FROZEN Director Admits She Wanted to Cut Olaf From Frozen; Her First Note Was "Kill the Snowman"
Josh Gad’s Olaf was easily one of the most popular characters in Disney’s hit animated film Frozen, but he was almost cut from the movie! In fact, one of the first notes on the film from the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and the co-director of Frozen, Jennifier Lee, was, “Kill the snowman.”
She confessed this herself while accepting the Distinguished Storyteller Award from the Los Angeles Press Club on Sunday night at the 15th annual Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards. The award was actually presented to her by Josh Gad.
She said, “Josh is Olaf,” and clarified that she was not speaking metaphorically. She explained that she jumped into the Frozen film project after it was already in development. She said after watching an early cut of the film, “My first note was, ‘kill the snowman.’”
She went on to explain that a “sneaky” staff animator worked out “a three-page script treatment with Gad in mind after he impressed filmmakers with a late night TV appearance. Lee said she found him irresistible,” and the rest is history.
Frozen went on to win two Academy Awards and gross over $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. It’s pretty crazy that Lee actually wanted to initially cut Olaf from the film. Just shows you how even these big Hollywood executives are easily susceptible to brain farts.
Source: Variety