2 days ago
I Genuinely Can't Watch "Aladdin" The Same Way After Learning These Facts
"That's right! He can be taught!" I spent some time looking for some diamonds in the rough, otherwise known as "fun facts," for one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid, Aladdin. There was just as much magic behind the scenes as there was from rubbing that lamp.
Here are 19 Aladdin facts that will make your life feel like a whole new world:
Co-director Ron Clements has gone on record saying the character of the "Genie" was created with no one else in mind other than the legendary Robin Williams. He admitted, "We wrote the script for Robin Williams from the beginning." It'd be hard to picture anyone else in the role (looks at Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar).
Lyricist Howard Ashman died before the release of Aladdin, but he completed two of the movies' most memorable songs before passing: "Arabian Nights," "Prince Ali," and "Friend Like Me."
Chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg claims Tom Cruise inspired Aladdin's look. He suggested they base Aladdin's look and persona on Cruise in Top Gun.
Before settling on Cruise, the original inspiration for the character of Aladdin was modeled after Michael J. Fox. The Teen Wolf and Back to the Future star definitely gives off Aladdin vibes, so although the look isn't there, you can still see the character type.
Co-director John Musker expressed the time-consuming nature of the animation process. "An artist could spend a week just trying to get a few seconds of a performance," Musker said. Every second was worth it.
In case you didn't know, Robin Williams is fantastic at impressions. Animators took Williams' recordings and narrowed down his performance to about 60 different characters. From Rodney Dangerfield to Robert De Niro, there were plenty to choose from that made the final cut.
In an attempt to sell toys, Jasmine's dress was almost pink. Ironically, pink was used in both the live-action version and in the third installment, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
You may have seen an elephant fly, but have you seen a bird with teeth? Iago shows off some pearly whites in Aladdin, and there is a hilarious reason behind it. "Iago is the only bird I've ever had to draw that has a full set of teeth, because his voice is Gilbert Gottfried and you can't have Gilbert for a voice without great big teeth in the mouth," said Will Finn, the character's animation supervisor.
Jafar's big shoulders on his outfit are not an accident. It was by design to allow his feathery partner in crime Iago to do more. "We created almost a little stage set for the character with the broad shoulder pads that Jafar has so the parrot can pace up and down," said Andreas Deja, the character's animation supervisor.
Method Scott Weinger. When in the booth, Weinger admitted he found himself "taking off his watch and his shirt" to better get into character. Imagine if he had a little vest and fez, too.
Is it even an animated film if legendary voice actor Frank Weller isn't present? He left his mark in Aladdin, too. He voiced Abu, Rajah, and the Cave of Wonders.
Robin Williams would receive phone calls from director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was working on the Holocaust film Schindler's List at the same time as Williams was recording for Aladdin. He would put Williams on speaker phone so he could share some of his jokes with the cast and crew of Schindler's List to cheer them up.
If you thought the captain of the Agrabah Guard, Razoul, sounded an awful lot like Tigger that's because legendary voice actor Jim Cummings provided the voice. He voiced a variety of Disney characters, including Pooh, Tigger, Pete, and many, many more.
Jafar came REALLY close to touching the cosmos for real during the casting of his voice. Sir Patrick Stewart almost played Jafar. The infamous Starfleet Captain and tremendous actor was one of the first picks for the role, but he turned it down.
There were about 16 additional hours of unused improvisation by Robin Williams.
"I'd blame parents, 'cept he hasn't got 'em." Well, that's almost a lie. Aladdin's mother was going to be a character in the movie. In the end, an extra subplot like that might have bloated the story too much, right? No. No. I'm not saying I didn't want to see Aladdin's mom, but...
Speaking of Aladdin's mom. One song cut from the film was the Alan Menken-written song "Proud of Your Boy." It was going to be a song about Aladdin hoping his mom would be proud of him after his "One Jump" sequence. "Street Rat" ultimately made more sense with the mom absent.
The song "A Whole New World" was actually the first time Brad Kane (singing voice for Aladdin) and Lea Solanga (singing voice for Jasmine) became acquainted. "We're standing there singing to each other," Kane said. "It was weird. It was a strange situation, because when you just meet someone you know nothing about them." Safe to say, their chemistry worked in one of Disney's most classic songs.
We almost got two genies: a Genie of the Lamp and a Genie of the Ring. In an original draft, instead of Jafar using Aladdin's lamp, he was going to get a "Genie of the Ring," which would have been how he granted his wishes. Obviously, what we got was WAY better and made more plot sense for every character involved. #LampFTW
What is your favorite thing about Aladdin? Comment below!
Watch Aladdin on Disney+.
