Connor: But as it happens…

Peter: As it happens, The Last Unicorn is the best thing that Rankin-Bass ever did. And I’m not the only one who thinks so‌—‌Arthur Rankin told me so himself, even as he admitted wishing they’d had a bigger budget, so they could have done this or that part better. But the vocal work was exceptional, because somehow they managed to pull an extraordinary cast together: Alan Arkin, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Rene Auberjenois, Christopher Lee, Jeff Bridges, Tammy Grimes, Keenan Wynn, Paul Fries, Brother Theodore…and they let me write the script, which I felt was necessary, because otherwise it would have been done by their house writer, Romeo Muller…and thank goodness they went out and got Jimmy Webb to write the songs and score, because otherwise that would have been handled by Jules Bass, who was a closet songwriter, and their house composer, Maury Laws.

Connor: Did you meet any of the cast?

Peter: I actually became good friends with Christopher Lee and Rene Auberjenois because of this film, for which I will always be grateful. Although Christopher was born in the 20th Century, in style he is really the last of the great 19th Century actors, and either the most-literate or second-most literate performer I’ve ever met. I could never decide. As for Rene, he could have played any role in that movie and I would have been happy. He could have played the unicorn! He’s that talented. I’d been seeing him on stage ever since my last year of college in Pittsburgh, and later when he was part of ACT in San Francisco.

Connor: In many respects, what made The Last Unicorn better than other Rankin-Bass productions was that they handed more of the control off to outsiders. That’s true even on the visual side‌—‌for years they’d subcontracted much of the work on their films to various Japanese companies, but with The Last Unicorn they really allowed the Japanese artists and animators a much freer hand.

Peter: Exactly. Considering what I was braced for, I have no complaints. Many things about the movie are quite wonderful, and it has amazed me by staying around. I didn’t bargain for the book still being here 40 years later, and I certainly didn’t expect that the film would not only be here 25 years later, but actually have a whole new life, and be selling better than ever thanks to its release on DVD.

Connor: The film’s long-term success is even more remarkable considering the problems it had on release. At first everything was great. Even though it opened on only 648 screens around the country, and got less than $150,000 in promotion and advertising, it was the #6 film overall in the nation and #2 in per-screen earnings‌—‌the only film doing better on a per-screen basis was the re-release of The Empire Strikes Back. By that measure, The Last Unicorn was actually beating First Blood, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. But 17 days into release its distributor went bankrupt, and poof‌—‌the film vanished, not to be resurrected in America until cable television and VHS tape rentals introduced it to millions.