Following the opening of the Feature Animation Florida studios, Barry Cook, who had served as a special-effects animator since 1982, had directed the Roger Rabbit cartoon "Trail Mix-Up" produced at the satellite studio. Upon a lunch invitation with Thomas Schumacher, Cook was offered two projects in development: a Scottish folk tale with a dragon or "Mulan". Knowledgeable about the existence of dragons in Chinese mythology, Cook suggested adding a dragon to "Mulan", in which a week later, Schumacher urged Cook to drop the Scottish project and accept "Mulan" as his next project. Following this, Cook was immediately assigned as the initial director of the project, and cited influences from Charlie Chaplin and David Lean during production. While working as an animator on the gargoyles for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", Tony Bancroft was offered to co-direct the film following a recommendation from Rob Minkoff, co-director of "The Lion King", to Schumacher, in which he accepted, and joined the creative team by early 1995.