20 Surprising Facts You Never Knew About Your Favorite Disney Movies
Think you know everything there is to know about Disney animated movies? Think again. We’re here to throw some little-known fun facts at you!
Disney animated films, even moreso than the live action films, are chock full of fun facts, Easter eggs, and even behind-the-scenes secrets. Forget about deleted scenes and “hidden Mickeys”; we’re talking characters that hit the cutting room floor, fun anecdotes about character names, and a ton of “could have been” scenarios.
Curious to find out if you know all there is to know about Disney animated movies? See if you knew these fun facts!
Joss Whedon had his hand in ‘Toy Story’
In the beginning, the Toy Story script had quite a few troubles. Executives brought in Joss Whedon to help sort out problems and improve the script (after all, he’s pretty much the king of dialogue). You know that line that Buzz has? The one that goes, “You are a sad, strange little man,” which is one of his most well-known and one of the ones that made the film’s original trailer? Yeah, that was all Whedon. Oh, and you know Rex? Well, he was Whedon’s idea too.
Dopey the apprentice?
Believe it or not, Mickey Mouse wasn’t the only contender for the role of the sorcerer’s apprentice. In fact, Dopey was seriously considered for the role (which would’ve totally made sense given the loose fit of the apprentice clothing). However, because Mickey Mouse was waning in popularity (and actually losing to Donald Duck), Disney decided to go with the Mouse instead.
Tim Rice originally wanted ABBA to do the soundtrack for ‘The Lion King’
Before Elton John stepped up, the soundtrack for The Lion King was going to have a lot more boogie to it. Apparently, Tim Rice first approached the musical group ABBA to do the soundtrack for the (now) classic film. However, Benny Anderson (one of the members of ABBA) had scheduling conflicts that didn’t allow him to take on the job. So, Elton John got the gig instead!
Gaston was even more of a jerk than we knew!
In the original cut of Beauty and the Beast, Gaston’s last scene went very differently. In fact, he was much more violent than self-absorbed/destructive as he’s shown to be in the final version. How so? Well, during his battle with the Beast, his line “Belle is mine!” was actually supposed to be “Time to die!” but it was changed because it was too nasty. However, if you watch closely, you’ll see that his lips are still animated to fit the original line.
Also, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Gaston’s death played out very differently as well. Instead of slipping and falling off of the roof of the castle as he does in the final version, Gaston was originally supposed to stab the Beast in the back and then willingly jump off the roof to his death, laughing the whole way down. The thought process was that if he couldn’t have Belle, then the Beast couldn’t either. What a jerk!