Trivia / The Haunted Mansion (2003)

• Acting for Two: Sara Evers and Elizabeth Henshaw are both portrayed by Marsha Thomason.
• Fake American: The British Marsha Thomason as the American Sara Evers.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Early trailers and TV spots had Eddie Murphy saying, "Don't you make no dark spirits come out while I'm sitting! Wait till I leave, before the dark spirits come out!" in a very stern tone. In the film, while this line does come up, he says it much differently, in a more panicked, frightened tone.
• Production Posse: Director Rob Minkoff worked with Michael Evers' actor Marc John Jefferies in Stuart Little 2.
• Saved from Development Hell: Development of a movie based on the Haunted Mansion began as early as 1990. A script was written, but the failure of Hocus Pocus in '93 caused Disney to redevelop the project as a made-for-TV film. However, when another made-for-TV film based on an attraction, Tower of Terror, failed in the ratings, work on The Haunted Mansion was sidelined. It wasn't until the early 2000's, when then-incumbent Disney CEO Michael Eisner was interested in turning Disney Park attractions into feature films, that a Haunted Mansion film finally got the green light.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Following the huge success of Ghostbusters (1984), Disney greenlit the film in the mid '80s. However, they at first would only give permission for the film to be made if Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, or Rick Moranis would play the lead role.
  • The Hitchhiking Ghosts were more prominent in early drafts of the script, but were trimmed back because it became too overwhelming to have three supporting characters chiming in at once.
  • Anthony Hopkins was asked to play Ramsley.
  • In an earlier draft of the script, the Groundskeeper was a character and was going to be played by Don Knotts.
  • There was supposed to be a licensed game for the Game Boy Advance, according to the end credits.
  • One rumor was that Disney would put in characters from the 2003 movie adaptation in the ride, much like how Pirates of the Caribbean put in Jack Sparrow and Barbossa from the films into the ride. This never came to pass, likely due to the film not being a smash hit like Pirates.

---