For today’s entry into the Freeform’s 30 Days Of Disney, we head to one of the newer Disney Classics, Zootopia, as I try to share some fun trivia I learned from the film makers and stars of the film at a press junket in February of 2016.
10 Things You Might Not Know About Zootopia
- Bigger World Bigger Story – Zootopia changed from one of its initial stories — a spy film set on a single island — to a “bunny cop” mystery set it the massive world.
- Why A Bunny and a Fox – Byron Howard (Co – Director) expressed his love of the early Disney Animated Feature Robin Hood and a fox’s natural prey is, of course, a rabbit.
- Zootopia is BIG – The film has 64 different species in, which is more than some zoos.
- The City is a Character – it wasn’t until the writers and directors started placing habitats as opposed to just a variety of animals that the world of Zootopia fell into place
- Making Animals Human – Co-Writer Phil Johnston pointed out that he felt he brought in more of the human feel to the characters, even to the point where he told the story of one of his relatives asking “how will you handle success when you’ve had so much failure in the past?” which lead to a very funny scene between Judy and her father when she is leaving Bunnyburrow. (Make sure you keep an eye for this scene)
- Animals Have Evolved – When asked about the diets of the animals, with predators and prey all living in harmony, we learned that the inhabitants of Zootopia have moved on to eating insects and plant based proteins.
- A Scarry Inspiration – As a kid Director Rich Moore would read the books of Richard Scarry but could never buy into them so he wanted Zootopia to be more believable.
- A Cynic’s View – Up until a year and a half prior to the films release, Nick Wilde was going to be the lead but the directors felt his view of the world was too cynical and made it hard for the audience to root for the city. Once they put Judy in the driver’s seat and brought Nick in later the film it fixed the entire film.
- A Sly Bunny – Ginnifer Goodwin, Judy Hopps, who is a HUGE Disney fan, accepted the role before knowing the role or seeing a script, she told her agent to “call them back and make it legally binding so they couldn’t back out.”
- NO HUMANS (even close relatives) – Apes and monkeys are not featured in this movie. These animals were intentionally left out of the film as they were too closely related to humans.
Be sure to catch Zootopia and other great Disney films on Freeform’s 30 Days of Disney programming block as it runs throughout the month of September. Zootopia will also be available on Disney+ when the streaming service launches on November 12.