Imagine "Frozen" without its iconic song, "Gladiator" with chimps, or "Star Wars" without the "force"? Had these films and more stuck with their original scripts, they may not have become the classics we all know and love.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Imagine Frozen without its iconic song, Gladiator with chimps, or Star Wars without the Force.
00:06Have these films and more stuck with their original scripts, they may not have become
00:09the classics we all know and love.
00:12The original script of what would become Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, went through
00:15countless iterations, most of them barely recognizable.
00:19It's scary how easily the movie could have been ruined if these changes went through.
00:22For one, Luke Skywalker was a hardened general in a previous draft, a far cry from the relatable
00:27everyman he is in the final film.
00:29Furthermore, Han Solo was described in early drafts as a huge, green-skinned monster with
00:33gills.
00:34Additionally, a number of iconic Star Wars names and words were not quite as catchy in
00:38earlier versions of the script.
00:40For instance, Luke's last name was previously Starkiller.
00:43Lucas only changed it because he was concerned that the name would carry a violent connotation
00:47and call to mind Charles Manson.
00:49Meanwhile, the Emperor was called Kars Da Shit in early drafts.
00:52Worst of all, the working title for the Force was The Bogan.
00:55Out of all the things that Lucas almost got wrong about Star Wars, this would've been
00:59the biggest.
01:00May the Force be with you.
01:02Initially, Russell Crowe was reluctant to sign on to Gladiator because he felt the original
01:06script was rubbish.
01:07In the first draft, Crowe's character was named Narcissus instead of Maximus.
01:11Technically, this name makes sense because it was the name of the real-life man who killed
01:14Emperor Commodus.
01:15I will kill Commodus.
01:16The fate of Rome, I leave to you.
01:23However, Narcissus doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
01:26Additionally, the early draft saw Narcissus courting sponsors who agreed to pay him money
01:30for endorsing their products.
01:32The script also contained a sequence in which Commodus burns the entire Senate alive inside
01:36a giant brass bowl, and then appoints several chimpanzees to replace them.
01:40Are you not entertained?
01:42According to Crowe, even the producer thought the script was terrible and begged him not
01:45to read it.
01:46Instead, he was asked to take a meeting with director Ridley Scott.
01:49Crowe agreed to meet with Scott, and once the director expressed his true vision for
01:52the film, Crowe agreed to join the project.
01:55If Pixar had gone with their original plans for Toy Story, the film would have sunk the
01:58fledgling animation studio before it even got off the ground.
02:01To put it simply, in previous drafts of the script, Woody was a jerk.
02:05Instead of the cowboy doll we all know and love, the character was a creepy ventriloquist
02:09dummy who was cruel to the other toys.
02:11In this version, Woody deliberately pushes Buzz out the window, and even torments Slinky
02:15Dog.
02:16The lowest point for the Toy Story team was when they needed to present to a bunch of
02:18Disney executors.
02:19They chose to share a sequence where a tyrannical Woody whipped the other toys into submission.
02:24The Disney execs were appalled and threatened to shut down the project unless Pixar could
02:28write something better within two weeks.
02:30Luckily, Pixar pulled it off, reinventing Woody as a toy who just wanted to be loved.
02:35The first act of Wall-E had always been clear to director Andrew Stanton, but the story
02:38went through a number of changes after Wall-E followed Eve into space.
02:42Pixar eventually figured out the movie's second act, but there was one key scene that needed
02:46to be changed at the last minute.
02:48Even the original script also injured Eve instead of Wall-E, so it was Wall-E who saved
02:52Eve from getting sucked out of the airlock instead of the other way around.
02:55Had Pixar stuck with that version, it could have easily ruined the movie.
02:58The final version of this scene is powerful because we see how much Wall-E and Eve have
03:02grown.
03:03After spending the entire movie preoccupied with Eve, Wall-E is finally able to see the
03:06big picture.
03:07Meanwhile, Eve realizes that there's more to life than her mission.
03:10Pixar even animated the original version of the scene, but after a test screening, Stanton
03:14realized it wasn't working.
03:16"...I had made a big mistake."
03:18Shortly after, Stanton urged his team to reshoot the entire scene, a rarity for Pixar.
03:23Gremlins is a classic holiday horror movie with plenty of laughs to balance out the scares.
03:28Yet, the initial script for the movie was much darker.
03:30As screenwriter Chris Columbus told Collider, he originally wrote the film as a straightforward
03:34horror film.
03:35This version would have had a higher body count.
03:37He explained,
03:38"...Mom's head comes rolling down the stairs.
03:40Billy and Kate go into a McDonald's and none of the food is eaten but all of the people
03:43are eaten."
03:45Most of the characters in the first draft are one-dimensional and hard to actually care
03:48about.
03:49The sole personality trait of Billy's mom is her Valium addiction, while Billy doesn't
03:52immediately fall in love with his pet Mogwai like he does in the final film.
03:55In fact, in the initial draft, there were no good Gremlins like Gizmo.
03:59Instead, the Mogwai were all bloodthirsty monsters.
04:01Luckily, Steven Spielberg intervened, feeling the movie could use a lighter touch.
