History Trivia / Hercules

** [[Series/DonnyAndMarie Donny Osmond]] auditioned for the part of Hercules before [[Series/{{Friends}} Tate Donovan]] was cast. However, Osmond was turned down due to the fact that his voice was considered "too deep" for the titular character.

** Creator/PatrickStewart, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JamesBelushi, and Creator/GeoffreyPeck were considered for the part of Zeus before the casting of Creator/RipTorn.

*** [[Film/BlueSteel Ron Silver]], Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/KevinSpacey, Creator/PhilHartman, [[Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight Rod Steiger]], Creator/MichaelIronside, [[Film/{{Critters}} Terrence Mann]], and Creator/MartinLandau read for the role of Hades as well before the casting of Woods.
** Creator/EdAsner, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, [[Film/{{Alfie}} Dick Latessa]], and [[Film/ThePoseidonAdventure Red Buttons]] auditioned for the part of Phil before Creator/DannyDeVito was cast. After Buttons' audition, he said this to the casting directors before departing the studio.

** Creator/PatrickStewart, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JamesBelushi, and [[Literature/ToKillAMockingbird Geoffrey Peck]] were considered for Zeus before the casting of [[Film/MenInBlack Rip Torn]].

** UltimateBlacksmith

** And another one: Disney veteran Andreas Deja was asked to animate Hades, but he feared that animating ''another'' villain (he'd already done a considerable streak of famed villains, animating [[Disney/{{BeautyAndTheBeast}} Gaston]], [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]] and [[Disney/{{TheLionKing}} Scar]] one after the other) would be too easy and obvious. So, to challenge himself, he asked to animate a hero instead and was given the job of animating Hercules himself.

** Creator/JohnLithgow was originally cast as Hades and even recorded all of his dialogue for the film, but [[Creator/{{Disney}} Disney]] found that he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for.

*** [[Film/BlueSteel Ron Silver]], Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/KevinSpacey, Creator/PhilHartman, [[Film/InTheHeatOfTheNight Rod Steiger]], Creator/MichaelIronside, [[Film/{{Critters}} Terrence Mann]], and Creator/MartinLandau read for the role of Hades as well before the casting of Creator/JamesWoods.

*** Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/WillemDafoe, and Music/DavidBowie were also considered for the role of Hades. Nicholson reportedly turned down the offer due to his demand for a paycheck of ten to fifteen million for the part, plus a ''50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.''

*** Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/WillemDafoe, and Music/DavidBowie were also considered for the role of Hades. Nicholson reportedly turned down the offer due to his demand for a paycheck of $10 to 15 million for the part, plus a ''50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.''

** In the Latin-American dub, Hercules was voiced by Ricky Martin, and Megara by 90's Televisa superstar Tatiana Chapas. Both of them dubbed their characters' singing ''and'' speaking parts.
** In the Spanish dub, Jordi Vila provided both the singing and dialogue voices of Phil with Vila being an accomplished singer, e.g. the first opening of ''Manga/DragonBall''.

** Hades seem to have been the most contested of characters.
*** Creator/JohnLithgow was originally cast as Hades and even recorded all of his dialogue for the film, but [[Creator/{{Disney}} Disney]] found that he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for.

** Creator/JohnLithgow was originally cast as Hades and even recorded all of his dialogue for the film, but [[Creator/{{Disney}} Disney]] found that he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for.

* SoMyKidsCanWatch: The reason both Creator/DannyDeVito and James Woods joined the cast. Woods enjoyed playing Hades so much he agreed to play the voice for any future Disney animation or video game projects.

** The original pitch for the movie was going to be more mythologicaly accurate with Hera as the BigBad, the Titans as both the collective BiggerBad and TheStarscream, and Hades as something of a sidekick to Hercules. This concept was later used for ''Hercules And Xena''.

*** Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/WillemDafoe, and Music/DavidBowie were also considered for the role of Hades (Jack was also interested in playing Phil). Nicholson reportedly turned down the offer due to his demand for a paycheck of $10 to 15 million for the part, plus a ''50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.''

** Richard Lewis was considered for the role of Panic.

*** Creator/JackNicholson, Creator/WillemDafoe, and Music/DavidBowie were also considered for the role of Hades. Nicholson reportedly turned down the offer due to his demand for a paycheck of $10 to 15 million for the part, plus a ''50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.''

