Getting to know Milt Kahl

I originally prepared these interview clips as part of a presentation for the 2009 Milt Kahl Tribute at the Academy. This is a series of brief, but fascinating statements which reveal Milt's passion as well as his artistic ego (watch for his comment about the use of live action, priceless).

He reflects on certain character assignments, talks about the genius of Walt Disney, and he even draws a few characters.

It is shocking to watch him start a sketch, he begins with details, as if he sees the complete drawing already on paper.

One thing is clear, this is an artist who challenged himself constantly to raise the standard of character animation. He had no patience for people who didn't try as hard as he did…he called them lazy bastards.

It's a shame he left Disney so early in 1976. As Brad Bird mentioned, at that time he had two or three more pictures in him.