04:05Columbus recalled Spielberg telling him,
04:07"...what you've done could be great, but it's an R-rated horror film.
04:10There's a way that what you've written can reach a much wider audience."
04:14Believe it or not, the most defining aspect of First Blood was not in the original script.
04:18Sylvester Stallone had to push to include it.
04:20"...It's over.
04:21Nothing is over!
04:23Nothing!"
04:25Earlier drafts would have portrayed Rambo, a Vietnam War veteran, as a trigger-happy
04:28killing machine.
04:29Yet, Stallone pointed out that audiences wouldn't root for Rambo if he killed a bunch of National
04:33Guardsmen who were just doing their jobs, so he said Rambo should only kill as a last
04:37resort.
04:38When Stallone suggested this, director Ted Kotcheff couldn't imagine the movie any other
04:42way.
04:43He told Filmmaker magazine,
04:44"...I felt that this should be a guy who's sick and tired of violence.
04:47The last thing he wants is to come back to America and start killing people."
04:50Had the movie stuck with the original ending, it would have only condoned this senseless
04:54violence.
04:55Another key script change was also Stallone's idea.
04:57According to Kotcheff, Rambo killed himself in the original ending, as he was unable to
05:01cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder.
05:03Stallone didn't like that ending, but despite his warning, the filmmakers stuck with it
05:07until a test screening revealed that audiences hated it.
05:10The filmmakers quickly course-corrected, using the alternate ending that Kotcheff
05:14had already shot.
05:16In the original treatment for Frozen, Elsa started out as evil, plain, and simple.
05:20Later versions made her character more sympathetic.
05:22She was given a tragic backstory and a moment of redemption.
05:25Even so, there was no escaping that Elsa was still a villain.
05:28Producer Peter Del Vecchio explained why the story wasn't clicking, telling Entertainment
05:32Weekly,
05:33"...we had no emotional connection to Elsa.
05:34We didn't care about her because she had spent the whole movie being the villain."
05:38To remedy this, filmmakers tried to get inside Elsa's head.
05:41"...we were still writing a villain song, and we started getting into the headspace
05:47of what you'd feel like if you were that isolated."
05:50This was how they stumbled upon Let It Go.
05:52Disney knew a hit song when it heard one.
05:54In fact, the song was so good that the filmmakers basically went back to the drawing board and
05:58rebuilt the entire movie around it.
06:00Soon afterward came the epiphany that the connection between Anna and Elsa would be
06:03even stronger if they were sisters.
06:05It all worked out nicely, with Frozen becoming a smash hit at the box office.
06:09Still, we shudder to think of a Frozen without Let It Go.
06:12The original script for Beetlejuice was too disturbing for Hollywood, as the deaths of
06:16Adam and Barbara were originally shown in more gruesome detail.
06:19"...You know what?
06:20I don't think we survived the crash."
06:23Meanwhile, Beetlejuice's goal was much more twisted.
06:26Instead of marrying Lydia to enter the mortal world, his intent was to sexually assault
06:30her.
06:31The iconic dinner scene wasn't originally a dance number, either.
06:33Instead, the Deeds family was merely attacked by vines.
06:36The idea to have the Deeds family sing only came later, and according to some reports,
06:40the filmmakers would have used an old R&B song if Catherine O'Hara hadn't suggested
06:44they try Calypso.
06:45Furthermore, the filmmakers also considered an ending where Lydia burns to death, but
06:49they realized that would be the wrong note to end on.
06:52Charlie Kaufman may have an Oscar for writing, but that doesn't mean he always gets his scripts
06:56right on the first go.
06:57Just look at Being John Malkovich.
06:58The original script had an alternate ending that went completely off the deep end.
07:02Kaufman's initial draft went more or less the same as the final movie, until Craig locks
07:06his wife, Lottie, in a cage with her pet chimpanzee.
07:09Just like in the film, the chimpanzee busts her out.
07:12But instead of realizing that she wants to be with Maxine, Lottie professes her undying
07:15love to her chimpanzee.
07:17Rather than stealing the body of John Malkovich and using the actor's fame to promote his
07:20own puppet shows, Craig reveals to the entire world that he is controlling Malkovich.
07:25From there, the ending goes down a bizarre rabbit hole involving a deal with the devil
07:28and a 60-foot Harry Truman puppet.
07:30Ultimately, the filmmakers chose not to go with this ending.
07:33This change was probably for the best.
07:34The ending of the final film still captures the zaniness of the original script.
07:38It also takes time to wrap up each of the characters' arcs.
07:41Only 17 months before the release date of Zootopia, the story team realized they needed
07:45to start from scratch.
07:46But this last-minute pivot paid off.
07:48In the original story, Zootopia was a dystopian place.
07:51Predators like Nick were forced to wear tame collars, which would shock them any time they
07:55felt a predatory urge.
07:56In this version, Nick was the protagonist, while Judy was simply an unsympathetic cop
08:00trying to bring him in.
08:01However, this approach seemed too dark.
08:03The story only started to click when the filmmakers chose to show Judy's perspective.
08:07Along the way, the world of Zootopia became more nuanced, transforming from a dystopian
08:11city into a complicated metropolis full of both good and bad.
08:15And the movie is far better as a result.