Ask DreamWorks SKG mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg to name his favorite stories in the Bible, he'll tell you they're the ones about families, such as the sibling rivalry between brothers Cain and Abel.
That's why his studio's new version of the biblical Exodus story, the animated musical "The Prince of Egypt," concentrates on the similarly rocky relationship between "adopted" brothers Moses (voiced by actor Val Kilmer) and Rameses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes).Moses (voiced by Val kelmer) is wed to Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer), the daughter of Jethro (Danny Glover), in "Prince of Egypt."And perhaps that's why it is such a radical departure from other filmed versions of the story, including the 1956 Oscar-winning classic "The Ten Commandments."
"It's a heartbreaking story in that regard. (Moses and Rameses) don't start as enemies -- they love each other as brothers. But they end up becoming bitter enemies because of circumstances that are beyond their control," Katzenberg said during a telephone interview from Chicago.
("The Prince of Egypt," which follows Moses' efforts to free the Hebrews from Egyptian oppression, opened in theaters nationwide Friday.)
As the "K" in DreamWorks SKG, Katzenberg made "The Prince of Egypt" his No. 1 priority when he helped establish the studio in 1994. (His credit on the film is executive producer.)
"It was the project I was pushing for us to make, because it's so different for an animated feature. This is an idea I had to do while I was still working for Disney," said Katzenberg, who headed up Walt Disney Studio's animated features division when it created such classics as "The Lion King."
And speaking of "The Lion King," that's where he met Brenda Chapman, one of three directors on "The Prince of Egypt."
Chapman, a former story supervisor for Disney, helped shepherd "The Lion King" through its production. But even heading up a project of that magnitude didn't help her prepare for the challenges she faced on this film.
"When Jeffrey asked me to go over to DreamWorks, I told him I was ready for some new challenges. I had no idea that he'd take me so literally," Chapman said during a separate phone interview.
In particular, Chapman said she was fearful about having to direct teams of animators, as well as her extremely experienced voice cast (in addition to Kilmer and Fiennes, other participating voices include Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum and Patrick Stewart).Moses (Val Kilmer), center left, is confronted by Rameses (Ralph Fiennes) in a dramatic moment from "The Prince of Egypt," an "adult" animated feature.
As it turned out, she shouldn't have worried about that.
"I actually knew the artists would be supportive because of my background in animated films," she said. "What was really surprising was how welcome the actors made me feel, even though they could obviously tell that I was nervous."
Those initial worries over, Chapman and the animators could concentrate on finding a particular visual style.
"We all felt that it was important to make this film look different -- especially in terms of the characters' appearances," she said. "The amount of research we put into costuming, physical characteristics -- it was unbelievable."
The film's character design team (led by veteran animator William Salazar) created different facial and physical characteristics for the film's Egyptian and Hebrew characters, which allowed the animators to give them a greater range of expressions.
"It was a very tricky process. We had to make sure we weren't falling into racial stereotyping at the same time," Chapman said.
But Katzenberg was adamant that the filmmakers "try something very different here."
"The big drive behind us making an animated feature is making one that is uniquely DreamWorks," Katzenberg said. "One thing I had to get across to (the filmmaking team) was that I did not want them to make something that looked like a Disney animated film."
And given his previous studio background, Katzenberg should know what a Disney animated film looks like.
"Now, don't get me wrong, Disney is the best at what it does," he said. "But I'd like to see our studio do something different. I'd like DreamWorks to compete within the animated film market -- although on terms that we dictate."
For example, Katzenberg claims that few studios would even attempt an animated adaptation of stories from the Bible.
"It's quite a risk we're taking," he said. "If we don't succeed, we could set the studio back for years and might take quite a beating in the press."
He also acknowledges that telling the story musically (much of the tale is conveyed through the lyrics) is an unorthodox filmmaking method.
"There's almost too much story for an animated film, and we could have tried to condense it, but it would have never worked without adding the songs," he said.
Besides, Katzenberg believes the possible outcome far outweighs any risks.
"This is a phenomenal opportunity for DreamWorks. This is a market that the studios aren't really reaching out to," he said. "Besides, this is such a rich story, in terms of characterizations and high drama. How could we not make this movie?"
In fact, Katzenberg's dedication to the story goes beyond the film and extends to the movie's innovative Web site www.prince-of-egypt.com.
On that site are production stills and notes from the film, as well as music and downloadable screen savers. But it also includes a "Study Guide" section, written by several esteemed religious leaders (from both Christian and non-Christian denominations) and religious educators.
The study guide is intended for use by parents as they discuss the movie's issues with their children (and it even includes suggestions for which sections of the Bible to read about specific topics in the film).
"This is very important. The film brings up subjects that it can't possibly hope to discuss," Katzenberg said. "Besides, that should be up to parents to decide. What we've done is given them an opportunity to sit down with their children and have some very meaningful talks."