‘Disneyland Handcrafted’: Director Leslie Iwerks on How ‘The Imagineering Story’ Inspired Her Latest Disney Doc and the Note Bob Iger Gave Her

Documentary filmmaker Leslie Iwerks was in the middle of editing Disney+’s “The Imagineering Story,” watching archival footage, when she thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could sit in the footage and not cut away to talking heads?” That idea became the foundation for her latest feature, “Disneyland Handcrafted” – an inside look at Walt Disney’s dream to build the Happiest Place on Earth, known today as Disneyland, and the artistry and grit it took to create it.

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Iwerks focuses on the trials and tribulations of the year leading up to the opening day of Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom in 1955. The documentary delves into the period using archival footage to examine what was happening on-site during Disneyland’s construction. Unearthed 16mm film reels, unused from the production of “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” and stored in vaults for years, along with original audio and video, help tell the story.

The title, she explains, came from the editing room. “There were so many shots of hands and the cameramen were really focusing on the craftsmanship. That’s really what we were leaning into, [showing] that this was hand forged, this was handcrafted.”

You had this idea to tell a story purely through archival footage. Where did you begin?

We [made] a seven-minute proof of concept, and we put sound effects to it, because there was no sound to any of this footage. We had to carefully craft sound effects to make it come alive. That was a whole new layer of reality. We started thinking, well, “Let’s add sound bites.” We looked at audio interviews about the making of the park, and when we started researching all these interviews, we started realizing that so much of what people talked about was how difficult it was, what the challenges were, how impossible it was and how crazy it was. That became the story of what we wanted to tell.

There’s a treasure trove of Disney archives. What was that footage like when you received it?

Disney had scanned this stuff back in 2014. But to my knowledge, nobody had really used the 2K. We cut it and used it. Once we got to a rough cut, we took it to Different by Design, the post house in Santa Monica, and we were able to clean up the footage and restore some of the footage that had a lot of grain or hairs or lines in it. There were probably close to 4000 frames that we cleaned up hand by hand.

From the audio standpoint, there was no audio, so my number one choice was Skywalker Sound. They came to me with Bonnie Wild, a re-recording mixer. She spent at least a week mixing this whole thing. They were editing and putting in sound effects, shot by shot, authentic to what you see.

They spent a day on sound effects – footsteps in the dirt to the cement getting dumped on the ground, to the scraping of the cement getting laid in, and the rock. Bonnie said it was one of the hardest projects she’s done, and this was harder because it’s real. You had to be completely authentic.

Going behind-the-scenes of the Jungle Cruise is fascinating, seeing the detail of the animatronics of the ride, but also how the alligator’s individual teeth were handcrafted and all that went into building it. What made you include that?

When we were doing Jungle Cruise, we saw that footage. It was fascinating to see Harper Goff trying to put the rock work together. We saw his interviews, talking about the budget, and he wasn’t good at math. These are real human stories about trying to construct something and not really knowing, and Walt being able to say, “I actually know what the budget is, and you need to be cognizant of that.”

The sweetness of being on that boat is that he’s trying to figure out whether the people in the boat are going to get too wet. The fact that Walt sneaks on the back of the boat without him knowing was just really cute. You’re seeing the park in its original DNA.

Was there something that you learned about Walt as you were putting this together?

What really stood out for me in this was Walt’s humility. Early on, when you see him being interviewed, they’re saying, “Well, you’re the greatest genius ever.” And he says, “Well, I hope I can live up to that.” I just felt this worry that he had at that point, that there are people over-promising, and is he going to under-deliver? Setting up the film in that way sets the stage for all the drama that’s coming after.

When you hear at the very end, it’s not about holding a bunch of money, it’s about giving it back. It’s about putting it to use. I think a lesson, especially in today’s world, I feel like there’s a lot of purity lessons here that will remind us of just good values.

Did Bob Iger give you any notes on the documentary?

He did. I showed him a fine cut, and he said it was very emotional. He really loved it, and he said, “I would add even more conflict.” He was like, “Go deep, go hard with the conflict.” When I saw him again, I said, “Thanks for your note.” He goes, “Oh, you took it. Oh, that’s sweet.” We probably would have done it anyway; it was still not finished yet because we were still editing.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

“Disneyland Handcrafted” premieres Jan. 22 on Disney+ and Disney’s YouTube channel.