Much of the styling of the Genie owes its visual origin to the intricate, playful curlicue of Persian miniatures, as well as to the distinctive, free-flowing curving lines of famed caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The Genie is a triumphant tour de force for animator Eric Goldberg who was brought to Disney especially for the job. Goldberg went on to co-direct Pocahontas (1995).

In order to animate Aladdin's character song "One Jump Ahead," animator Glen Keane studied live-action dancers as they choreographed the movements of Aladdin running through the marketplace. The final animation was not a literal transcription of the movements, but rather added the illusion of a fleet-footedness that few (if any) human beings possess.

One of the most difficult characters to animate was the Magic Carpet, for a twofold reason: "... the Carpet has no face, no voice, he has no body. It's sort of acting by origami," animator Randy Cartwright explained. The second problem was the intricate Persian pattern on the carpet, which was finally "wallpapered" onto the finished hand-drawn animation by means of a computer program.

Behind Aladdin: Robin Williams' Tense Relationship with Disney

In the Spring of 1991, Jeffrey Katzenberg asked Robin Williams, who was well known in the industry as a big-time toon buff and pretty much owed his film career in the 1990s to Disney, to drop by the Studios. Jim Hill explains that the Mouse head then explained to the actor Disney's dilemma: Feature Animation had just had one of its latest projects, a new musical version of Aladdin, spin into the dirt. The film's screenwriter and lyricist Howard Ashman had tragically died from AIDS a month or so earlier. The Aladdin script Ashman had left behind had a lot of interesting things in it. But--structurally and story-wise--it was a mess. Katzenberg then explained to Williams that the studio was thinking of junking Ashman's screenplay. They'd hang on to most of Howard's wonderful lyrics. But--beyond that--Disney was thinking of taking this animated musical in a whole new direction. That said, Jeffrey directed Robin's attention to a nearby TV monitor. There on the screen was an animated Robin Williams--doing a routine from his 1979 Reality... What a Concept album. The cartoon Williams announced that 'Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about schizophrenia.' The toony Robin then grew a second head, which quickly told the first head to 'Shut up! No he doesn't!' Williams was thoroughly charmed by the footage. Animator Eric Goldberg, who had personally put together the test animation, had done a masterful job of transforming Robin's comic genius into toon form. Turning back to Jeffrey, Williams then asked what it was that the Mouse wanted him to do now. Katzenberg laid it on the line: 'We'd like you to join the cast of Aladdin as the voice of the Genie.' After some discussion, he agreed since so many of his earlier films had been rated R or PG, and his children had yet to really see their daddy perform on the big screen. But Robin had a few conditions he wanted Disney to agree to before formally signing up to work on Aladdin. Chief among these was Robin's insistence that Disney Studio could not use his name or image in any theatrical posters, print ads, movie trailers or TV commercials to promote the animated feature, since his next live action film, Toys was due to be released within weeks of Aladdin. He consequently agreed to lower his standard $8 million-per-picture paycheck to the Screen Actor Guild minimum ($485 a day).

Robin Williams' agent thought the deal Disney was offering Robin was absurd and insisted that the very least they could do was offer Robin a piece of the movie's back end. Robin told him to butt out, continues Jim Hill. After all, he wasn't making Aladdin to make money. Robin was making this movie so that his children could see their daddy in a Disney movie. 'Besides,' Williams continued, 'This is animated. How much money could the movie make, anyway?' He wanted to pay Katzenberg & Co. back for all the kindness Disney had showed him in the mid-1980s, so he agreed to Katzenberg's proposal provided, of course, that the studio honored Robin's request to keep his names out of all the Aladdin ads. Robin kept his end of the bargain. Over the next 18 months, while working on Hook and Toys, Williams would slip away for a day or two every month for recording sessions on Aladdin. At each of these session, he'd start off with just straight readings of the scenes he was given from Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot's screenplay. But--once those sequences were recorded -- Robin would begin to ad-lib additional dialogue for each of these scenes. Musker and Clements loved the material Williams was inventing for the Genie. So much so that they began reworking Aladdin so that the Genie went from a minor supporting role in the film to a part that was almost as big as the title character's. When Disney found that the audience just loved the Genie, Jeffrey Katzenberg convinced Robin that since the Genie was featured prominently in 25% of Aladdin's running length, the character should be featured in 25% of every movie trailer, print ad, TV commercial and lobby poster for the film. After getting Katzenberg's assurance that all this revamped advertising would not give the audience the false impression that Williams' character was the star of the movie, Robin okayed the change. But--as soon as Williams got his first glance of the original theatrical poster for Aladdin--he immediately regretted changing the terms of his deal with Katzenberg. Sure, the Genie was only featured on 25% of the poster. But his big blue face was the largest image on the thing. Katzenberg had honored the language of their agreement, even if the poster's imagery totally violated the spirit of their deal. Fearing that featuring his character so prominently in the movie's posters and ads would sink Toys chances at the box office, Williams asked that all the original Aladdin advertising material be recalled and new posters be issued. Katzenberg said he was sorry, but there was no way that was going to happen. Disney had already spent millions launching Aladdin. Robin was furious at the way he felt Jeffrey had mislead him. Time and again, Jeffrey would pay lip service to Robin-- saying that he was doing everything he could to make sure that Disney's marketing department honored their deal concerning all aspects of the advertising on Aladdin. But, once that phone call was over, Katzenberg would then turn around and tell the studio's marketing guys that they could do whatever they wanted to help promote the film.

