Interview: Robert Sherman on The Aristocats
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Q: What kind of music do you listen to personally?
A: I personally adore fine, classical music. Mozart is my hero, but I love Rossini and Beethoven�they�re pretty good too! I also love the great showtunes of Kern, Porter, Berlin, Gershwin, Rogers�and superb lyrics of Hart & Hammerstein, Porter, Berlin, Frank Loesser and so many others. Also, I adore Scott Joplin�s rags & great Dixieland music, particularly played by Louis Armstrong.

Q: How early into preproduction of a film like THE ARISTOCATS do you come in � after the script is written and insert songs, or at the scripting stage and do you contribute to the overall process
A: With each film, there�s a different process. In JUNGLE BOOK, we worked sequence to sequence. In SWORD & THE STONE, we worked from an overall storyline. In the WINNIE THE POOH featurettes, we worked with situations & character developments. Each project has its own scenario.

Q: Have you seen any of the animated films nominated for this year�s Academy Awards? Do you have a favorite?
A: I believe RATATOUILLE is an extraordinary film and the music is superb!

Q: Where do you keep your Academy Awards?
A: My two Oscars are enshrined on an alabaster, crystal-domed plinth with several spotlights on 24 hours a day while incense burns and heavenly music is piped in on a custom THX sound system w/ 7.0 Surround Sound�while a band of trained penguins dance to �Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious�!

Q: Do you find it particularly challenging to write a song for an animated film? Did it limit your creativity, or did you feel the animation inspired you?
A: There is absolutely no difference between writing a song for a live-action character of an animated character � be it a fluffy pussy-cat or a live bear. They are living characters and we treat them as such. Therefore, there is no difference whatsoever in our approach to writing for animation or live action.

Q: Aside from writing the title song for Maurice Chevalier, did you write for actor�s voices, or for the character, or both?
A: In all cases, including the title song for THE ARISTOCATS, we wrote for the picture and the character in the picture. It just had the lucky coincidence that Maurice Chevalier, agreed to sing our title song. We did not write the song for Maurice, but as he always did, he made it his own. Rarely have we ever written songs for the actors portraying our work. All the songs in MARY POPPINS were written for Mary Poppins, not Julie Andrews. All the songs in THE JUNGLE BOOK, were written for the various animals who sang them, not for the likes of Louis Prima or Sterling Holloway.

Q: What do you love the most about composing for children films?
A: First off, we don�t compose for �children�s� films, we compose for �family� films. Adults, grandmas, moms & dads and the children all derive joy from a well-crafted story and I find it rather odd at this point in time, with the stupendous success of such pictures as RATATOUILLE and THE LITTLE MERMAID and THE LION KING, that anyone would think that these films are for children. As Walt used to say � �they�re for the child in every sophisticated adult who longs to return to the pure joys of innocence, away from worldly cares.�

Q: You�ve written music and songs for so many films. Which project would you consider the most challenging of your career?
A: MARY POPPINS was the most challenging career assignment that Robert & I ever had. We were working without a script, with a series of books with no plot and we had to cobble together a plot and please the most difficult authoress on the planet � P.L. Travers. With the incredible help of Walt Disney, himself, and screenwriters Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, we put together what many consider Walt�s masterpiece. I�m very proud to have been part of it.

Q: You have a long and great career, what dream do you have yet to fulfill, regarding your work?
A: I think I�ll be writing songs and creating projects �til the day I die. Currently, I have three musical plays in various stages of development. Within the next year or two, all three will see the light of day. I�m still in there trying!!