In episode 5 of All Lit Up! we're chatting with Kevin Lima, director of the Disney classics Tarzan and A Goofy Movie. Find out what advice Glenn Close gave Kevin and how it changed his life; how he asks for what he wants (and knows he can handle); and why he fought for Amy Adams.
Plus, Kevin and Gilly have a conversation on the short clip from Enchanted, 'Happy Little Working Song'.
Please note: This episode was recorded during the Kilkenny Animated festival in October 2025, before the tragic passing of director and producer, Rob Reiner, whose film The Princess Bride is referenced in this interview.
Happy Little Working Song - Enchanted
About Kevin Lima
KEVIN LIMA traces his fascination with animation to seeing Disney’s Jungle Book in 1967, when at the film’s end, he told his mother, “I’m going to make that when I grow up.”
Lima was true to his word and after graduating from the California Institute of the Arts worked on many of the films of the Disney’s renaissance including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin before taking the director’s chair on A Goofy Movie and Tarzan.
In 2000, Kevin made his live-action feature film debut with 102 Dalmatians, then the TV movies Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime for which he won the Director’s Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs. His film, Enchanted was the joyous culmination of all of Lima’s filmmaking experiences in live-action and animation.
Currently, Kevin and his wife, Brenda Chapman, the Academy Award winning director of The Prince of Egypt and Brave, have combined their talents, developing and writing a slate of diverse projects across all media and platforms.
Lima is represented by David Saunders at IAG and Farhad Amid at McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP.
All Lit Up! is a Lighthouse Studios production.
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