`HERCULES' DESIGNER MUSCLES IN ON DISNEY: LONDON CARTOONIST SCARFE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY HIS SWEEPING, ANARCHIC STYLE.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

Hades, god of the underworld, with flaming hair that goes from gas-jet blue to fiery red as his temper blows. A mythological beast called the Hydra with 30 menacing heads instead of the fabled nine. And Hercules as a naive, tongue-tied young titan whose physical prowess inspires a line of Air-Herc sandals.

The Hercules myth comes to life in Disney's 35th animated feature with all the irreverence and anachronistic humor we've come to expect from directors John Musker and Ron Clements, the team that helped put Disney animation back on the map with the blockbuster hits ``The Little Mermaid'' and ``Aladdin.''

But this time out, the two gambled on a major visual twist. They hired London-based cartoonist and theatrical artist Gerald Scarfe as a design consultant, sublimating the highly bankable Disney style to a man whose work has long been associated with the counterculture and the avant-garde, most famously after he designed the 1982 animated film ``Pink Floyd - The Wall.''

``This is a departure for Disney. They've never before brought on an outside influence who's been there, like me, on the spot for a whole year, and designed all the characters, down to the last one,'' said Scarfe, who's currently in London, where he works as a political cartoonist for the London Sunday Times.

It was a calculated risk. Scarfe's sweeping, anarchic style might easily have proved as inaccessible as Mount Olympus to the kiddies and the mainstream family audience whose loyalty Disney depends on.

Indeed, veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja, who supervised the rendering of Hercules himself, said he was taken aback when confronted with Scarfe's designs.

``I thought, `My God, this stuff is wild and wonderful, but how am I going to animate it? Where are the joints and how can you make this stuff move in a believable way?' ''

But Musker and Clements, who are enjoying new-found clout in the wake of the monster financial success of their previous efforts for the studio (combined, ``The Little Mermaid'' and ``Aladdin'' have grossed more than $675 million worldwide), were excited by the prospect of building on the vast potential of Disney animation by bringing in a stylist they'd long admired.

``I grew up being a fan of Scarfe's as a kid in Chicago,'' said Musker. ``I used to clip his drawings of figures like the Beatles and Rowan & Martin from the cover of Time magazine.''

When Scarfe came to Los Angeles to design a production of Mozart's ``The Magic Flute'' in 1994, Musker and Clements went to see him about doing some designs for a Disney movie about a Greek hero that was then in the early planning stages.

``It was tentative at first. We commissioned 12 drawings, but he was so enthused about it, that he wound up doing 35 instead. His ideas were so full of vitality, they just leapt right off the page,'' said Musker. ``He wound up doing more than 700 drawings, and we kept him on throughout the production.''

With Disney's notoriously controlling former studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg no longer on the scene - he'd been ousted by chairman Michael Eisner in 1994 - Disney execs, including feature animation president Peter Schneider, threw their support behind this new project's unusual direction.

``Scarfe's style and design are amazing and have added a new dimension to this picture that is unlike anything the studio has ever done before,'' said Schneider. ``Another wonderful thing about `Hercules' is that it is finally bringing some major recognition in this country for Gerald Scarfe.''

(Among other things, a gallery show of Scarfe's ``Hercules'' drawings is currently running in New York's Soho district.)

``The press has been somewhat surprised that the executives at Disney were supportive,'' said Musker. ``But Peter has always been a spokesman for varying the Disney look.''

``No one ever said to me that I should pull my punches, or `This is a bit strong,' or `That's not Disney enough,' '' said Scarfe. ``Of course, in any collaborative process, when you pass something to the next person, it gets slightly reinterpreted.''

Deja, who animated Hercules based on Scarfe's designs, said he eventually found a middle ground. ``You just roll up your sleeves and try it,'' he said. ``You have your Disney experience, and you take on this new look and it becomes a fun mix.''

Scarfe's influence is more readily apparent in the movie's airy, spiky, sweepy backgrounds and in bold, ferocious characters like Hades and the many-headed Hydra than in cuddly concessions to the small-fry audience like Baby Hercules and Baby Pegasus, Musker allows.

``Cuteness isn't a quality you normally associate with Gerald,'' said Musker. ``It's more like ferocity and boldness. Still, we found out after we hired him that Gerald's drawing style has an emphasis on line and shape that is very calligraphic, and complements the Greek vase painting style.''

Scarfe, despite his long standing as a satirist and his association with the cultural elite, admitted to no qualms at all about joining Disney's mainstream enterprises.

``I've been a Disney fan since I was a very small child,'' he said. ``And it has always been my goal to have my work in front of a popular audience. Disney has the ability to be open-minded, and to say, `Do what you like, and here's the money.''

Beginning Friday, when ``Hercules'' opens nationwide, Disney will be watching to see whether the stylistic gamble paid off. So far, reviews have been largely supportive, and the movie has been playing to sell-out audiences at single theaters in New York and Chicago since June 15. In Los Angeles, ``Hercules'' opens exclusively today at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood before expanding on Friday.

``I believe that the public will respond to change, but they will very rarely ask for it,'' said Musker. ``Possibly, they'll enjoy it even more than what came before, and I hope that's the case with this film.''

``But I don't think that children will be put off by it, or that they'll even notice it as much as older animation fans and other artists will.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) HERO WORSHIP 

Disney's animated musical `Hercules' juices up an old Grecian formula

(2) In Disney's new ``Hercules,'' the Greek hero faces the 30-headed Hydra, one of the creatures designed in collaboration with London-based artist Gerald Scarfe.

(3) Scarfe's influence on the Disney look is evident in the design of evil underworld god Hades, left, shown with Hercules in the studio's 35th animated feature.