It’s safe to say that Frozen embedded itself into the cultural zeitgeist in a way that is staggering, even by normal Disney standards. Whether they wanted to or now, everyone learned all the lines from “Let It Go,” even if they didn’t often fraternize with tiny humans. The sisterly love at the heart of the film really resonated with audiences, as evidenced by the greenlit sequel. From the looks of the passionate internet campaign to get Elsa a girlfriend, the fan furor hasn’t died down in the four years since its release. However, fans have been given even more fodder for their fan fiction, because it turns out that the ending of the film was almost quite different.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, producer Peter Del Vecho revealed the originals plans for the movie.
“So when we started off, Anna and Elsa were not sisters. They weren’t even royal. So Anna was not a princess. Elsa was a self-proclaimed Snow Queen, but she was a villain and pure evil — much more like the Hans Christian Andersen tale. We started out with an evil female villain and an innocent female heroine, and the ending involved a big epic battle with snow monsters that Elsa had created as her army.”
Ok, while the climax of the film with Anna’s sacrifice for Elsa was a deeply moving moment, an battle of snow beasts sounds pretty badass. Still, according to Del Vecho, this development didn’t hit the emotional notes that they were looking for, leaving the project with a hollow feel. This lead to the sibling connection and a focus on the familial relationship stakes over clashing armies and Anna’s relationship with Kristoff.
“One of the things Chris Buck had in most versions of the film was a moment where Anna’s heart was frozen and needed to be thawed,” Del Vecho said. “Chris said, ‘Does it always need to be true love’s kiss that solves that problem? Does it always have to be the man who comes in and rescues the female? Could it be something different?’ and that led to a different ending.”
And the rest, they say, is movie history.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)