Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale are genuine animation legends. Their first film as directors, Beauty and the Beast, was a runaway smash and the first animated feature to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award (it was up against JFK and ultimate winner The Silence of the Lambs). After Beauty and the Beast, they directed The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a true spiritual successor to Beauty and the Beast (there’s even a cameo from Belle in the opening number!) and the adventurous Atlantis: The Lost Empire, one of the last truly great traditionally animated movies at Disney. So you can imagine what a thrill it was to get to talk to the duo about their career on a very episode special of Collider Connected.

In this hour-long chat we talk about their beginnings, including getting removed from The Rescuers Down Under for objecting to the movie changing its main character from an aboriginal child to a little blonde boy, their work on Disney’s Cranium Command attraction at EPCOT Center, what it was like working with Demi Moore, whether or not The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis buckled under the weight of expectation, and much, much more. This is truly an unvarnished look at how much work it takes to put these animated classics together and how much work it takes to get them across the finish line.

Watch the full Collider Connected above and read our exhaustive look at the making of Atlantis: The Lost Empire here.