Toon Talk: Hunchback of Notre Dame - Mar 25, 2002

Toon Talk: Hunchback of Notre Dame
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And that brings me back to my original statement: this "2002 edition" leaves you wanting even more, and it looks like we were this close to getting it.

C'est la vie ...

DVD Bonus Features

Audio Commentary:
Provided by the trio responsible for the modern classic Beauty & the Beast (as well as the aforementioned Atlantis: The Lost Empire), producer Don Hahn and co-directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale take you behind the scenes of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in this gag- and fact-filled alternate audio track.

There are so many fascinating facts included, that I've expanded my usual Top Ten to:

The Top Twenty Things We Learn From This Commentary:

  1. The opening shot, panning through the clouds and the village below, was so complex that it crashed the computer system twice.
  2. Originally a dialogue-heavy prologue, it was lyricist Stephen Schwartz who came up with the idea to tell the backstory of the film through song. The result was the haunting "The Bells of Notre Dame", sung by Clopin, who's role expanded to become the "narrator" of the film, similar to Schwartz's Leading Player in his musical Pippin.
  3. The name of Frollo's horse is ... Snowball. Also note Frollo's features and hair reflect that this segment takes place twenty years prior to the rest of the film.
  4. There was much discussion on whether or not to show the face of the baby Quasimodo during this segment. It was decided that he may have appeared too cute (?) and thus alter the grim mood. When you finally see his face, as an adult, he is not the monster audiences expected as in previous film versions of the Victor Hugo book.
  5. At the end of the "Bells of Notre Dame" sequence (which was animated entirely in the Paris Animation Studio, who definitely had the "home court" advantage on this one), watch the statue of Mary; when the lightning flashes, her eyes pop open. Now you know why Frollo was so freaked out.
  6. The trio of gargoyles were designed to look like "rejects" from the stone mason. In some scenes, you can see a "weathered" look on them, which was done via computer effects.
  7. Notre Dame itself (which was visited several times by the artists and filmmakers during the production of the film) was scaled larger then in reality to give it a heightened sense of it's majesty and importance to the characters/setting.
  8. In "Out There", when the bird's eye view shot of Quasi's model fades into the real view of the village courtyard, look in the lower left hand corner of the screen. You'll see one lucky Parisian has a satellite dish.
  9. "Topsy Turvy", described as a cross between "Mardi Gras, the Super Bowl, Woodstock and World Cup Soccer", is stated as being the biggest production number in animation history, taking three years in itself to produce.
  10. Kevin Kline, the voice of Phoebus, always carried a sword when he was recording his vocals for the film.
  11. No live action footage was used as reference for Esmerelda's sultry dance during the Festival of Fools.
  12. Co-director Trousdale provided some voices for the film, including the Old Heretic and Djali the goat.
  13. Watch Frollo's and Phoebus' horses after Esmerelda escapes from the festival; you can tell even they don't like each other.
  14. In the scene when Quasimodo is helping Esmerelda escape from the cathedral, when they look down to the ground, on the balcony below are statues of two famous Disney stars. Again, look for them in the lower left hand corner of your screen.
  15. In the "Hellfire" sequence, which was nicknamed "Mr. Frollo's Wild Ride" during production, artists had to ensure that the fire apparition of Esmerelda appeared fully-clothed at all times.
  16. The "whisper fight" between Quasimodo and Phoebus was actually recorded by Tom Hulce and Kevin Kline on two separate coasts and at different times.
  17. Two early songs for the section where "The Court of Miracles" is featured were the more romantic "In the Court of Miracles" and "As Long As There's a Moon".
  18. During the scene where Frollo is preparing to torch Esmerelda, Schwartz's Latin lyrics are actually commenting on the action at hand.
  19. Phoebus' rallying cry to the city of Paris was at first intended for Clopin, but the writers needed to get Phoebus more involved in the action at the film's climactic moments.
  20. Note Quasimodo's eyes dilating as he steps out into the sunlight at the end of the film.