History Trivia / Coco

* BannedInChina: Defied. Usually, the Chinese censorship board doesn't allow anything with ghosts to get released but they found the movie so moving and the CentralTheme about the importance of family so similar to their culture that they gave it a pass. Their instincts about the cultural similarity were correct as this movie made more in the market than all the other Pixar movies combined.
* BreakingOldTrends: Normally one of the curiosities that Pixar uses to distinguish their films from the Disney Animated Canon is not making musicals, but this film is the first to be such, though as a [[MusicStories Music Story]] rather than a full-on, randomly-bursting-into-song musical.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Target sold the 3-Disc Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack with an exclusive digipack[[note]]the front cover of foregoes the standard combo pack's image for the same poster artwork shown on This Very Wiki's ''Coco'' page[[/note]], as well as a book containing a storybook on one side, and an abridged version of ''The Art of Coco'' on the other. Some other Disney-owned movies released on home video from 2018-2019 later received similar Target exclusives.

*** Abuelita Elena: Actress Reneé Victor, who played Lupita in ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' and Laverne in the Latin American Spanish dub of ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''.

** In the Norwegian dub, Ernesto de la Cruz is voiced by famous actor Kåre Conradi, while Imelda is voiced by actress Mari Maurstad, making "La Llorona" her first singing work for Disney/Pixar in 30 years since she sang the opening theme to ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales1987'' and Georgette's "Perfect Isn't Easy" in ''Disney/OliverAndCompany.''

** Subverted in the original version. Even though Benjamin Bratt does some of his own singing as Ernesto de la Cruz, some of his Spanish singing in the original version were provided by Los Angeles-based Latin-American singer Antonio Sol, who is also one of the choir singers on the soundtrack. Most notably, Sol appears on "La Llorona".

* DirectedByCastMember:
** Writer/codirector Adrian Molina voices the man discovering that Ernesto de la Cruz's guitar was "stolen".
** The "What did I miss?" guy is voiced by director Lee Unkrich in the English version and dubbing codirector Creator/RicardoTejedo in the Spanish version.

*** Chicharrón: Comedian, voice actor and political commentator Víctor Trujillo, who was the dub voice of [[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats Lion-O]], played Brozo in ''Series/LaCaravana''. In addition, he voiced James P. Sullivan in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' and Bob Parr in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', which were both produced by Pixar.

* DirectedByCastMember: The Latin American Spanish dub's co-director, Creator/RicardoTejedo, voices the "What did I miss?" guy from the Sunrise Spectacular.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The movie spent six years in DevelopmentHell during which plot and characters changed drastically. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/Coco Has its own page]].

