Huge success of Disney, “The Snow Queen” told, during its draft, another story. And Elsa’s character was more of the dark side!
Snow Queen : snowball effect
For the few who haven’t seen it, Snow Queen tells the story of an idealistic princess, Anna, on an intrepid quest. The young girl, flanked by Kristoff, the reindeer Sven, and a snowman named Olaf, searches for her sister, Elsa. The latter is in exile because of his powerss, who accidentally plunged the kingdom of Arendelle into perpetual winter.
Jennifer Lee signs the screenplay for the feature film and directs it alongside Chris Buck. For the record, an adaptation of the story in film had been initiated several times, without however succeeding. Shortly after its release in 2013, Snow Queen bECOMES the biggest box office success worldwide for an animated film, just that! Its revenues exceed $ 1 billion and the second film of the saga takes second place from this prestigious podium. Obviously, we cannot forget the merchandising relentless around the feature film as well as the success of its soundtrack, starting with the planetary tube Let it go. If Anaïs Delva interprets the latter in French, it is Idina Menzel who sings the original piece. The actress thus signs her second interpretation of a Disney princess after the role of Nancy Tremaine.
A whole different story
A film’s final script often bears little resemblance to its first draft. As proof, Peter Del Vecho, the producer of the Disney feature film, confided in Entertainwent Weekly on the genesis of the project. Thus, in the drafts of Snow Queen, Elsa’s character was not particularly likable, on the contrary. Yes, the girl was not even to be Anna’s sister but an ice queen who bewitched Arendelle! His cruelty lay mainly in his suffering at having been abandoned in front of the altar on her wedding day. She then decided to freeze her heart so that she would never again suffer from a love wound. Graphically, Elsa had blue skin and emaciated features, all giving it a rather scary appearance.
Del Vecho explains that the character was very similar to the tale of Hans Christian Andersen. Snow Queen therefore told the story of an innocent heroine facing a wicked, to say the least, evil. As for the end of the feature film, it involved an epic battle with snowmen as soldiers. But what made the story change at all?
We erase everything …
It felt like it was déjà vu. It was not satisfactory. We didn’t have an emotional attachment to Elsa – we didn’t feel anything for her because she spent the whole movie being the bad guy.
It’s done thanks to the song “Released, issued“ that Elsa escaped this dire fate. Indeed, the song, both ode and leitmotif left behind, has totally changed Jennifer Lee’s point of view. The track designed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez gave him the idea to rewrite history so that the title of the song really resonates in the film. The authors then decided to link the two characters in order to propose a feature film about family ties and more specifically those which unite brothers and sisters. After changing the dynamic between the protagonists, they immediately felt that Snow Queen was taking a welcome turn !
The promise of the film became this: love is stronger than fear.
So, can you imagine Elsa as the antagonist of Snow Queen ? Waiting for, find his adventures on December 20 at 9:05 p.m. on M6 !
