Although animators are supposed to be in hotter demand than sun, there seems to be time in betweening for wild speculation, the latest toon rumors running the gamut from Warner Bros. and DreamWorks coming to Canada, to rumors linking Disney and Nelvana. The buzz which made the rounds at mip-tv is that Disney is buying into 25-year-old Nelvana. The speculation is that it would be a nice fit, given Disney’s talent needs. And closer to home, word on the street was that Disney was approaching Nelvana to get into a subcontract agreement on the new Disney Canada project Beauty and the Beast: Christmas Belle.

Nelvana’s Michael Hirsh says the subcontract talk is unfounded: ‘There have been no discussions.’ As for the Disney buyout, Hirsh says: ‘we don’t comment on rumors.’ And Disney says nope to both, so back to the drawing board all you abundantly creative types.

In other (real) Nelvana news, the company has announced a deal to render production services for Warner Bros. Television Animation on comedian Damon Wayans’ upcoming kids’ tv series.

As for Disney, although notice of a permanent home won’t come until later this month, Disney is moving ahead with its first production for the Canadian studios. Beauty and the Beast: Christmas Belle, the company’s first direct-to-international home video feature is in preproduction in Toronto and Vancouver.

Disney has announced the principals for the new Canadian operation. Heading up the studio will be local talent Greg Lucier, a cofounder of both Canada’s Triple I Productions and Calgary’s Quick Draw Animation Society. Sheridan graduate Andy Knight, who worked on the Red Rover/Nelvana series Ned Newt, Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming Pinnochio and, a few years back, Inspector Gadget, will act as director of the project.

In Toronto, William Speers (formerly of Lacewood Animation in Ottawa) will be assistant to the director, while in Vancouver, Keith Ingham will take on parallel duties.

Disney says after a winter of delays, it is in fact staffing up now. Plans are to hire about 200 artists in total to work on the feature.

Three on the go at Atlantis

Atlantis Communications has plans for three series to go into production this spring and summer – two of them in Toronto.

First up is Psi Factor, a 22-episode, one-hour drama series for syndication in the u.s. about the paranormal. Production starts mid-May and continues through to August with Dan Aykroyd hosting.

Executive producers are James Nadler, Seaton McLean, Peter Aykroyd and Chris Chacon. Executive story editor is Will Dixon, production manager is Sherri Saito and the rest of the crew is tba.

Distributor in the u.s. is cbs/ Group W/Maxim and Atlantis Releasing holds all other rights. Delivery is this fall.

The series, mostly made up of dramatic re-enactments, will be f/x-heavy. A contract has yet to be signed for the post and f/x work.

Flash Forward, a family series that has seen four episodes air in the States, has a commitment from Disney Channel in the u.s. and Family Channel in Canada that signals a green light on at least 22 more episodes (and could mean as many as 65).

Starring Ben Foster and Jewel Staite, it’s about two 12-year-olds – one boy and one girl – who have been friends since childhood and are reaching adolescence at the time of the story.

Credits and crew were sketchy at press time, but signed are producer Peter Meyboom, executive producer Daphne Ballon and line producer David Rosen. Also starring are Theodore Borders and Asia Viera.

The third series, The Adventures of Sinbad, is set to shoot in Capetown, South Africa, starting mid-June and continuing through to February 1997. It’s also a series for syndication, this time a piece of family entertainment loosely based on the sailor of Arabian Nights.

Atlantis says the 22 one-hour, fantasy-adventure series is another f/x-heavy one and post and f/x will be done in Toronto, but the company can’t say who will be taking it on. Jonathan Hackett is producer, production designer is Gavin Mitchell and the rest of the crew is tba. Starring as Sinbad is Zen Gesner (Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin).

All American is distributing in the u.s. and some European territories and Atlantis holds the remaining markets.

In search of E. Herbert Norman

National Film Board Ontario Centre producer Gerry Flahive and director John Kramer (Fabrikant, Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry) are researching a new documentary about the late Canadian diplomat, E. Herbert Norman, a man perhaps most renowned for his suicide leap from the roof of the Swedish Embassy in Cairo in 1957.

Norman was born in Japan to Canadian parents and raised in Canada from adolescence until he went to study at Cambridge and Oxford. It was there he, like so many intellectuals of the day, attended Communist meetings and showed interest in Marxist activities. Twenty years later, Norman had developed a career as an academic, an historian and a diplomat (he helped to rebuild post-war Japan under the direction of General MacArthur and had gained such respect there that he tutored the Emperor’s son in Japanese history).

In the early ’50s he was accused of being a Communist and disloyal to his country by members of a u.s. Senate subcommittee. Lester B. Pearson, then-external affairs minister, came to the aid of Norman and declared him innocent.

Things heated up in the Cold War, and a few years later, without any new evidence, a u.s. Senate committee again came out with the same accusations. A few weeks later, Norman was dead.

How did Norman end up in Egypt? After spending three years in New Zealand while things cooled down, Pearson appointed him Canadian ambassador to Egypt at the time of the Suez crisis to negotiate with President Nasser and to smooth a path for the first u.n. peacekeeping mission ever.

Norman’s death launched a battle between Canada and the u.s. Most Canadians at the time felt he had been hounded to death by the Americans.

As Flahive explains, ‘His death plunged Canada/u.s. relations to the lowest point in decades, and yet nearly 40 years later, most people haven’t heard of him.’

He continues: ‘Norman’s story is still relevant. It speaks to the whole issue of Canadian independence with regard to its relationship to the u.s. Ultimately, even the pm was unable to protect Herbert Norman from those who were critical and suspicious of him.’

Flahive isn’t out to point fingers. ‘We’re trying to create a fair and accurate portrayal of a person whose life had many layers of meaning.’

While researching the doc, Flahive and Kramer have met with Norman’s widow, specialist and biographer Roger Bowen and Professor Peyton Lyon (author of a 1990 report commissioned by the Department of External Affairs and intended to determine whether there was any evidence Norman was a traitor: it concluded there was none).

April 4, 1997 marks the 40th anniversary of Norman’s death and Flahive hopes to have the doc ready to launch by then. A Canadian broadcaster has yet to come onside, but Flahive is approaching the cbc.

Cast of millions

Imagine taking a good look, with the help of an enormous microscopic, at the critters that don’t pay rent but share our domiciles. Now imagine it in imax-3d. House Guests boasts quite the cast: there are the creatures that feed off dead skin, the countless assortments of food-related crawlies, all the bugs that live in our rugs, our drains, our mattresses, sofasaahhh!

Executive producer of the project, which is in development, is Jonathan Barker, co-execs are exec Andy Gellis for Imax and Dennis Kane for Cap Cities/abc. Release date is spring ’97 and Imax is saying little else about the project at this stage.

Wilds things

Bootycall, a Columbia feature in preproduction in Toronto, is a twentysomething date film about ‘two home boysin the hopes of doing the wild thing.’

It’s shooting from June 7 for six weeks, with director Jeff Pollack (Above the Rim, Fresh Prince of Bel Air), producers John Morrissey and Larry Turman, coproducer/unit production manager John M. Eckert and production co-ordinator Lori Greenberg attached. Cast are Jamie Foxx and Viveca Fox. Writers are the mysterious Takashi Bufford and Bootsi. The rest of the crew was up in the air at press time.

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And that’s a wrap. This is my last column for Playback. But those of you who think your lives will be more tranquil from here on in are mistaken. I’ll continue to cover this industry (it’s a weakness). Until then, arrivederci.

Editor’s note: Now that Cuthbert will be pursuing a career as a carefree freelancer, look for Louise Leger’s mugshot in the next Ontario Scene.