The Obligatory "Pocahontas (1995)" Trivia Post

[weber_dubois22]

PRODUCTION:

• In the very first draft of the script for Pochahontas, the character of “Grandmother Willow” was written as a male character who was the spirit of the river, the character was named “Old Man River”. The song “Just Around the Riverbend” was written for this character to be sung. Gregory Peck was offered the role and as much as it pained him to do it, he turned down the role because he felt the title character needed a motherly figure to turn to for advice. Soon the filmmakers agreed with him and the character was changed.
• In their quest for authenticity, the Disney studios hired mostly Native American actors to do the voices. They also employed Native American consultants and had a session with a real shaman. Despite these efforts, prominent Native American activists issued an open letter condemning the film for its historical inaccuracies and stereotyping of the Indian people.

• Animators working on Pocahontas regarded it as being one of the hardest films ever produced by the studio. The complex color schemes, angular shapes, and facial expressions meant that the film was in production for 5 years. The hard work paid off, however, as Pocahontas herself is now frequently cited as being one of the most beautifully and realistically animated characters in the Disney canon.
• 55 animators were involved in designing the character of Pocahontas.
• At the time of Pocahontas’ production, Disney animated films traditionally featured a show-stopping musical number, like ”Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, and “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin. This proved to be problematic with Pocahontas as the story didn’t really lend itself to such an ornate production number. Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken penned several songs, of which the leading contender was a song called “In the Middle of the River”, where Pocahontas and John Smith meet each other in secret. When it was decided that the song simply didn’t fit within the dramatic context of the story, this song was replaced with “If I Never Knew You” (which itself was later cut from the original theatrical release) .
• John Pomeroy, the supervising animator for John Smith in Pocahontas, watched a number of Errol Flynn movies to get the movements of the character down pat. Once the look of Smith was finalized, 14 other animators were drafted in to make him come to life.
• Rupert Everett, Stephen Fry, Richard White, and Patrick Stewart were considered for the role of Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas. White was originally chosen, but the filmmakers feared that audiences would not be able to separate his voice from his previous vilian, Gaston. So he was replaced with David Ogden Stiers.
• In Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, Donald Gibson takes over the role of John Smith, whom his older brother Mel Gibson voiced in the first movie. Mel Gibson was the only original Pocahontas cast member not to return for the sequel.
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World is loosely based on the real Pocahontas’ trip to England in 1616. In actuality, at the time of her journey, Pocahontas had already converted to Christianity, been baptized, taken the name Rebecca, married John Rolfe, and bore him a son named Thomas. She traveled to England accompanied by Rolfe, Thomas, Uttamatomakin, and a retinue of Native American women. While in the film she appears to have stayed in England for about a week or two, she actually remained in England until her death in March 1617.

Promotion/Critical Reaction/Post:

• The premiere for Pocahontas was a huge event in Central Park. With over 100,000 people attending, it holds the record for the largest movie premiere.
• The June 1995 edition of Harper’s Bazar featured a Pocahontas spread. Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui and Isaac Mizrahi all designed special outfits for her which were then drawn by Disney animators for the magazine. (See concepts below)
• Pocahontas was harshly criticized by Chief Roy Crazy Horse as historically inaccurate and offensive for glossing over more negative treatment of Pocahontas and her tribe by the English. He claims that Roy Disney refused the tribe’s offers to help create a more culturally and historically accurate film. You can read his entire statement on the subject, which includes the factual story of Matoka, or “Pocahontas” as she was nicknamed, here, on the official website of the Powhatan Renape Nation.
• After Pocahontas, Irene Bedard (Pocahontas) and Christian Bale (Thomas) both went on to appear in Terrence Malick’s live-action version of the Pocahontas story, The New World (as Pocahontas’s mother and John Rolfe, respectively).
• Judy Khun, the singing voice of Pocahontas, provies the singing voice of Princess Ting-Ting in Mulan 2.
• Despite all of the negative criticism for Pocahontas’ historical inacuracies and insensitivities, actor and Native American activist Russell Means (who voices Powhatan in the film) has referred to the film, in particular the opening, as being the “single best representation of American Indians that Hollywood has ever done”.

CONCEPT ART:


















SOURCE


Also, be sure to check out Bluray.com's "Making of Walt Disney's Pocahontas" article, which has plenty of interesting material in it (from concept art to producer intentions via interviews).

Comments

[demeter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this! There were actually a few things I hadn't heard of before (Pocahontas has always been my favorite Disney film), haha. I had no idea that Gregory Peck was considered for one of the characters, for example. That definitely would have been somewhat different from the experience of seeing Pocahontas confide/consult in Grandmother Willow.

[weber_dubois22]

Not a problem. There's actually quite a lot I didn't even known ---- in particular, getting designers to create exclusive wardrobes for Pocahontas and the consideration of a musical number like "Kiss the Girl", which would've been hella awkward ---- so I thought it would be nice to share on the off chance that it wasn't complete common knowledge.

[hachimitsu75.livejournal.com]

A musical number like that would have been a really bad idea and spoiled the whole tone of the film, I think. Every once and a while I'll hear they've planned something seemingly ridiculous, but then watch as they somehow pull it off, but that one I think they were smart to leave alone.

[hachimitsu75.livejournal.com]

Strangely I had forgotten how upset I had been as a child about all of the historical inaccuracies. I've always gone through phases where I'm obsessed with a particular historical period event, and Pocahontas was released right at the tail end of my obsession with Native American history, and particularly the way they were treated after the 'discovery' of America. Looking back on it, I think I enjoy the movie and the message it was trying to make a lot better now than I did back then, I guess I've learned to appreciate the movie for what it was, instead of just seeing all of the things it wasn't.