Trivia / The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)

• Acting for Two: During the flashback in the opening number, Jim Cummings voices about three or four characters in quick succession (one or two of the Romani men, the boatman, and Frollo's guard). While Cummings does have an impressive vocal range, he unfortunately uses the same voice for all of these characters, making it very noticeable.
• All-Star Cast: The cast consist of Demi Moore who at the time became the highest paid voice actor in Hollywood, receiving $1 million for lending her voice to Esmeralda. Tom Hulce, Kevin Kline, Jason Alexander, and Tony Jay round out the cast as Quasimodo, Phoebus, Hugo, and Frollo respectively. The sequel casts Jennifer Love Hewitt as Madeleine and Michael McKean as the new villain, Sarouche.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • In the Swedish dub, Mikael Grahn sings the last note of "Bells of Notre Dame" using his chest voice and is the only actor playing Clopin to do so.
  • In the European Spanish dub, Constantino Romero (Frollo), Jesús Castejón (Clopin), Salvador Aldeguer (Hugo), Carmen Contreras and Miguel Ángel Jenner (The Archdeacon) did their own songs. This was one of Romero's few dubbing works where he shows his singing talents, Jesús Castejón was a stage veteran and he already performed singing for Disney as Oogie Boogie; and Jenner performed songs in previous Disney Renaissance films.
• Character Outlives Actor: Mary Wickes completed all but six of her lines for Laverne before dying in 1995 from hip surgery complications. Jane Withers replaced her for the film's final scenes.
• Creator Backlash: Stephen Schwartz admitted that "A Guy Like You" clashed too much with the rest of the movie's tone and had no issues with its removal from the stage adaptation.
• Cross-Regional Voice Acting: The Latin American Spanish dub was recorded at Cinema Digital S.C., which was located in Los Angeles in the United States, as well as Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico. While most of the cast who recorded the dialogue were from Mexico City at the time, the late Fernando Escandón (Frollo), Renée Victor (Laverne) and Fabiola Stevenson (Quasimodo's mother) recorded their lines in L.A., and Julio Sosa (Clopin) recorded his dialogue in his native Monterrey.
• Died During Production: Mary Wickes, Laverne's voice actress, died on October 22, 1995, eight months before the film's release.
• Disowned Adaptation: The descendants of Victor Hugo himself bashed Disney in an open letter to the Libération newspaper for their ancestor getting no mention on the advertisement posters for the film, and they harshly criticized the film itself as a vulgar commercialization and Disneyfication of Hugo's story.
• Executive Veto: Michael Jackson wanted to produce and perform pop versions of "Out There", "God Help the Outcasts", and/or "Someday" for the movie's soundtrack after a meeting with Alan Menken, but Disney higher-ups vetoed this due to Jackson's stained reputation. Instead, All-4-One handled "Someday" and Bette Midler "God Help the Outcasts".
• Fake Nationality: None of the actors are French, despite the story taking place there.
• Flip-Flop of God: The movie's directors have hinted that the gargoyles may all be figments of Quasimodo's imagination (a popular fan theory), but certain events in the film - namely Hugo startling Esmeralda's goat and them all taking part in the final battle - suggest they are real.
• Irony as She Is Cast: One of the US stage actors for Frollo, Patrick Page, was an award-winning stage magician back in his teenage years.
• Kids' Meal Toy:
  • The movie got wind-up action toys and hand puppets at Burger King to promote its theatrical release.
  • In Asia, McDonald's sold a set of four figures; Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Pheobus, and Frollo. Europe had the same toys from this set plus a spinning figure of the Gargoyles.
  • In the US, McDonald's had a set of eight accessories to promote the film's VHS release, including juggling balls of the Gargoyles and a Quasimodo bird catcher.