* HireTheCritic: Pixar hired cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz to work on the movie, even though he has been critical of Disney in the past over their treatment of Latinos and Latino cultures. [[http://io9.com/why-disney-pixar-hired-one-of-its-biggest-critics-to-wo-1725149333 Unfortunately, this actually caused many people to be angry at Alcaraz]], thinking he's been bought out.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The movie spent six years in DevelopmentHell during which plot and characters changed drastically.
** The original premise was about a Mexican-American child discovering his heritage during a trip to Mexico after the recent death of his mother. [[https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/22/16691932/pixar-interview-coco-lee-unkrich-behind-the-scenes As the movie developed]], everyone realized that the story was the opposite of what Día de los Muertos is about [[note]]Miguel was supposed to learn to let go of his mother and move on with his life, while Día de los Muertos was about keeping beloved deceased family members alive through memory[[/note]], so they decided to rewrite the story to have it focus on a Mexican child.
** None of the people involved early in the movie were either Mexican or Hispanic and were approaching the subject from a [[DanBrowned very removed]] perspective. This started to change when backlash mounted after Disney hilariously tried to trademark "Día de los Muertos" in anticipation of the film (the presumed title before "Coco"), and several Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were hired as writers and consultants (including [[HireTheCritic the very critics]] who started the backlash). Adrian Molina even went from storyboarder to co-writer and co-director. Just think how bad it could have gone if they had ignored the critics.
** Though the movie is technically Pixar’s first musical still, it was going to be a full-on, break-into-song musical before it got demoted to a [[MusicStories Music Story]]. The scenes from the original version, including a musical number (set in [[TheFifties 1953]] Mexico City) that opened the film and explained the ''Día de Muertos'', can be found on Blu-ray, Digital and 4K Ultra HD releases. This partly came about upon the filmmakers realizing the contradictory nature of giving Abuelita Elena a musical number about why the family doesn't allow music.
** Miguel was originally named Marco, but the filmmakers changed the name when they discovered [[WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil another animated Latino Disney character by the same name who also happens to have a mole on his face, wears a red hoodie and travels to an alternate fantasy world.]]
** Elena's WeaponOfChoice was a wooden spoon that she carried in her [[ApronMatron apron]] everywhere, but was changed to a sandal at the suggestion of Lalo Alcaraz.
** Marco/Miguel didn't hide that he wanted to be a musician from his family and even had his own guitar. He was just pressured by his family to follow in the shoe business, and Elena took the guitar for the holiday.
** Marco/Miguel was only going to play guitar. After young singer Anthony Gonzalez was cast, he was rewritten to also sing.
** Marco/Miguel traveled to the Land of the Dead with Ernesto's guitar and he needed it to return to the Land of the Living. Unfortunately, the guitar had also cursed Marco's dead relatives to sing whenever they tried to talk, so they wanted to destroy it. That's right. Miguel's ancestors were ''the antagonists''. Talk about CompletelyMissingThePoint of the holiday. This was changed after the characters of Ernesto and Hector were developed in the way we know them.
** Such early script had a CarChase where the dead relatives tried to get the guitar from Marco while he was riding a bus to Plaza de la Cruz for the contest. In later rewrites, the bus became a trolley and the guitar-seeking relatives were changed to Pepita trying to snatch Miguel (which would also have been the introduction of Alebrijes). It was later decided to introduce the Alebrijes earlier and let Miguel and Hector reach the Plaza without incident.
** The "festival explanation musical" was rewritten to be Ernesto's last performance in life. However, the number always felt forced, as it was in essence Mexican characters giving [[WeAllLiveInAmerica a very Gringo]] [[ValuesDissonance explanation]] of [[SymbologyResearchFailure a Mexican holiday]] to an in-universe [[AsYouKnow Mexican audience]]. Furthermore, the performance was still more 1950s American than Mexican, and it [[EpicFail failed]] to make test audiences understand the tradition anyway (but they found it funny). So everything bar Ernesto's introduction was cut.
** Interestingly, the animated storyboard of this scene has Ernesto stopping in the scalator not to sing to a dancer, but to the orchestra director that later performs for him in the Land of the Dead, implying they are friends. And you thought Miguel's BrokenPedestal was bad.
** From the same scene, Ernesto is shown to be 68 a the time of his death, while in the final film he is 46.
** The ''papel picado'' was used in a musical number in the middle of the film, rather than in the introduction.
** Audiences were going to meet Héctor when Miguel rode a celebrity bus tour while trying to reach Ernesto's home in the land of the dead. Héctor was the tour guide, but his busines was going down because [[JerkAss Ernesto]] [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle just]] [[KickTheDog forbid]] him from coming near his home.
** The writers struggled for a long time to find a way to bring Miguel back from the Land of the Dead:
*** Early on, the guitar was necessary to get back, and Ernesto's fall from grace happened when he broke it before his audience on purpose. The family would then come together and use their shoemaking tools to rebuild the guitar.
*** At another point, Miguel just needed to cross the same bridge before the holiday ended. There was a marigold sunglass that the Dead followed like the New Year's Eve clock, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock when the last petal fell]], the bridge would be closed by police and start to [[CollapsingLair collapse]]. Of course, Miguel was going to cross when the time was up and the bridge started collapsing. Ernesto would chase and try to stop him, but he would dissolve into nothingness along with the bridge. The song that sounds when Miguel runs from the cemetery to Coco in the movie was composed for this sequence.
** Ernesto wasn't concerned about preserving his reputation as much as [[EvilCounterpart not being forgotten]].
** The storyboard design of the dead relatives is slightly different. Imelda has her hair longer, with flowers, and a more generally younger appearance. Ernesto has a [[ObviouslyEvil very]] DastardlyWhiplash [[MagnificentMoustachesOfMexico moustache]]. And there is an apparent extra relative that didn't make it into the film: a younger, fat, bald guy.
** The location of the Sunrise Spectacular was designed as a 19th century opera house that also mirrored the location of Ernesto's last performance in life, before being changed to a modern music venue.
** Emilio Fuentes was first cast as Marco/Miguel. As production delayed, Fuentes hit puberty and was replaced with Anthony Gonzalez. Fuentes still appears as the stagehand who tells Ernesto to rush for the scenario in 30 seconds.
** Angélica Vale auditioned to voice Mamá Imelda in the English version before Alanna Ubach was cast.
** The "Art of Coco" book includes concept art for spirit Hernán Cortés and his Nahua mistress/translator/advisor during the Spanish Conquest, La Malinche. They were presumably not included to avoid controversy.

