation 38 years ago, and his credits include time as a Disney Studios animator who helped create two Oscar-winning films, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” in 1988 and “The Lion King” in 1994. While Manwaring doesn’t take any credit or responsibility (nor deny it) for the descriptions detailed this month by actor Irons, he is well-versed in the Disney animation industry and the behind-the-scenes secrets of having a career where creativity is encouraged. From 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, Manwaring is the guest headliner at a free event hosted by Indiana Filmmakers Network Northwest Indiana, presenting the latest in their Entertainment Industry Speaker Series 2025 “Celebrate Animation” in Room A of the Merrillville Branch Lake County Public Library at 1919 81st St. Guests attending are encouraged to RSVP by emailing nwi.filmmakers@gmail.com or visiting www.indianafilmmakers.org. Formerly from Burbank, California, before returning to Northwest Indiana nearly three years ago to care for his father, Manwaring was originally born and raised in the Glen Park neighborhood of Gary, until the age of 10, when in 1972, he and his two older brothers moved with their parents to an Army base in Wuerzburg, Germany. “My dad taught at Lew Wallace and Mom worked in the mills,” said Manwaring when he was a guest on my weekly Of Notoriety radio show on WJOB 1230 AM on Tuesday. “From home, I’m able to teach online classes in animation using Zoom, which I’ve created as a program I call ‘Tinseltown Animation School.’ I also have in-person class options with a location in downtown Crown Point and another at the Emagine Cinema in Portage. I limit classes to just 10 students.” Class tuition is $80 per class session with full course programs designed for beginner, intermediate and advanced level options, with month-long classes priced at $300 to $500. Details about Manwaring’s online animation school are found at tinseltown.studio/school. While Manwaring is proud of his animation affiliation with “The Lion King,” he ranks “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” as even more groundbreaking for Hollywood studio history. “The Touchstone Pictures’ film ‘Roger Rabbit’ marked the first time studios such as Disney and Warner Bros. allowed the crossover use of their signature cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and so many others,” Manwaring said. With a box office gross of more than $351 million internationally, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” was the second top-earning film of 1988, right behind “Rain Man.” The movie, which mixed animation with live action actors during a decade before the use of computer-generated animation, had a budget of $70 million, which is $181 million in the 2025 financing equivalent. Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at philpotempa@gmail.com
