Ron Clements

Clements was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of Gertrude (née Gereau) and Joseph Clements.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/90/Ronald-Francis-Clements.html|title=Ronald (Francis) Clements Biography (1953-)|work=Film Reference|publisher=Advameg Inc.}} He graduated from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School. One of his first jobs in the arts was working with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum Theatre.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Bruce |date=2023-04-15 |title='A Whole (other) New World': Disney director Ron Clements talks 'Aladdin,' retirement |url=https://siouxcityjournal.com/entertainment/a-whole-other-new-world-disney-director-ron-clements-talks-aladdin-retirement/article_ffb90603-b6c2-559f-8436-27287696a9b2.html |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=Sioux City Journal |language=en}}

Clements began his career as an animator for Hanna-Barbera. After a few months there, he was accepted into Disney's Talent Development Program, an animator training ground and workshop. After that, he served a two-year apprenticeship with famed animator Frank Thomas, a supervising animator of Disney films such as Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), and The Aristocats (1970). Clements made his feature debut as a character animator on The Rescuers and Pete's Dragon in 1977. In 1981, he became the supervising animator on The Fox and the Hound. Future partner John Musker worked as a character animator under him, and Clements later teamed up with Musker as story artists on The Black Cauldron before they were removed from the project.{{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=117}} In 1982, Clements proposed adapting the children's book series Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus into an animated feature and, along with story artist Pete Young, it was pitched to Ron Miller.{{sfn|Hulett|2014|p=51}} Because the animators were displeased with the direction of The Black Cauldron was heading, Basil of Baker Street was approved as an alternative project.{{cite news|last=Korkis|first=Jim|title=How Basil Saved Disney Feature Animation: Part One|url=http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/destinations/mouseplanet/post/2011/02/How-Basil-Saved-Disney-Feature-Animation-Part-One/144296/1|newspaper=USA Today|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712004433/http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/destinations/mouseplanet/post/2011/02/How-Basil-Saved-Disney-Feature-Animation-Part-One/144296/1|date=February 23, 2011|archive-date=July 12, 2014|access-date=December 28, 2015}} Burny Mattinson and Musker were assigned as the original directors while Dave Michener was brought in as an additional director. Due to a shortened production schedule and multiple story rewrites, Roy E. Disney assigned Mattinson to serve as director/producer while Clements was brought in as another director.

While working on The Great Mouse Detective, newly appointed Disney CEO and chairman Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg issued invitations to the animation staff for their first held "gong show" session. Demanding only five new ideas, Clements went to a bookstore and discovered Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. Clements wrote and presented a two-page treatment of Mermaid to Disney Studios Chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at a "gong show" idea suggestion meeting, as well as conceptualized the idea of Treasure Planet. At the gong show session, Mermaid was rejected for its similarities to Splash while Planet was rejected by Eisner because Paramount Pictures was developing a Star Trek sequel with a Treasure Island angle (that went eventually unproduced).{{sfn|Stewart|2005|pp=93–94}} The next morning, Katzenberg approached Clements and asked him to expand his initial treatment. With Mermaid in production in 1986, Clements and Musker were later joined by Off-Broadway musical composers Howard Ashman and Alan Menken who collaborated on the song and musical score.{{sfn|Stewart|2005|p=}} Released in November 1989, The Little Mermaid was praised as a milestone in rebirth of Disney animation by film critics and collected a domestic gross of $84 million,{{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=120}} cumulatively receiving $184.2 million worldwide.{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=worldwide&yr=1989&p=.htm|title=1989 Worldwide Grosses|work=Box Office Mojo|access-date=December 28, 2015}} When work on Mermaid was wrapped, Clements and Musker re-developed their idea for Treasure Planet,{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-06-fi-treasure6-story.html|last1=Verrier|first1=Richard|last2=Eller|first2=Claudia|title=Disney's 'Treasure Planet' an Adventure in Losing Money|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 6, 2002|access-date=December 28, 2015}} but the studio still expressed disinterest. Instead, the two directors were offered three projects in development: Swan Lake, King of the Jungle, and Aladdin.{{cite interview|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/13/aladdin-roundtable|interviewer=Josh Labrecque|title=Everything you ever wanted to know about Aladdin|subject1=Ron Clements|subject2=John Musker|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|date=October 13, 2015|access-date=December 28, 2015}} The directors chose Aladdin because they thought the story would suit a wackier, faster-paced, and more contemporary mood than that found in then-recent Disney animated films.{{cite news|last=Rhodes|first=Joe|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-08-ca-4-story.html|title=COVER STORY : What Would Walt Say? : The credits read Disney, but 'Aladdin' is a brand-new 'toon, an irreverent high-stakes gamble that veers sharply from tradition|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 8, 1992|access-date=December 28, 2015}}