• Milestone Celebration: In 2021, Walt Disney Records celebrated the movie's 25th Anniversary by re-releasing the soundtrack as part of the Legacy Collection, upgrading it to a 2-Disc Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition by adding almost all of the score^note "And He Shall Smite the Wicked" inexplicably stops before the balcony climax, deleted songs, demos, and excerpts of Der Glöckner von Notre Dame.
• Newbie Boom: The film saw a large, renewed amount of interest when the real Notre Dame cathedral was nearly destroyed by fire in April 2019.
• Non-Singing Voice:
  • Cabaret singer Heidi Mollenhauer provides Esmeralda's singing voice instead of Demi Moore.
  • In the Norwegian dub, Frollo's speaking voice is done by Even Stormoen (previous voice of Scar), while his singing voice is provided by Paul Åge Johannessen (previous voice of Gaston).
  • In the Japanese dub, Frollo's speaking voice is provided by Takeshi Kusaka and singing voice by Toshihide Mura.
  • In the Dutch dub, Frollo's speaking voice is provided by Edmond Classen, while his singing voice is done by professional singer Ernst Daniël Smid.
• The Other Darrin: In the European Spanish dub, the teaser for the film had Ernesto Aura — who had a fitting voice to voice the character — voicing Frollo. The role went at the end to Constantino Romero.
• Posthumous Credit: Mary Wickes died of complications from hip surgery eight months before the film's release. Most of her lines had been recorded before she died, so she's still credited as the voice of Laverne.
• Real-Life Relative: Carlos Pontón, who directed the Latin American Spanish dub and played Quasimodo's father, is the brother of Javier Pontón, who was the creative supervisor for the dub.
• Technology Marches On: When the film was being promoted, the CGI people were touted as a huge technological advancement. They were the logical next step after the CGI stampede scene from The Lion King (1994). Instead of using CGI to reproduce the same model making the same movements over and over again, the crowds of Hunchback were randomized, with different elements such as clothing, body types, and behaviors being mixed and matched to create these gigantic Ben-Hur-esque crowd scenes that would, otherwise, either be much too expensive to animate, or have to be static parts of the matte. It's more noticeable now (especially if you remember watching "Behind the Scenes" featurettes which showcased the various behaviors back on the '90s Disney Channel), but at the time, especially on a first-time viewing, they were pretty impressive and evocative towards the party atmosphere in "Topsy Turvy" especially.
• Throw It In!: Kevin Kline named his horse "Achilles" for the sake of the "Achilles, heel" joke.
• Two Voices, One Character: Mary Wickes was the primary voice for Laverne. Jane Withers later provided the character's remaining dialogue after Wickes succumbed to hip surgery complications during production.
• What Could Have Been: Quite a few examples, some of which are discussed in this 2021 oral history.
  • Mandy Patinkin auditioned to play Quasimodo, but by all accounts, it was a disaster; notably, Stephen Schwartz was displeased with how he was taking up more time than was necessary and suggesting changes to "Out There". Patinkin would eventually go on to portray Quasimodo in a Made-for-TV Movie released in 1997.
  • Patrick Stewart, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, and Derek Jacobi were considered to play Frollo before the casting of Tony Jay.
  • Instead of Victor, Hugo and Laverne the gargoyles would have been named Chaney, Laughton and Quinn as homage to actors Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton and Anthony Quinn who had played the title character in previous adaptations. This idea was brought back into the German musical, with the gargoyles being renamed to Charles, Antoine, and Loni.
  • An early draft featured only two gargoyles named Bela and Boris, described to have more vulgar humor.
  • An early draft also included the bells being sentient and able to communicate with Quasimodo by ringing. A talking pet bat was also considered. While giving Quasimodo an "imaginative world" was necessary to align with the Disney brand of having magical elements in the story, the creators realized it made the bell tower feel "too happy." As a result, the sentient bells were scrapped, ultimately reducing it to only gargoyles.
  • Phoebus's speech rallying citizens to rebel against Frollo during the climax of the movie was originally said by Clopin, but the directors/producers felt that Phoebus needed to be more involved in the uprising.