** Another kid was cast as Marco/Miguel. As production delayed, the kid hit puberty and he was replaced temporarily with Anthony Gonzalez, who ended getting the part. The original voice actor has a cameo as the stagehand who tells Ernesto to rush for the scenario in 30 seconds.

*** Early on, the guitar was necessary to get back, and Ernesto's fall from grace happened when he broke it before his audience on purpose. The family would then come together and use their shoemaking tools to fix the guitar.

*** At another point, Miguel just needed to cross the same bridge before the holiday ended. There was a marigold sunglass that the Dead followed like the New Year's Eve clock, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock when the last petal fell]], the bridge would be closed by police and start to [[CollapsingLair collapse]]. Of course, Miguel was going to cross when the time was up and the bridge started collapsing. Ernesto would chase and try to stop him, but he would dissolve into nothingness along with the bridge.

*** At another point, Miguel just needed to cross the same bridge before the holiday ended. There was a marigold sunglass that the Dead followed like New Year's Eve, and [[RaceAgainstTheClock when the last petal fell]], the bridge would be closed by police and start to [[CollapsingLair collapse]]. Of course, Miguel was going to cross when the time was up and the bridge started collapsing. Ernesto would chase and try to stop him, but he would dissolve into nothingness along with the bridge.
** Ernesto wasn't concerned about preserving his reputation as simply not being forgotten.
** The storyboard design of the dead relatives is slightly different. Imelda has her hair longer, with flowers, and a more generally younger appearance. Ernesto has a [[ObviouslyEvil very]] DastardlyWhiplash [[MagnificentMoustachesOfMexico moustache]]. And there seems to be an extra relative that didn't make into the film: a younger, fat, bald guy.

* CreatorCouple: Real-life husband-and-wife Creator/RicardoTejedo and Creator/CristinaHernandez provide different roles in the Latin American Spanish dub: Tejedo provides additional voices and Hernández voices the entrance announcements in the Land of the Dead.

* DirectedByCastMember: The Latin American Spanish dub was directed by Creator/RicardoTejedo and Raúl Aldana; they provided additional voices in the dub. Aldana was also one of the music directors and the main lyricist for the dub.

** Such early script had a CarChase where the dead relatives tried to get the guitar from Marco while he was riding a bus to Plaza de la Cruz for the parade. In later rewrites, the bus became a trolley and the guitar-seeking relatives were changed to Pepita trying to snatch Miguel (which would also have been the introduction of Alebrijes). It was later decided to introduce the Alebrijes earlier and let Miguel and Hector reach the Plaza without incident.

** Interestingly, the animated storyboard of this scene has Ernesto stopping in the scalator to sing not to a dancer, but to the orchestra director that later performs for him in the Land of the Dead, implying they are friends. And you thought Miguel's BrokenPedestal was bad.

** Such early script had a CarChase where the dead relatives tried to get the guitar from Marco while he was riding a bus to Plaza de la Cruz for the parade. In later rewrites, the bus became a trolley and the guitar-seeking relatives were changed to Pepita trying to snatch Miguel (which would also have been the introduction of the Alebrijes). It was later decided to introduce the alebrijes earlier and let Miguel and Hector reach the Plaza without incident.
** The "festival explanation musical" was then rewritten to be Ernesto's last performance in life. However, the number always felt forced, as it was in essence a Mexican character giving [[WeAllLiveInAmerica a very Gringo]] [[ValuesDissonance explanation]] of [[SymbologyResearchFailure a Mexican holiday]] to an in-universe [[AsYouKnow Mexican audience]]. Furthermore, the performance was still more 1950s American than Mexican, and it [[EpicFail failed]] to make test audiences understand the tradition anyway (but they found it funny). So everything bar Ernesto's introduction was cut.

** Another kid was cast as Marco/Miguel. As production delayed, the kid his puberty and he was replaced temporarily with Anthony Gonzalez, who ended getting the part. The original voice actor has a cameo as the stagehand who tells Ernesto to rush for the scenario in 30 seconds.

** In the Norwegian dub, Ernesto de la Cruz is voiced by famous actor Kåre Conradi, while Imelda is voiced by actress Mari Maurstad, making "Lla Lorona" her first singing work for Disney/Pixar in 30 years since she sang the opening theme to ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales1987'' and Georgette's "Perfect Isn't Easy" in ''Disney/OliverAndCompany.''