Working from Ashman and Menken's treatment and musical score, the two delivered a story reel to Katzenberg in April 1991, which was strongly disapproved of. Jettisoning multiple characters and story ideas and adding Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio as co-screenwriters, the production team restructured the entire story in eight days.{{Cite video | people = John Musker, Ron Clements, Eric Goldberg, Amy Pell, Ed Gombert, Terry Rossio, Ted Elliot | title = Reflections On Black Friday | medium = DVD | publisher = Walt Disney Home Video |date = 2004}} Released in November 1992, Aladdin received positive reviews from critics, and became the first animated film to gross over $200 million domestically.{{cite news|last=Fox|first=David J.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-21-ca-25327-story.html|title='Aladdin' Becomes a $200-Million Genie for Disney|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 21, 1993|access-date=December 28, 2015}} Following work on Aladdin, Clements, along with Musker, resumed their work on Treasure Planet, which was again turned down by Katzenberg in 1993, who disapproved of setting the adaptation of a classic adventure tale in outer space. A deal was struck with the two directors to create another commercial film before he would approve Treasure Planet. Rejecting projects in development such as Don Quixote, The Odyssey, and Around the World in Eighty Days, they were later informed of animator Joe Haidar's pitch for a Hercules feature, and signed onto the project.{{cite web|last=Hill|first=Jim|url=http://www.laughingplace.com/News-PID115030-115034.asp|title=Who the hell do we get to play Hades?|publisher=Jim Hill Media|date=April 5, 2001|access-date=December 28, 2015}} During production on Hercules, in 1995, Clements and Musker signed a seven-year contract deal with the studio which stipulated following Hercules, the studio would produce Treasure Planet or another project of their choosing.

Treasure Planet was eventually approved for production and subsequently released in 2002 to mixed critical reception.{{cite web|title=Treasure Planet (2002)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/treasure_planet|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529214044/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/treasure_planet|archive-date=May 29, 2019|access-date=November 30, 2019|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango}} The film performed poorly at the box office, costing $140 million to create while earning only $38 million in the United States and Canada and just shy of $110 million worldwide.{{cite news|last=Eller|first=Claudia|date=January 15, 2014|title=The costliest box office flops of all time|website=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-box-office-flops-pictures-photogallery.html#axzz2tJcnZf9r|url-status=live|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207014921/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-box-office-flops-pictures-photogallery.html#axzz2tJcnZf9r|archive-date=February 7, 2019}} Despite this, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, marking his first Academy Award nomination.{{cite web|title=2002 (75th)|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1228959144749|access-date=December 11, 2008|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}}{{dead link|date=May 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}