Just as Williams had feared, the Thanksgiving release of Aladdin totally over-shadowed the December release of Toys. On one hand, Robin was thrilled at Aladdin's amazing success, according to Jim Hill. On the other hand, Robin felt incredibly guilty. Williams' ambivalence toward Aladdin became public knowledge in February 1993, when he received a certificate of special achievement for his work in the film at the Golden Globes. As he went up on the stage, the clearly uncomfortable Robin didn't know what to say about this alleged honor. He jokingly asked the celebrities and foreign film critics assembled for the ceremony, 'Is this like a coupon I can turn in to get a real award?' Oddly enough, it was Disney's attempt to capitalize on Williams' win at the Golden Globes that proved to be the final breaking point between the Mouse and Mork. Katzenberg okayed a brand new series of print and TV ads for Aladdin. Each of these clearly mentioned Williams' name, prominently playing up the award the Foreign Film Critics Association had honored the comic with. When Williams saw these new ads, he finally blew his top. Robin phoned Katzenberg and told the studio chief that he had repeatedly broken his word to the performer. As a result, Williams felt that he could no longer trust any executives associated with the Mouse Works. Robin then vowed that he would never again make another film for Walt Disney Studios. Jeffrey--who was in the middle of orchestrating a million dollar ad campaign that would hopefully help Aladdin win a few Oscars--was horrified by what he called 'Mork's melt-down.' Williams was also feeling like a really big schmuck for having agreed to work for scale on Aladdin. Katzenberg tried to make amends with Williams by sending him a Picasso. Jeffrey made sure that word got out that Disney had spent over $5 million to purchase this belated 'Thank You' gift for Robin. Imagine Katzenberg's embarrassment when it later became common knowledge among industry insiders that the studio had picked up the painting at an estate sale for less than $750,000. But when Robin's friend Joe Roth replaced Jeffrey Katzenberg as the head of Disney Studios. Joe personally called Robin and asked why he didn't want to work for Disney anymore. Williams went into a long involved explanation of how he felt he had been betrayed by Jeffrey Katzenberg. Roth then pointed out that Katzenberg no longer worked for the Walt Disney Company. Joe offered that the company publicly apologize to him, and held a press conference in 1996, where the then-studio chief explained to the media how the Walt Disney Company had wronged Robin Williams. Roth then went on to offer a public apology for all wrongs previous company executives had committed against the comic. Roth followed up on this press conference by taking out full page ads in many of the industry's trade papers, explaining that the Walt Disney Company was sorry that it hadn't honored its agreement with Robin Williams. The actor was so thrilled at Joe's efforts on his behalf that he even agreed to once again provide the voice for the Genie in a direct-to-video sequel to the original Aladdin movie, 1996's Aladdin and the King of Thieves. In turn, Disney was so thrilled to have Robin back as the Genie that they threw out all the recordings Dan Castellaneta (the Genie's voice for the Aladdin TV show as well as the film's first direct-to-video sequel, 1994's The Return of Jafar) had already made as well as the third of the film that had already been animated. With Williams once again on board, the animators started from scratch. All the extra effort proved to be worthwhile. Immediately upon release, Aladdin and the King of Thieves became the number 1 best selling video in the country.