It’s based on a classic fairy tale
Hans Christian Andersen has had quite the impact on popular culture over the years. His stories include “The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Duckling,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Also among his writings is the story “The Snow Queen,” which is the basis for the story of “Frozen.”
Disney first considered a “Snow Queen” adaptation a LONG time ago
The idea of adapting “The Snow Queen” goes so far back that Walt Disney himself is involved. In fact, he had the concept of doing a film about Andersen way back in 1937. The idea would have included animated versions of some of his stories, including “The Snow Queen.” However, the movie was scrapped because Disney got busy with propaganda during World War II.
Then, another try was shelved
“The Snow Queen” story was bandied about again in the late ‘90s. However, this time it got nixed in 2002. They thought about it again in the late 2000s, and it seems like it might be stuck in perpetual purgatory forever. Then, “Tangled” hit in 2010, and they decided to give “Frozen” a green light.
One character got changed a lot in the screenwriting process
The long, twisted path of “Frozen” meant a lot of changes to the script. Jennifer Lee got the sole screenwriter credit, but she shares the story credit with Chris Buck and Shane Morris. One notable change? Olaf went from being a villainous sidekick to Elsa into Anna’s comic relief sidekick. In fact, when Lee first hopped on board her reaction to the mean Olaf was “Kill the f*****g snowman.”
Kristen Bell was practically destined to be in a Disney film
Bell, who voices Anna, has said that she wanted to be in a Disney animated movie since she was a little kid. In fact, part of the reason why she was hired was because of recordings of songs she had sung when she was younger. One of those songs was “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid.”