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The original premise of the movie was about an American child discovering his Mexican heritage while coping with the recent death of his mother. [[https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/22/16691932/pixar-interview-coco-lee-unkrich-behind-the-scenes As the movie developed]], everyone realized that the story was the opposite of what Día de los Muertos was about [[note]]Miguel was supposed to learn to let go of his mother and move on with his life, while Día de los Muertos was about keeping beloved deceased family members alive through memory[[/note]], so they decided to rewrite the story to have it focus on a Mexican child.
** Though the movie was Pixar’s first musical, the movie was originally going to be a full-on, break-into-song musical before it got demoted to a [[MusicStories Music Story]]. The scenes from the original version, including a musical number that opened the film and explained El Día de los Muertos, can be found on Blu-ray, Digital and 4K Ultra HD releases. This partly came about upon the filmmakers realizing the contradictory nature of giving Abuelita Elena a musical number about why the family doesn't allow music.
** During development, Miguel was originally named Marco, but the filmmakers changed the name when they discovered [[WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil another animated Latino Disney character by the same name who also happens to have a mole on his face, wears a red hoodie and travels to an alternate fantasy world.]]
** Angélica Vale originally auditioned to voice Mamá Imelda in the English version before Alanna Ubach was cast.
** Audiences were originally going to meet Hector when Miguel stumbled onto a celebrity bus tour in the land of the dead. In fact, Hector was working as a tour guide in the afterlife, and he was going through a losing streak due to [[JerkAss Ernesto]] [[KickTheDog forbidding]] him from coming near his house.
** Ernesto's last song (in life) was not going to be [[MisaimedMarketing his take]] on "Remember Me" but an [[LectureAsExposition expository tune]] about ''Día de Muertos'' that was going to open the film (his death would have happened during the holiday). This was dropped because it felt very forced and was basically a Mexican character sharing [[WeAllLiveInAmerica a Gringo's explanation]] of what a Mexican holiday is... [[AsYouKnow to an in-universe Mexican audience]].
** The writers struggled to find a way to bring Miguel back from the Land of the Dead. At one point, he would simply [[OutrunTheFireball run]] over the petal bridge as [[CueTheSun the sun]] rised, and the bridge [[CollapsingLair collapsed]] behind him as it was being touched by [[ThePowerOfTheSun sunlight]]. Ernesto would chase him until he was caught in the collapse and faded away into nothingness.

** Ernesto's last song (in life) was not going to be [[MisaimedMarketing his take]] on "Remember Me" but an [[LectureAsExposition expository tune]] about ''Día de Muertos'' that was going to open the film (his death would have happened during the holiday). This was dropped because it felt very forced and was basically a Gringo's explanation of what a Mexican holiday is... [[AsYouKnow to Mexicans]].
** The writers struggled to find a way to bring Miguel back from the Land of the Dead. At one point, he would simply [[OutrunTheFireball run]] over the petal bridge as [[CueTheSun the sun]] rised, and the bridge [[CollapsingLair collapsed]] as it was being touched by [[ThePowerOfTheSun sunlight]]. Ernesto would chase him until he was caught in collapse and faded away into nothingness.

** Audiences were originally going to meet Hector when Miguel stumbled onto a celebrity bus tour in the land of the dead.

** In the Spanish dub Angélica Vale and Angélica María play a mother and daughter. However this is inverted as the real life daughter (Angélica Vale) plays the deceased matriarch Mamá Imelda while the real life mother (Angélica María) plays her granddaughter Elena. This only makes sense as it appears Mamá Imelda passed away at a younger age while Elena is still alive and has lived longer.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: In 2011 it was announced that Pixar was creating a film based off the Day of the Dead. After years of no news, many fans thought it had been quitely cancelled due to [[WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife another animated film]] based off the holiday coming out. In 2016, the film was finally unveiled as ''Coco''.

*** Both Óscar and Felipe passed away at the same time.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Target sold the 3-Disc Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD combo pack with an exclusive digipack[[note]]the front cover of foregoes the standard combo pack's image for the same poster artwork shown on This Very Wiki's ''Coco'' page[[/note]], as well as a book containing a storybook on one side, and an abridged version of ''The Art of Coco'' on the other. Some other Disney-owned movies released on home video in 2018, such as ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Film/{{Black Panther| 2018}}'', later received similar Target exclusives, most with a book that only abridges ''The Art of (insert movie here)''.