Following Treasure Planet, Clements and Musker later inherited Fraidy Cat, which was originally a project developed by Dutch animation director Piet Kroon.{{cite news|title=Bad day in the barnyard|last=Lowe|first=R. Kinsey|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-05-et-lowe5-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 5, 2004|access-date=December 28, 2015}} However, David Stainton, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, refused to green-light the project,{{cite web|url=http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2005/08/18/662.aspx| last=Hill | first=Jim | title=Why was the head of WDFA afraid to put "Fraidy Cat" into production?|publisher=Jim Hill Media| date=August 17, 2005 | access-date=December 28, 2015}} which was followed with Clements and Musker's resignation from Disney in September 2005.{{cite web|last=Sito|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Sito|title=The Late, Great, 2D Animation Renaissance — Part 2|url=http://www.awn.com/animationworld/late-great-2d-animation-renaissance-part-2|work=Animation World Network|date=March 14, 2006|access-date=December 28, 2015}} When John Lasseter was appointed chief creative officer over Disney Feature Animation in February 2006, he invited Clements and Musker back to Disney to oversee production on The Frog Princess,{{cite interview|title=An Interview with John Musker and Ron Clements|url=http://www.dvdizzy.com/princessandthefrog-interview.html|subject1=Ron Clements|subject2=John Musker|interviewer=Luke Bannano|work=DVD Dizzy|date=March 11, 2010|access-date=December 28, 2015}} and were officially confirmed as directors in the following July.{{cite web|url=http://www.awn.com/news/comic-con-sees-stars-2d-officially-back-disney|title=Comic-Con Sees Stars, 2D Officially Back at Disney|work=Animation World Network|date=July 23, 2006|access-date=December 28, 2015}} Later re-titled The Princess and the Frog, the film received positive reviews and grossed $267 million worldwide.{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=princessandthefrog.htm|title=The Princess and the Frog (2009) – Box Office Mojo|work=Box Office Mojo|publisher=IMDb|access-date=December 28, 2015}}

After directing The Princess and the Frog, Clements and Musker started working on an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Mort,{{cite news|last=Connelly|first=Brendon|title=What Disney's Film Of Terry Pratchett's Mort Might Have Looked Like... And A Preview Of Things To Come|url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/06/what-disneys-film-of-terry-pratchetts-mort-might-have-looked-like-and-a-preview-of-things-to-come/|access-date=December 28, 2015|newspaper=Bleeding Cool|date=April 6, 2013}} but obtaining the film rights prevented them from continuing with the project. To avoid similar problems, they pitched three new ideas, where by 2011, the two directors started developing the film based on an original idea.{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Bruce|title=Sioux City native Ron Clements preps new film for Disney studio|url=http://siouxcityjournal.com/entertainment/movies/sioux-city-native-ron-clements-preps-new-film-for-disney/article_90931eff-4f52-5bfe-8fed-20b21ac104b7.html|access-date=December 28, 2015|newspaper=Sioux City Journal|date=August 24, 2013}} In late 2012, the duo announced that they will be directing a new film in the future, but they have their lips sealed for the title, the plot, and the animation style. In July 2013, it was revealed that the film, titled Moana, would be "a Polynesian tale involving the island folk and the idols made famous the world over".{{cite news|last=Jardine|first=William|title=Tonnes of New Details Revealed About Disney's Upcoming Slate!|url=http://www.a113animation.com/2013/07/new-details-revealed-about-disneys.html|access-date=July 11, 2013|newspaper=Big Screen Animation|date=July 11, 2013}} On November 10, 2014, Disney confirmed Moana would be released on November 23, 2016.{{cite news|last1=Lang|first1=Brent|title=Disney Animation's 'Zootopia,' 'Moana' Hitting Theaters in 2016|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/disney-animations-zootopia-moana-hitting-theaters-in-2016-1201352502/|work=Variety|access-date=December 28, 2015|date=November 10, 2014}}

Clement's short film Shades of Sherlock Holmes was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=shades+of+sherlock+holmes&filmmaker=&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive}}

Alongside longtime collaborator John Musker, Clements received the 2017 Art Directors Guild William Cameron Menzies Award.

Clements has been married to his wife Tamara Lee Glumace, since February 25, 1989.

John Musker and Ron Clements have cast certain actors in more than one of their films.

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|last=Hulett|first=Steve|title=Mouse In Transition: An Insider's Look at Disney Feature Animation|publisher=Theme Park Press|date=December 4, 2014|isbn=978-1941500248}}
• {{cite book|last=Stewart|first=James|title=DisneyWar|year=2005|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=New York|isbn=0-684-80993-1|author-link=James B. Stewart}}
• {{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse To Hercules|publisher=Disney Editions|date=March 7, 1997|isbn=978-0786862412}}

{{Commons category|Ron Clements}}

• {{IMDb name|0166256|Ron Clements}}

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