If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the viewers of The Lion King missed out on 850 million words.

Those 850 million were spoken through the 850,000 pictures cut from the movie.

Don Hahn, producer of the latest Disney film, explains: "When we talk about a million drawing in these movies, it's really a million drawings, of which 140- to 150,000 are seen on screen when you go see the film.

"The other 850,000 are never seen, and they are beautiful. They are inspirational drawings."

Months of work for 5 minutes

Hahn was in Indianapolis last fall for the Heartland Film Festival, where he spoke about the making of The Lion King. He gave us some new insights.

For example, he explained how computers allow the artists to layer scenes, making them more complex and visual.

"With our new computer system . . . we are able to put endless levels in a scene," Hahn said.

In one scene "there are probably 13 or 14 levels. . . . You got things like roses and trees and rocks and birds and more trees and more trees, a castle, sky, all stacked up in a very elaborate setup to allow you to move a great distance in creating a feeling of reality."

Hahn cites the wallaby scene as an example.

"The wallaby stampede in Lion King, which only lasts on the screen four or five minutes, took about two years to work on.

"You have thousands and thousands of characters on the screen and all those computer graphics to create to make that moment. . . . It is really about the density of what you put on the screen."

Taming technological beast

However, the computer alone cannot create the pictures.

"Computer technicians and artists work together. We try not to let the software technological side of it drive the artist. The artist will sit down and say, `I need to do this,' to the software technician," he said.

Hahn noted that the drawings are based on real places in Africa, not just on the artists' imaginations.

"We sent some or our art directors and directors to Kenya to just experience Africa, and one of the most important things to us was to make sure that Africa was portrayed as one of the characters in the film . . . like the elephant graveyard."

The movie was not created all at once. It was adapted to reactions from early audiences.

"We previewed Lion King probably 10 or 11 times before it was done," Hahn pointed out. "We asked the audience to fill out questionnaires (asking): How did you feel about the characters? Did you feel any parts were too intense? . . .

"The death of the father, for example, we knew that was heavy material to deal with. We animated it a couple of times, tried it different ways, tried different music with it."

Lending their voices

The best actors for animation are not always the most gorgeous. Hahn observed that Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts are both wonderful actors, "but their voices don't sell."

However, one perfect voice was a reluctant one. Hahn explained how Jeremy Irons hesitated to be the voice of Scar because he was unsure about giving only half of himself to a movie.

But more than Irons' voice is in the movie. The artists also gave Scar many physical features of Irons.

"The animators and the artist are really influenced by the world around them, so they are influence obviously by someone as powerful as Jeremy, and so the looks, the mannerisms of that character (are his)," Hahn explained.

"The artist gave Scar Jeremy Irons' hair, kind of slicked back, those heavy eyelids, the bags under the eyes and that kind of holier-than-though attitude."

The Lion King , which Disney expects to be the second highest grossing movie in history, has been translated into 28 languages.

"For the first time ever, we translated a film into Zulu for South Africa, where it is a big hit," Hahn said. "In fact, it's funny, in Africa it's kind of a nationalistic film. . . . People in South Africa (view) it as a statement on the political situation down there."

Not just anyone can translate the voices of the characters.

"We actually go to the country (to find actors)," Hahn said. "For example, we'll go to Korea and look for actors and actresses in that country to perform, and then we will record it with those actors. . . .

"In the case of Aladdin, to play the Genie, we'll look for the local equivalent of Robin Williams, somebody who is drop-dead funny."

Career moves

Hahn was born in Chicago but moved early on to Southern California, where he grew up and attended California State University in Northridge as a music student.

He took a summer job at Disney's studio to work with the producer of The Jungle Book and ended up never going back to school, taking new positions until he became a producer.

"I really got seduced by the animation bug."

He explained that a producer's job is a complex one. "I'm the team builder. (I) put the team of people together that makes the movie. I have a kind of business side of me that does schedules and budgets, and I have a creative side of me that works for the directors on creative issues and decisions.

And then I'm kind of like a coach on a football team and a cheerleader, too, and I kind of coach the team players - in this case, the team players are artists - to do their best work. . . .

"I think the film itself is the star of the show," he continued. "You become a producer not because you want to be talked about or a star necessarily. You become it because you enjoy making movies. That is why I do it."

Hahn feels animated movies offer more opportunity for creativity than real-life films.

"Animation is unique because you start with a blank piece of paper, and I think that is why I like it. . . . It is the only part of the film industry where you really can do anything that you can imagine."

EDITED BY: Megan White, 15