* BannedInChina: Greece understandably despised the film for [[TheThemeParkVersion playing so fast and loose with Greek Mythology]], that they went as far as denying the film a premiere in their country.

* AllStarCast: The TV series. The question isn't finding characters voiced by known/famous actors, but finding characters who aren't. Look up a voice actor's list. It's just oozing with famous titles. It all came up to be because James Woods wanted to return and thus most of the original cast jumped along, and others got interested.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: One VHS tape, "Zero to Hero", was released. It is basically an expanded version of the episode "Hercules and the Yearbook", with roughly three full episodes to fill out the time. It served as a pilot for the series. The rest of the series has not been released on any home video format.
* MissingEpisode: At least four episodes were removed from rotation following 9/11, most notably ''Hercules and the Hostage Crisis'' which involved ''terrorists'' taking over Prometheus Academy, which was almost identical to the Columbine High School massacre.

* TheOtherDarrin:
** Most of the movie's cast ''did'' return for the series, except for Charlton Heston, Rip Torn, and Danny [=DeVito=].
** An unusual, marginal example: Tate Donovan returns as Hercules, but he portrays the younger version of the character, who was voiced by Josh Keaton in the movie.
** Amanda Plummer (the voice of Clotho, one of the Fates) was replaced by Creator/TressMacNeille.
** Pep Antón Muñoz was the voice of Hades in the European Spanish dub for a few episodes of the TV Series but was replaced for the rest of the series by Jordi Ribes. However, Muñoz returned to voice him in ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse''.
** None of the original European Spanish cast did not return for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the only game of the series to be voiced in said language. Sergio García Marín and Carlos Ysbert, among others, voice Hercules and Hades respectively.
** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis replaced Music/RickyMartin as Hercules and Humberto Solorzano replaced Ruben Trujillo as Hades. Oddly enough, Tatiana reprised her role as Megara.

** In the animated series spin-off, Persephone, who only appeared in background cameos, originally was conceived to be the ''daughter'' of Demeter and Hades and they were in a bitter custody dispute over her. The idea got scrapped.

** Creator/EdAsner, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, [[Film/{{Alfie}} Dick Latessa]], and [[Film/ThePoseidonAdventure Red Buttons]] auditioned for the part of Phil before Creator/DannyDeVito was cast. After Buttons' audition, he said this to the casting directors before departing.
---> '''Buttons:''' I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna give this part to Danny [=DeVito!=]

** [[Series/DonnyAndMarie Donny Osmond]] auditioned for the part of Hercules before [[Series/{{Friends}} Tate Donovan]] was cast. However, Osmond was turned down due to the fact that his voice was considered too deep for the titular character.
** Creator/JohnLithgow was originally cast as Hades and even recorded all of the dialogue for the film, but [[Creator/{{Disney}} Disney]] found that he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for.

** Creator/JackNicholson was offered the role of Hades, but he turned it down. Music/DavidBowie and Creator/WillemDafoe were also considered. Creator/JohnLithgow meanwhile, accepted the role and recorded lines, but Disney found he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for. Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/PhilHartman, Creator/MichaelIronside, Creator/MartinLandau and Creator/KevinSpacey also auditioned.
** A bit of a HilariousInHindsight once you know that Creator/JamesWoods was offered the role of ComicBook/TheJoker, the role that Nicholson played, in the 1989 ''[[Film/Batman1989 Batman]]'' film.
** Hades was originally written to speak more slowly and menacingly, but Disney liked Woods' take on him so much that they changed the character and as a result almost every scene he was in.
** Music/DonnyOsmond auditioned for the role of Hercules but Disney thought his voice was too deep for Herc. He would at least get to be the singing voice of Shang in ''{{Disney/Mulan}}''.
** Creator/JamesBelushi, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/GregoryPeck and Creator/PatrickStewart were considered for Zeus.

** Creator/EdAsner and Creator/ErnestBorgnine read for Phil.

** Music/TheSpiceGirls were originally approached to portray the Muses following an invitation to sing one of the songs, but declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts.

