Trivia / Dolittle

• All-Star Cast:
  • It has Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen and Jim Broadbent in the "live" roles, while the voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, and Marion Cotillard.
  • The Japanese dub is not behind on this, either, since the dub features many young and veteran Anime voice actors, including Keiji Fujiwara (Dr. Doolitle), Daisuke Ono (Chee-Chee), Yūichi Nakamura (Yoshi), Romi Park (Dab-Dab), Takaya Kuroda (Kevin), Shūichi Ikeda (Barry), Kazuhiko Inoue (Don Carpenterino), Jun'ichi Suwabe (Rabbit), Tomokazu Sugita (James), Miyuki Sawashiro (Tutu), Kana Hanazawa (Betsy), Ai Kayano (Mini), Akio Ōtsuka (King Rassouli), Hōchū Ōtsuka (Dr. Blair Müdfly), Katsuji Mori (Lord Thomas Badgley), Asami Seto (Queen Victoria) and Ayaka Fukuhara (Lily Doolitle); And that without going with the celebrities.
• Content Leak: A high-quality leak of the film was illegally uploaded two weeks after its release.
• Creator Backlash: Robert Downey Jr. calls the film a "two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity" and says that the experience was profound enough that he had to re-evaluate his career priorities.
• Creator's Oddball: Stephen Gaghan, whose previous work included serious dramas like Traffic (2000) and Syriana, directs a children's fantasy blockbuster.
• Executive Meddling: It’s since been revealed that a lot of the most critically mauled aspects of the film such as the infamous dragon farting scene were the result of Universal’s reshoots, who felt the film should be more kid-friendly and sillier, with Gaghan's cut said to be more mature than what we got.
• Fake Nationality: American Robert Downey Jr. portrays Doctor John Dolittle as Welsh.
• Looping Lines: Robert Downey Jr. re-dubbed his dialogue to try and maintain consistency with his Welsh accent.
• Posthumous Credit: In the Japanese dub, Keiji Fujiwara, the voice actor for the titular character, passed away of cancer on April 12, 2020, two months before the film premiered in Japan.
• Release Date Change: The film was originally going to be released on May 24, 2019, by Universal Pictures but was moved to April 12, 2019, to avoid competition with The Rise of Skywalker (which was later moved to December 20, 2019). Due in part to a Troubled Production (see below), it was later pushed back to January 17, 2020, which boded ill to many observers of a major film being relegated to the Dump Months. On the plus side, 2020 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the franchise, as The Story of Doctor Dolittle was released in 1920.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan Downey chose this as their next project for their kids to give them something to watch other than Marvel movies.
• Those Two Actors: The film reunites Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland after having appeared together in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Iron Man and Spider-Man respectively.
• Troubled Production:
  • In April 2019, it was reported the film had undergone 21 days of re-shoots following poor test screenings. Jonathan Liebesman helped direct the reshoots alongside main director Stephen Gaghan while Chris McKay helped write new material, after it became clear from first cuts that the comedy elements of the film were not coming together as well as the producers had hoped. In the end, the film still received scathing reviews from critics, most of whom targeted the film's attempts at humor as their main criticism, most of which were confirmed to be Executive Meddling.
  • This comment reveals even more issues with the production.
• Wag the Director: Robert Downey Jr. reportedly met with screenwriter John Whittington, then proceeded to tear up the script pages, saying "I have some new ideas". Among his ideas was the infamous dragon enema scene.
• What Could Have Been: Originally Randy Newman was the first choice to score the film, seeing how his uncle Lionel Newman had involvement with Doctor Dolittle.
• Working Title: The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle.

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