50 Fun Facts About The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Who wrote the 1831 novel that Disney's Hunchback is loosely based on?

His descendants later complained in an open letter to Libération that his name was missing from the film's posters.

Which duo directed Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Katzenberg recruited them by telling them Menken and Schwartz were on board, and recruited Menken and Schwartz by saying the reverse.

Who voices Quasimodo?

He was cast after his first audition and was allowed to do his own singing after a demo of Out There.

Which actress voices Esmeralda's speaking part?

She was cast for a voice deeper than previous Disney heroines, but after several singing demos told Menken and Schwartz to get someone else.

Who provides Esmeralda's singing voice?

She was a New York City cabaret singer when she was picked for the job.

Which actor voices Judge Claude Frollo?

He called the part his bid for immortality; he had been cast on the strength of a brief turn as Monsieur D'Arque in Beauty and the Beast.

Which actor voices the captain of Frollo's guard?

The filmmakers modelled the character on Errol Flynn and John Wayne, and he and Demi Moore were the only actors offered roles outright without auditioning.

Which character narrates the film to a group of children?

The puppeteer leader of the Roma opens with The Bells of Notre Dame; Paul Kandel got the part after the directors saw him as Uncle Ernie in The Who's Tommy.

What are the names of Quasimodo's three gargoyle friends?

Two honour the novelist; the third was named for Andrews Sisters singer LaVerne Andrews at Kirk Wise's suggestion.

Why did Disney's lawyers reject the gargoyle names Chaney, Laughton and Quinn?

The names honoured the three actors who had played Quasimodo in earlier films; the directors' fallback of Lon, Charles and Anthony had the same problem.

Which pop singer was the first actor cast, only to be released after test screenings?

She thought she had won Esmeralda, learned she was a gargoyle, and was eventually judged too youthful to be Quasimodo's wise counsel.

Which performer's death in 1995 meant Jane Withers had to record six remaining gargoyle lines?

Laverne was her final acting performance; she died at 85, a year before the film came out.

Jason Alexander was cast as Hugo largely because of his role in which earlier Disney production?

Katzenberg had also considered Arsenio Hall, David Letterman and Jay Leno for the gargoyles.

Which two stars did Katzenberg want for a rock-opera Hunchback?

Talks with Meat Loaf's record company collapsed, and the rock-opera idea went with them.

Which Broadway star walked out of his Quasimodo audition saying he could not do it?

Trousdale drew a cartoon of the episode titled The Patinkin Incident; Schwartz called it Battleship Patinkin. He played Quasimodo in a 1997 TV film instead.

Which actor declined Frollo, though his Hannibal Lecter dialogue was used in an animation test?

He had received a formal offer before turning the role down.

Which two releases outsold Hunchback on home video in 1997?

It sold 12.5 million VHS units and the tape's operating income reached $200 million by mid-1998.

What inspired David Stainton to suggest adapting Hugo's novel?

He pitched it to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who then assembled the creative team.

Which Disney executive interrupted the story pitch with the quip A time of Euro Disney?

Art director David Goetz had just intoned 14th century Europe, a dark and dreary time, a time of hopelessness.

How long was the production team's October 1993 research trip to Paris?

Three of those days were spent inside Notre-Dame, and Schwartz finished the lyrics of Out There in the bell tower itself.

Which song's lyrics were written inside Notre-Dame's bell tower during the research trip?

Schwartz arranged access before public hours and climbed alone to the tower with a notepad.

In Hugo's novel, what is Frollo's position?

Disney feared an evil clergyman would antagonise Christian groups, so Frollo became a judge and a separate Archdeacon character was created.

Which Schindler's List performance did Don Hahn cite as an inspiration for Frollo?

Kirk Wise said the team also drew historical parallels from the Confederate South and Nazi Germany.

Tab Murphy's early drafts cast Quasimodo as what kind of figure?

The idea of him secretly facilitating Phoebus and Esmeralda's romance gave way to a love triangle that foregrounded his own loss.

Which pair of writers, fresh from rewriting The Lion King, were brought onto the script?

