See ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ Brilliantly Combining Animation and Real Life in These Rare Set Photos

Learn about the unbelievable amount of work that went into creating the singular world

By Abbey Bender June 2, 2025

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Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s mix of hardboiled noir style and cartoon goofiness made it a hit with fans young and old, and it grossed over $350 million worldwide on a $50 million budget. The film was made before CGI became the go-to for high-concept stories, and the animated characters were painstakingly hand-drawn over the physical film frame by frame, in a process that involved over 300 animators and production personnel, as seen in the video below. All told, nearly 2 million drawings were created for the film. No computers were used in this intricate fabrication, and decades later, the movie remains visually impressive as ever.

Read on to take a look behind the scenes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and see how movie magic was made.

1. Directing Jessica Rabbit

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was so committed to creating its hybrid animated and live-action world that it even included the cartoon characters in behind-the-scenes photos! Here, Robert Zemeckis gives direction to Christopher Lloyd, who played the villainous Judge Doom, and Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner).
2. Men at work

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

In this black-and-white shot from behind the scenes, Zemeckis and star Bob Hoskins appear to be in conversation with Roger Rabbit on set. Hoskins said that acting opposite cartoons messed with his head, admitting, “I think I went a bit mad while working on that. Lost my mind. The voice of the rabbit was there just behind the camera all the time, you just had to know where the rabbit would be at all times, and Jessica Rabbit and all these weasels. The trouble was, I had learnt how to hallucinate. If you do that for eight months it becomes hard to get rid of.”
3. Roger and his pals

©Buena Vista / Courtesy Everett Collection

Here, Roger Rabbit poses behind the camera with Zemeckis and Hoskins. Roger Rabbit fits into the picture seamlessly, and creating a hybrid image like this would’ve been much easier for the animators than making the film, as the animated characters didn’t have to move in these behind-the-scenes images.
4. Ta-da!

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

In this charming promotional shot, Hoskins strikes a jaunty jazz-hands pose with Roger and Jessica Rabbit.
5. The mind behind the madness

©Buena Vista Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection.

There’s something delightful about seeing Roger Rabbit sitting in a director’s chair next to Zemeckis. Reflecting on the making of the film, the director said, “We were able to make it right at the time when Disney was ready to rebuild itself. We were there when that new regime came in, and they were full of energy, and they wanted to do it. I kept saying, and I sincerely say this, I do believe this, 'I'm making Roger Rabbit the way I believe Walt Disney would have made it.' The reason I say that is because Walt Disney never made any of his movies for children. He always made them for adults. And that's what I decided to do with Roger Rabbit."
6. Page to screen

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

Here, Richard Williams, the film’s animation director, shows off his sketch of Roger Rabbit. He won two Academy Awards for his work. Surprisingly, Williams was initially skeptical of the project, saying, “I just hate animation and live-action together; it just doesn’t work, it’s ugly,” but over the course of an intense animation process that lasted over a year, he came around on it and created a trailblazing classic
7. Cool jacket

Frank Hempel/United Archives via Getty

In this shot, Williams rocks a crew jacket featuring his signature animated creation. Looking back on his creative philosophy for the film, the animator recalled, “I thought if I could remove all the inhibitions, all the rules that you're supposed to follow in blending animation and live action, then maybe this could work.” It’s safe to say it didn’t just work, it excelled!
8. Detective on duty

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

Hoskins looks straight out of a ’40s film noir in this black-and-white portrait from the set. While the British actor gave an unforgettable performance in the film, he wasn’t the first choice for the part of Eddie Valiant. A number of other actors, including Harrison Ford, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Robin Williams, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Edward James Olmos, Wallace Shawn, Ed Harris and Charles Grodin, were all initially considered for the role of the private eye.
9. Royal rabbit

Princess Diana Archive/Getty

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was such a big deal that none other than Princess Diana saw it, and in this picture from the London premiere, the People’s Princess looks delighted to meet Hoskins and a person in a Roger Rabbit suit.
10. Smooch!

©Buena Vista/courtesy Everett Collection

In this adorable promotional image, Roger Rabbit gives his human colleague a smooch. Recalling his decision to cast Hoskins, rather than one of the many A-listers originally in consideration for the leading human role, Zemeckis said, “I knew what we needed in this movie to pull the illusion off, first and foremost, was a good actor. When you start there, the list is very short. We needed someone who had the versatility, as Bob does, to do Shakespeare in the National Theater and be a song and dance man as well. Plus, when I met him I realized that he has the ability to act a role that is basically very downtrodden, and yet maintain a twinkle; a spark of life. If you were too intense about playing this character, you would alienate the audience immediately. You’ve got to have hope, which Bob did. That was the second thing I realized. The third is that he looked like he belonged in that period.”

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