THE PRINCE OF EGYPT

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Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Effects Animation: Jamie Lloyd

Oustanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, & Simon Wells

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Lorna Cook

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Over Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Ralph Finnes, as the voice of Rameses

Two men--brothers and princes of the greatest empire on earth. One will someday rule Egypt. The other will become one of the greatest heroes of all time. A lie made them brothers...but the truth will destroy a dynasty and forever separate them...in faith...in heritage...in destiny.

The epic journey of Moses from slave to prince to deliverer has been told and retold for centuries, inspiring generation after generation. Now this timeless story comes to the screen in a new form for audiences of every generation to experience.

The Production team is headed by directors Brenda Chapman, the first woman director of an animated feature, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells; producers Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins; and executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Over 350 artists, animators and technicians from over 35 different countries devoted four years to bringing The Prince of Egypt to the screen. The film breaks exciting new ground in animation with such developments as the state-of-the-art exposure tool, developed by DreamWorks and SGI, which allows for the seamless blending of 2-D and 3-D animation. New approaches in character and production design give the film a look that is distinctly different from other animated film. In addition, award-winning visual effects artists from the world of live-action films joined with traditional animation artists to achieve a new level of special effects for an animated feature.

During the early stages of production, key members of the creative team embarked on a trip to Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. Traveling through the ancient land, directors Chapman, Hickner and Wells; producers Finkelman-Cox and Rabins; executive producer Katzenberg; story supervisors Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook; production designer Darek Gogol; art directors Kathy Altieri and Richard Chavez; and songwriter Stephen Schwarts were each inspired in their own way.

The filmmakers recognized that there were a number of inherent challenges in bringing the Exodus story to the screen. Rabins offers, "We began by identifying the problems, and then set out to solve them during an 18-month evolution in which we continually honed the story to discover what worked and what didn't."

The idea that would become DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt began to take shape even before the company was formed. Of course, the story has its roots in the biblical book of Exodus, but the inspiration to bring it to the screen as the studio's first traditionally animated feature arose unexpectedly from a conversation between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen back in 1994. The three were talking about their ambitions for their as-yet-to-be-announced studio venture. Katzenberg's revolved around a new animation studio, which prompted a question from Spielberg. Katzenberg recalls, "Steven asked what the criteria would be for a great animated film, and I launched into a 20-minute dissertation about what you look for: a powerful allegory that we can relate to in our time; extraordinary situations to motivate strong emotional journeys; something wonderful about the human spirit; good triumphing over evil; music as a compelling storytelling element; and so on...Steven leaned forward and said, 'You mean like The Ten Commandments?' and I said, 'Exactly." However, it was Geffen who brought the concept home, as Katzenberg remembers, "David said, 'What a great idea. Why don't we make that our first animated movie?' And we were off..."

The Prince of Egypt features the voices of Val Kilmer as Moses and Ralph Fiennes as Rameses. It also brings together the vocal talents of Sandra Bullock as Miriam, Danny Glover as Jethro, Jeff Goldblum as Aaron, Steve Martin as Hotep, Helen Mirren as the Queen, Michelle Pfeiffer as Tzipporah, Martin Short as Huy and Patrick Stewart as Pharaoh Seti.