Glen Keane had a career to which almost any animator in the world would aspire. Starting at Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1970s, he learned the craft directly from several of Walt’s Nine Old Men and designed and animated such iconic characters as Ariel, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Rapunzel. But in 2012, the day came when Keane decided it was time to go, to create the personal and expressive art he had aspired to in his youth.
“There was always one more character that I just couldn’t not do,” says Keane of his 37-year tenure at Disney. “And pretty soon, nearly 40 years has gone by and, I think, at a certain point a bell goes off and you realize you know if you’re going to do that you better do it now while you’ve got a lot of energy. It was just the right time.”
Keane didn’t know the path he’d set out on that day would lead him to create Duet, an interactive short animated experience created in conjunction with Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group designed to be viewed on mobile phones. Finally released exclusively in November on Motorola phones and coming soon to all mobile platforms, the linear “short-film” version of the film has been a smash-hit at festivals and made the short-list for Oscar contention.
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