Peach Buzz

Selick now confesses he ‘‘was very worried. Around every corner was another nasty surprise. Characters stuck together in a limited space, like Hitchcock's Lifeboat. How to keep it going? And we really didn't know how to do the ocean.’‘ (The film's glorious marine sequence, in which 600 seagulls save the peach from an encroaching mechanical shark, was achieved by blending paintings, conventional cel and stop animation, and computer graphics.)

Vogel and Selick engaged in another tug-of-war over the Centipede, who was voiced by several actors, including Bruno Kirby and Fisher Stevens, before Disney asked Selick to use Richard Dreyfuss. ‘‘Fisher did a great job,’‘ insists Berry. ‘‘There was nothing wrong with it. It was very similar to what Richard Dreyfuss came up with anyway. Disney wanted a name.’‘

There was also some push and pull over the songs. Reluctant to follow in Toy Story's footsteps, Selick ‘‘wanted to go a different route — Elvis Costello.’‘ But Disney's executive producer of feature animation music, Chris Montan, pushed him to hire Randy Newman; after being ‘‘knocked out’‘ when Montan played him Toy Story's ‘‘I Will Go Sailing No More,’‘ Selick agreed.

With the budget nearing $40 million — ’‘we got out of control in the computer area,’‘ admits Selick — the Disney brass got nervous. ‘‘Everyone knew Henry was talented,’‘ explains Vogel, ‘‘but they were afraid it was oddball, juvenile, about a bunch of bugs. Once the movie was seen, there was no hesitation. Now it's a company sleeper.’‘

In fact, such is the studio's new-found appreciation for the possibilities of insects that the next feature from the Toy Story team will be called Bugs. Unfortunately, the company's change of heart on James came too late to launch any toys. Although Disney has published a Lucy Dahl tie-in movie book and another featuring the concepts of children's book illustrator Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man), who designed 10 characters and 50 paintings for the movie, no major merchandising is planned. ‘‘Nobody wanted insects,’‘ explains one Disney exec, pointing out that Hunchback is up next. ‘‘With classic animation we had a better shot than on an experimental movie.’‘

Believing that he's a ‘‘fish out of water’‘ at Disney, Selick has moved Skellington, now renamed Twitching Image, to Disney's indie-minded Miramax Films. Its first project: a $20 million-plus adaptation of the children's book Toots and the Upside Down House with a script by Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape). ‘‘He can do edgier, more offbeat films there,’‘ admits Vogel, ‘‘take more risks than at Disney, where you have a responsibility to the tradition, even if you push the envelope.’‘

‘‘I know what the rules are and when I'm breaking them,’‘ Selick says. ‘‘It's proven there are other ways to connect to an audience. Disney's way is a great way. But there are other ways to go.’‘