  • The prologue was originally going to be a straightforward narration. After a couple of read-throughs, the filmmakers found it too slow and plodding. So they rewrote it as a musical number - "The Bells of Notre Dame".
  • Believe it or not, at one point, the studio considered having Quasimodo and Esmeralda end up together to avoid negative feedback. In an early version of the movie that was storyboarded and partly animated, the "love triangle" subplot was resolved earlier, and there was a larger focus on the romance between Phoebus and Esmeralda in the third act. This included a love song and Phoebus taking part in the final confrontation with Frollo, as the rebellion was led by Clopin. Originally, after Quasimodo was heartbroken, there was going to be a longer sequence in The Court of Miracles where Quasimodo is about to leave, only to be urged by Clopin to witness a special announcement by Phoebus and Esmeralda. Quasimodo feared it was their engagement and didn't wish to see it, but to his surprise, Esmeralda and Phoebus gathered all the gypsies to throw a celebration for Quasimodo to thank him for all he had done for them. This was meant to play a part in Quasimodo's realization of the value of his inner beauty and to heal his heartbreak for the rest of the third act. However, the studio found this version too harsh. The scene of Quasimodo's heartbreak, same as the one in the final movie, felt too upsetting, sending a pessimistic message that the deformed character was unable to win the heart of the girl he loves. It also made it hard for viewers to enjoy with Esmeralda and Phoebus' romance as it only made them feel more sorry for Quasimodo and made the characters unlikable for not realizing Quasimodo's true feelings. While Quasimodo ending up with Esmeralda felt like a perfect solution to be on-brand with Disney's optimistic spirit, the writers were equally concerned that Quasimodo's "wants" (being accepted by society) and "needs" (realizing his own self-worth and standing up to Frollo) had nothing to do with him ending up with Esmeralda. This overshadowed his actual character arc and the message of the story. Additionally, there was the problem of Phoebus being left with nothing. The head writer, Tab Murphy, proposed a solution where Quasimodo realizes on his own that being with Esmeralda is not what he truly wants and that he only likes her as a friend. Another version where Quasimodo was asked to perform the wedding for Esmeralda and Phoebus was storyboarded, but it ultimately felt like forcing Quasimodo into accepting their relationship rather than his own choice. To make this work in a way that wouldn't feel bitter or contrived, the resolution of the arc was moved to the penultimate scene. All the romantic moments between Phoebus and Esmeralda, including the love song and wedding at the Court of Miracles, were cut from the third act and replaced by a scene where Phoebus realizes Quasimodo's feelings for Esmeralda and steps aside to give him full credit for finding the Court of Miracles. The climax now focused on Quasimodo and Esmeralda, so after viewers see that the two are ready to die for each other, we get the ending where Esmeralda rushes toward Quasimodo over Phoebus, and for a brief moment, viewers think they get a traditional Disney ending of the two main characters being together, only for Quasimodo to finally make the decision that Esmeralda should be with Phoebus, making the ending finally satisfying.
  • A much more tragic ending was considered. Frollo would have fatally stabbed Quasimodo before being killed by Esmeralda, who would have kicked him over the ledge of the tower. Phoebus would have then found them and Quasimodo's last wish would have been to ring the bells one last time. At least the head writer Tab Murphy clames however this is only a rumor, as Disney's number one rule was for the movie to have a happy ending and killing Quasimodo or Esmeralda was never on the table.
  • According to his niece Nat Jay, Tony Jay wasn't able to initially reach the final note for "Hellfire", so he requested for the key to be lowered. Alan Menken refused which essentially forced Tony to take voice lessons for it, resulting in the iconic final note of the song.
  • Michael Jackson was ready and willing to produce and perform versions of "Out There", "God Help the Outcasts" and/or "Someday" after a meeting with Alan Menken, but Disney higher-ups vetoed this due to Jackson's questionable reputation at the time raising the potential for the film to be Overshadowed by Controversy.