1981 Theatrical Poster for American Pop

One of animation’s finest and most intriguing feature films remains perhaps one its greatest underrated treasures: a compelling story of four generations of musicians from a Russian Jewish immigrant family — realized with fantastic impressionistic imagery, and fused with an eclectic palette of American popular music spanning several decades: Director/Animator Ralph Bakshi’s American Pop. The film recently had a celebratory screening at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on January 12th — with actor Ron Thompson, who played Tony and Pete Belinsky: the two most prominent rolls in the film — on hand to give his first ever Q&A for the production. Thompson’s standout performances were realized via the rotoscoping process — where he first was filmed in live action, and then artists used photo blow-ups of that footage, along with his spoken dialogue, to help implement their hand drawn and hand painted animation process. Thompson gave a fascinating talk about the film’s production, and his collaborative process with Bakshi.

Here now is your “front row seat” to the event — with exclusive video of the entire Q&A!