‘A Whole (other) New World’: Disney director Ron Clements talks ‘Aladdin,’ retirement

Filled with a lamp full of other people’s ideas, it came quickly on the heels of his big success, “The Little Mermaid,” and it wasn’t exactly the next thing Clements and his writing and directing partner John Musker wanted to do.

“We were exhausted after that,” the Sioux City native says. “We just wanted a vacation.”

Studio heads, however, were eager to get their winning duo on another film. They pitched them “Beauty and the Beast” and that had an even earlier deadline than “Aladdin.” The answer: No.

When they returned from vacation, Musker and Clements were presented a list of three films – “Swan Lake,” “King of the Jungle” and “Aladdin.”

“ ‘Swan Lake’ was too much like ‘Little Mermaid,’” Clements says. “We turned down ‘King of the Jungle ‘ because we didn’t think anyone would be interested in seeing a film about a lion king…but we really liked ‘Aladdin.’”

Howard Ashman, the lyricist behind “Little Mermaid,” had been working on an “Aladdin” adaptation. “The songs had been written for it,” Clements says. But there were a few problems: Ashman’s version included Aladdin’s mom and studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg thought she added nothing to the story.

Armed with the executive’s notes, Ashman’s script and their own ideas (including Robin Williams as the Genie), Clements and Musker showed their version to Katzenberg on the Thursday before Easter – two years before the movie was slated to hit theaters.

“He hated it,” Clements says. To add to the angst: Ashman had just died. “It was a very strange time,” Clements says.

Clements and Musker, however, weren’t ready to give up. They retooled elements, leaned into an Al Hirschfeld look for many of the characters (animator Eric Goldberg fashioned the Genie after the illustrator’s fluid lines), added new songs from Alan Menken and Tim Rice and got the green light.

Like “Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” was a big audience hit – it won the Grammy for Song of the Year and Oscars for its music. It became the highest-grossing film of 1992 and was the highest-grossing animated film ever, until “The Lion King” surpassed it two years later.

“Aladdin” was also one of the first films to use a celebrity voice for one of its characters. “When we did ‘Aladdin,’ it seemed very risky,” Clements says. Now, it’s common practice.

Williams, he adds, was a real genius – able to take lines they had written and give them new meaning.

“The recording sessions with Robin are some of the most amazing recording sessions I’ve ever witnessed,” Clements says. “He would always perform what was written, but then he would take and play with it and come up with more and more stuff. There was so much material, it was a problem to figure out just what to use.”

Ashman, too, is held in high regard. “Music people always wanted a breakout single from a movie and Howard was averse to that. ‘Part of Your World’ is very, very specific – which makes it more difficult.” Katzenberg wanted to drop the song from “The Little Mermaid” but animator Glen Keane pleaded with him and it stayed – becoming the film’s signature song.

With “Aladdin,” studio heads wanted Ashman to write a love song. He didn’t. After Ashman’s death they encouraged Menken and Rice to write one and the result, “Part of Your World,” became a huge hit.

Three key influences on Clements’ career – Katzenberg, Ashman and Williams – were at play in “Aladdin.”

In an upcoming memoir, the 69-year-old Clements details their impact and others’ over the course of his career, which started in January 1974 and ended just before the pandemic. While he and Musker are “just kind of dabbling” on other projects, Clements considers himself retired.

He went back to the studio once to attend the launch for a Disney+ series based on “Moana” and keeps in touch with others from his storied career.

“I’ve actually enjoyed retirement more than I expected,” the Bishop Heelan High School grad says. “I started meditating. I’ve taught myself how to play the piano and, occasionally, I’ll do some writing and painting. We spend time with our granddaughter, who’s 7, and that’s fun. I’m not that anxious to jump back into directing, but there are a few things out there. It’s a tough job. It can be stressful and it takes a lot out of you.

“I honestly didn’t know how I would react to retirement but I’m not the kind of person who feels like I’ve got to do more and more and more.”

Instead, Clements enjoys seeing the residual effects of his work. A live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” is coming out this summer. There’s a “Hercules” stage play in development and, next week, he’ll get to be part of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of “Aladdin.”

A full-circle moment? Clements saw “Pinocchio” at the Orpheum Theatre when he was a child. That inspired him to consider a career in art. “When I was at Epiphany grade school, they took us to symphony concerts at the auditorium. And when I was in high school, I designed two programs for the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.”

Now his animated film is the focus of a Sioux City Symphony Orchestra concert at the Orpheum.