Meet some popular celebrities in the world of cinema and music who served as inspiration for the most famous animations in the world
Within Disney, it is quite common to find characters that were based on real people. Princess Tiana, for example, was inspired by a former intern in the studio’s post-production department, named Jamie Milnerwhile Ariel was based on a young girl named Alyssa Milanowhich he only discovered when the film was released.
However, it’s not just ordinary everyday people that the company uses as inspiration to create its characters — many of them were based on big movie and music stars too! Meet some.
1. The vultures from “The Jungle Book” | The Beatles
During the 1967 film, we can see the presence of four vultures with very characteristic hair from the 60s. They were inspired by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrisonby the Beatles. Initially, the band had even been invited to dub the characters and sing a song in the production, but this ended up not happening.
2. Snow White | Hedy Lamarr
According to Buzzfeed, the first princess of Disney was based on one of the greatest actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Hedy Lamarr. In addition to having acted in major films, the actress is also known as the “mother of Wi-Fi”, after creating a text message communication system that ended up being used as the basis for the creation of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
3. Aladdin | Tom Cruise
During the documentary “Diamond in the Rough: The Making of Aladdin”, which presents the entire process of creating Aladdin, the animators revealed that, at the request of Jeffrey Katzenbergpresident of Walt Disney Studios at the time, they were based on the actor Tom Cruise for character creation. At the time, Jeffrey would have told them “Guys, you have the Julia Roberts and the Michael J. Fox. They don’t match. You need the Tom Cruise and from Julia Roberts. Yes, they match. You need more Tom Cruise“.
4. Dr. Facilier from “The Princess and the Frog” | Michael Jackson and Usher
The entertainer Bruce W. Smith revealed during a Disney panel that, during his process of creating Dr. Facilier, from “The Princess and the Frog”, he was mainly inspired by singers michael jackson and Usher to develop the animation.
“As I started drawing him, I realized that he had to be really skinny, and that I had to be able to move him all over the screen. I thought about guys like michael jackson and Usherand the movements they would make as they ran across the screen,” he said.
5. Genie from “Aladdin” | Robin Williams
From the beginning of production on Aladdin, the directors Ron Clements and John Musker they wanted the actor Robin Williams participate in the film. And how did they achieve this? Creating a character exclusively for him: the Genie! The inspiration came not only in appearance, but mainly in its characteristics. In the end, the idea worked and robin is the original voice actor for Genie in theaters.
Also read: The Pixar toy that inspired the creation of ‘Toy Story’
Source: Recreio
