USA: ELTON JOHN AND LYRICIST TIM RICE REUNITE FOR PREMIERE OF THEIR LATEST BIG SCREEN COLLABORATION "THE ROAD TO EL DORADO"

Record ID: 389068

  • Title: USA: ELTON JOHN AND LYRICIST TIM RICE REUNITE FOR PREMIERE OF THEIR LATEST BIG SCREEN COLLABORATION "THE ROAD TO EL DORADO"
  • Date: 12th April 2000
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 28) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) ) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) ELTON JOHN SAYING Well, we had such a great time doing "The Lion King." When you do an animation movie, it's a five year project from start to finish and it's very much a team effort. It's animation people, it's story people, it's song people, it's score people and directors an
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ZOFWVVCJ3E5R5QXOVHU0D7KV
  • Story Text: Less than a week after their Broadway musical "Aida" opened to mixed reviews, Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice reunited for the Los Angeles premiere of their latest big screen collaboration "The Road to El Dorado,"
    their first animated musical since "The Lion King."
    The film is styled after the classic Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road movies but is set in 16th Century Central America.
    It follows the adventures of two bumbling con men named Tulio and Miguel, voiced by actors Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh.
    The film starts with the two roguish Spaniards escaping the authorities in Madrid by stowing away on the war ships of the notorious General Cortez headed for the New World.Armed only with a map to the legendary city of gold known as El Dorado, the best friends brave high seas, dense jungles and ferocious creatures until they stumble upon the hidden kingdom and are welcomed by the indiginous population as all-powerful gods.
    At first, they use their new-found status to enrich themselves with gold and luxeries, but soon, they find themselves enchanted with the city and its people and turn their energies to fighting off the Spanish warriors marching on its gates.
    Aside from Kline and Branagh, the voice talents in the film include Rosie Perez as Chel, a scheming and seductive native, Edward James Olmos as The Chief of El Dorado, and Armand Assante as Tzekel-Kan, the evil high priest of the city.
    "The Road to El Dorado" is the second traditionally-animated feature from Dreamworks pictures, following "The Prince of Egypt." This time out, studio chief and executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg assembled directors Eric Bergeron and Don Paul, both of whom cut their teeth in the animation world at Walt Disney on such projects as "The Adventures of Pinocchio," "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin."
    For the music, Katzenberg also turned to his previous collaborators on "The Lion King," Elton John and Tim Rice.
    With John writing the songs and Rice the lyrics, "The Lion King" went on to become the top-grossing animated film of all time and win an Oscar for its music.
    In between that film and now, John and Rice collaborated on writing extra songs for the Broadway stage version of "The Lion King" and wrote the music for the brand new Broadway musical "Aida," which just bowed on the Great White Way a few weeks ago.
    Another "Lion King" veteran returning to work on "The Road to El Dorado" is score composer Hans Zimmer, who also won an Oscar for his work on the score of the earlier blockbuster.
    Although the film is a light-hearted and comedic fantasy, an indiginous rights organization called the Mexica Movement is protesting it for its failure to tell the truth about the genocide committed by the 16th Century Spaniards during their conquest of what is now modern-day Mexico.
    The protesters turned out at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, March 29, but their concerns are not expected to affect the film's wide release throughout the United States on Friday, March 31.
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