* BannedInChina: Greece [[AmericansHateTingle so vehemently despised the film]] for [[TheThemeParkVersion playing so fast and loose with Greek Mythology]], that they went as far as denying the film a premiere in their country.

** Pep Antón Muñoz was the voice of Hades in the Spanish dub for a few episodes of the TV Series but was replaced for the rest of the series by Jordi Ribes. However, Muñoz returned to voice him in ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse''.
** None of the original Spanish cast did not return for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the only game of the series to be voiced in said language. Sergio García Marín and Carlos Ysbert, among others, voice Hercules and Hades respectively.

** A bit of a HilariousInHindsight once you know that Creator/JamesWoods was offered the role of ComicBook/TheJoker, the role that Nicholson played, in the [[Film/{{Batman}} 1989 Batman film]].

* AwesomeDearBoy: James Woods has cited Hades as his absolute favorite role ever, so much so that he leaps at the opportunity to reprise the role in any future Disney projects, such as the animated series, ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' and even some theme park bumpers! It's doubtless the reason that Hades and the world of Hercules appears quite frequently in crossovers, despite the film only having average success.

* CastingGag: In the animated series.
** A recurring villain on the show was Echidna "the mother of all monsters" voice by Kathy Lee Gifford. In one episode, Hercules accidentally used one of Zeus's thunderbolts to destroy the mountain imprisoning her husband Typhoeus, voiced by her old talk show partner, Regis Philbin.
** Creator/MervGriffin appears as a gryphon with a talk show. [[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/HighRollers Martindale]] (who worked with Merv on ''Series/HeadlineChasers'') was a riddle-giving Sphinx. (He was also working for Disney's Buena Vista TV arm at the time, as the host of ''Series/{{Debt}}'' on Creator/{{Lifetime}}.)
** "Hercules and the Dream Date" has a guest character in Galatea, Hercules' date for the Aphrodesia Dance, who's [[ClingyJealousGirl completely obsessed with him]]. Galatea was voiced by Creator/JenniferAniston, who was dating Tate Donovan at the time. What's more is that Aphrodite - who brings Galatea to life - is voice by Jennifer's ''{{Series/Friends}}'' co-star Creator/LisaKudrow.
** Creator/WilliamShatner as Jason in "Hercules and the Argonauts", because who better to play the captain of the Argos than the captain of the [[Franchise/StarTrek Enterprise]].
** Creator/LindaHamilton as Nemesis the Demigoddess of Vengeance in ''Hercules and the Romans''. Who better to play a sociopathic Terminator-like goddess than Sarah Connor, the female star of the Terminator franchise?
** Dan Castellaneta, voice of Homer Simpson, plays the original Homer in a few episodes of the series.

** Creator/JackNicholson was offered the role of Hades, but he turned it down. Music/DavidBowie and Creator/WillemDafoe were also considered. Creator/JohnLithgow meanwhile, accepted the role and recorded lines, but Disney found he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for. Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/PhilHartman, Creator/MichaelIronside, Creator/MartinLandau, Terrence Mann, Ron Silver, Creator/KevinSpacey and Rod Steiger also auditioned.
** A bit of a HilariousInHindsight once you know that James Woods was offered the role of ComicBook/TheJoker, the role that Nicholson played, in the [[Film/{{Batman}} 1989 Batman film]].

** Creator/EdAsner, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, Creator/RedButtons and Dick Latessa read for Phil.

** Creator/JackNicholson was offered the role of Hades, but he turned it down. Music/DavidBowie and Creator/WillemDafoe were also considered. Creator/JohnLithgow meanwhile, accepted the role and recorded lines, but Disney found he didn't have the right balance of menace and comedic timing they were looking for. Creator/JamesCoburn, Creator/PhilHartman, Creator/MichaelIronside, Martin Landau, Terrence Mann, Ron Silver, Creator/KevinSpacey and Rod Steiger also auditioned.

* AwesomeDearBoy: James Woods has cited Hades as his absolute favorite role ever, so much so that he leaps at the opportunity to reprise the role in any future Disney projects, such as the animated series, ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' and even some theme park bumpers!
* BannedInChina: Greece [[AmericansHateTingle so vehemently despised the film]] for [[TheThemeParkVersion playing fast and loose with Greek Mythology]], that they went as far as denying the film a premiere in their country.