‘Kill the snowman’: ‘Frozen’ director Jennifer Lee REVEALS she wanted to axe adorable Olaf's character
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Can you ever imagine 'Frozen' without Anna and Elsa singing 'do you want to build a snowman?' rather let us be more specific, can you imagine the entire movie without Olaf? 'Frozen' co-director Jennifer Lee confirms she wanted to axe the beloved live animated snowman played by actor Josh Gad. Speaking of Gad, he is best known for voicing Olaf in the 'Frozen' franchise, which also helped him seize the role of Le Fou in the live-action adaptation of Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast.'
After the first 'Frozen' movie was released, it was praised for its visuals, screenplay, themes, music, and voice acting; some film critics considered 'Frozen' to be Disney's best-animated film since the studio's renaissance era. 'Frozen' received two awards at the 86th Academy Awards which in colloquial language is also known as the Oscars and numerous other accolades. Regardless, the film was a significant commercial success, earning 1.28 billion dollars in worldwide box office revenue, overtaking 'Toy Story 3' to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and carried its position until it was overtaken by the remake of 'The Lion King' in 2019.
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According to Variety, during the 15th annual Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, Lee said her first creative note after seeing an early cut of the film was to “kill the snowman.” Lee spilled the beans after accepting the Distinguished Storyteller Award, an honor presented to her by Josh Gad, the actor who voiced Olaf in the film. She said, “My first note was, ‘kill the snowman.’”
Fortunately for Gad, an animator working on the movie greatly impressed filmmakers with a script for Olaf, and the character was rescued from being slashed out. Apparently, the “sneaky” staff animator had worked out the script with Gad in mind after he impressed filmmakers with a late-night TV appearance. Lee found Gad irresistible, and could never imagine anyone else playing the character.
'Frozen' tells the story of Princess Anna as she teams up with an iceman, his reindeer, and a snowman to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have inadvertently trapped their kingdom in eternal winter. The film also had a sequel and mini-series. Olaf had a lot of success, too. In 2017 the character had his own spin-off short film titled 'Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.'