Tzudiker and White followed with further rewrites, and Schwartz chipped in on story as well as songs.

Which French sibling animators storyboarded The Bells of Notre Dame opening?

Burny Mattinson's original exposition sequence felt incomplete to Katzenberg until Schwartz suggested setting it to music.

What did the animators name the Glendale warehouse the production moved into?

Most of the team had been tied up on The Lion King and Pocahontas, so extra animators were hired from Canada and the UK.

Roughly what share of the film was animated at Walt Disney Animation Paris?

The Paris studio conferred with Burbank over video-conference dailies; the Florida studio also contributed about four minutes.

What was the name of the software built to animate the Festival of Fools masses?

Inspired by The Lion King's wildebeest stampede, it built six character types with 72 programmed movements.

How many specific movements were the CGI crowd characters programmed with?

The characters came in six body types, ranging from jumping to clapping, for the Feast of Fools and the climax.

What rating did the film receive on its first submission to the MPAA?

The board cited Frollo sniffing Esmeralda's hair and the word sin in Hellfire; Hahn toned down the sniff and buried the word under sound effects.

Which story artist conceived the hair-sniffing scene that worried the ratings board?

She noted the irony that two women were responsible for the film's most provocative moment, since Kathy Zielinski animated it.

Which Latin prayer is woven into Hellfire as a counter-melody?

Many of the film's songs adapt genuine Latin chants; the words God, Lord and Hell are said more often here than in any other Disney film.

Who wrote the lyrics to the Hunchback songs, with Alan Menken composing?

The two had just spent a year on Pocahontas and chose Hunchback for its themes of the social outcast.

Which song, cut from the film, ended up in the end credits?

All-4-One sang it for North America, Eternal for the UK, and Luis Miguel's Spanish version became a major hit.

Which R&B group sang the end-credits song for the North American release?

The British girl group Eternal covered it for the UK release.

Which Latin singer's end-credits recording became a major hit?

His recording was made for the Latin American Spanish release.

In which year is the film set?

Clopin opens the story in a Paris where Frollo is Minister of Justice and the Roma are being hunted.

What does the pendant Esmeralda gives Quasimodo contain?

Frollo later bluffs that he already knows the hideout's location, and follows Quasimodo and Phoebus straight to it.

Who saves Quasimodo when he and Frollo fall from the ledge in the climax?

Frollo plummets to his death while Quasimodo is caught, and the people of Paris then hail the bell-ringer as a hero.

Where did The Hunchback of Notre Dame have its premiere?

It played on six enormous screens after a parade through the French Quarter from Jackson Square.

Which film beat Hunchback to the top spot on its opening weekend?

The $21.3 million opening ran a little behind Pocahontas, and Disney even counted tickets sold in Disney Stores to pad the number.

Where did Hunchback rank among the highest-grossing films of 1996?

It took just over $100 million domestically but $225 million overseas, beating Pocahontas internationally.

Which critic called it the best Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast?

He gave it four stars; Maslin at the New York Times countered that there was no way to delight children with a feel-good version of this story.

Which Russian author accused the film of vulgarising Hugo's novel?

His complaint was that Esmeralda got a happy ending and blissful marriage instead of a tragic demise.

Which religious body voted in June 1996 to urge a boycott of Disney?

The protest was really about Disney's domestic-partner policy, though Trousdale said they were also upset by Demi Moore's Striptease.

In which city did the stage musical Der Glöckner von Notre Dame open in 1999?

Re-written and directed by James Lapine, it ran until 2002; an English revival opened in San Diego in 2014.

Which singer-actress's new song pushed back the direct-to-video sequel?

She, Haley Joel Osment and Michael McKean voiced new characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, released in 2002.

Which actor-producer was floated in 2019 to play Quasimodo in a live-action remake?

Announced in 2019 with a David Henry Hwang script, the project stalled; Menken asked whether you could do a Hunchback without Hellfire.

Which Kingdom Hearts game features a world based on the film, La Cité des Cloches?

The name translates as The City of Bells.