This is the real voice of Robin Williams in the Disney+ special short ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE STUDIO

A captivating 9-minute short film titled, was released this week on Disney+ Once upon a time there was a studiowhich follows many of our favorite animated characters from the last century as they gather in the studio to take a group photo to celebrate 100 years of Disney Studios.

The short is nostalgic for any Disney fan who grew up watching animated classics and contemporary favorites. One of the coolest parts is that the short film is narrated Robin Williamslike his beloved Aladdin character, Genie. This was also not created by AI, his voice was taken from his previous Disney project and reused for this special.

The producer of the project, Yvett Merinoshared the following about how to make this happen and how to involve Williams’ family in the process:

“Robin Williams is very special. And of course, Genie is one of our special iconic characters. We worked closely with the Williams estate to ensure they were present for the trip. We showed them the film and they really liked it. We introduced it on board, so they saw it very early. And the recording you hear is actually one of the recordings [from Aladdin outtakes].”

Co-writer and director Trent Correy further explained the process involved in using familiar faces and voices in the short film.

“[Our] The legal team, whether it was using a character’s look or sound, made extreme efforts to do so and we immediately went to the estate to obtain proper permission for all characters.

Dan Abrahamthe other half of the film crew, were up to the task of scouting the path of Robin Williams Aladdin recording outtakes in the booth.

“[There were] 16 hours of footage recording Robin for the Genie. And every time he said something they didn’t use, I mentally went back to my Disney Rolodex and said, “Oh!” and I would like to write the time code and line. We wanted to put together an in-between moment [Frozen character] Olaf and the Genie. And so we just came up with the scenario and the dialogue, and it all went very quickly.

It looks like it’s going to be really special. I can’t wait to watch it with my kids this week. Check out the trailer for the short below and you can watch it Once upon a time there was a studio onDisney+.

via: Gizmodo