DVDizzy Forum

Here is another interesting fact about the casting for This movie. After Jack Nicholson demands a CRAZY amount of money and half of all the profit from Hades merchandise( Ironic thers is an actually joke in the real movie by Hades no the less about just merchandise ). Disney refused to hire him and bouch of other actors for the part. John Lithgow from Terms of Endearment (1983) hasepart for a couple of months and recorded a large amount of dialogue but was also let go. After That Broadway actor Ron Silver, Oscar Winner James Coburn, Pefressional movie Villain Kevin Spacey ,SNL member Phil Hartman,and Famous Hollywood Star Rod Steiger,Canadian actor Michael Ironside( Scanners) Broadway’s original Beast Terrence Mann,and Martin Landau from Ed Wood all test for the Hades rol. But James Wood’s voice performance was BY FAR the one John and Ron liked the MOST !

Despite James Woods having gone off the deep end in recent years, I'm still glad he was cast as the character. John Lithgow would've been horrible... I like him, but no. Kevin Spacey would be an even bigger problem right now than James Woods. Aside from Jim Cummings, I don't think any of Disney's voice talent has been accused of or been proven to have committed sexual harassment or assault, have they? I wonder if Disney would try to hide the film in question if something like that happened to a celebrity behind one of their iconic characters....

I think Ed Asner could've been a good Phil, too, but I'm glad we got Danny Devito there as well.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Aside from Jim Cummings, I don't think any of Disney's voice talent has been accused of or been proven to have committed sexual harassment or assault, have they?

James Woods has been accused of propositioning high school girls.

https://variety.com/2017/film/news/ambe ... 202557447/
https://twitter.com/justkelly_ok/status ... 0054947840

The James Woods stuff has been out for a while and he's truly a disgusting man. To think there were people who felt Demi Moore was too adult to voice a Disney character but they had no problem with human filth like Woods.

Sotiris wrote: James Woods has been accused of propositioning high school girls.

https://variety.com/2017/film/news/ambe ... 202557447/
https://twitter.com/justkelly_ok/status ... 0054947840

So not much different than Kevin Spacey then. I wonder why I've heard so much more about Spacey... It's sad, I used to be fans of both Woods and Spacey. :/

In swedish Hades and the Genie has the same voice actor , Dan Ekborg a famous stage and screen star. I have seen him live the time myself ! the latest time was last years as Tevye in the stocholm revial of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Ekborg is an AMAZING ACTOR !

^ In a few threads, you've posted that the same actors have voiced different characters (like in English, Jim Cummings, David Ogden Stiers, etc). In the Swedish movies, are the voices unique enough to each character, where you're not thinking "That's Genie!" when you're watching Hercules, for example?

I will ALWAYS be grateful to this movie And it's spin off cartoon because those are the reason i have lifelong interest greek mythology which i turn lead to discover among orher things the Precy Jackson books and the Muiscal Hadestwon.

So i thank this movie and it's tv show !

Thanks to this i ofteb sate in read my high school arrteacher’s Book About greek mythology in thr art room while in high School( Well this Swedish equivalent of High School )

I personally prefer the TV series over the movie.

willard wrote:I personally prefer the TV series over the movie.

It funnier, but on the other hand , the tv show dodn’t have Danny DeVito

Is it really true James Woods is a rapist ?

I am so amazed Phil Hartman !! of all people auditioned for Hades !!

That would certinaly have been something

Other people who read for the role ware Ron Silver, James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Terrence Mann and Martin Landau.

That's some great actors .

Sill James Woods was GREAT and if they had cast any of these they might not have returned for the tv show.

At least James Coburn got to voice another Disney Villain !

blackcauldron85 wrote:^ In a few threads, you've posted that the same actors have voiced different characters (like in English, Jim Cummings, David Ogden Stiers, etc). In the Swedish movies, are the voices unique enough to each character, where you're not thinking "That's Genie!" when you're watching Hercules, for example?

Dan Ekborg, Swedish voice actor for the Genie and Hades. He does a great performance in both roles, but it is the same voice (his regular voice) for both characters so if you are a Swedish Disney voice actor fan you hear that Hades sounds like the Genie from Aladdin but with an evil touch of course.
Swedish Disney fans likes to make fan made videos and mix Hades' voice with clips of the Genie.

In Hebrew we have the same voice actor for Aladdin, Simba and Quasimodo and others... and the same voice actor for Jafar, Scar and Frollo.

Weirdly we had four different actresses that played Ariel - one for the original film, one for the second (she also did Jasmine and others...), one for the third (which also did Mother Gothel, Aurora and the singing for Snow White), and one for the TV show (which also did Rapunzel and Moana).

I guess it depends on the actors. There are some who sound quite different when they voice different characters and others that you can easily identify as the voice of another one/other ones. In Spain, for example, the same actor voices Lumière, Pumbaa, Ratcliffe and Mr. Potato and it's not easy to guess it's the same voice. While the same actress voices Jasmine, Nala, Pocahontas and Esmeralda here (plus Anastasia and Odette) and it's more noticeable in that case. However, at least to me, usually you notice it at first, but then when you're invested in the movie you forget about it.

I saw this film again the other day and it made me realize that this film is extremely cynical and I never really noticed this before, what comes to my mind is the scene where Meg goes to the woods and then woodland creatures appear as if they came from Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, then they start talking as if they are from Loony Toons and then it turns out to be Pain and Panic. It stood out to me cause that's something that Walt would have never done in his films, but there were other moments, but overall most of the characters are cynical: Hades, Meg, Phil, Pegasus. Hercules seems to be the only one who's sincere, which would have been fine if I found him to be somewhat interesting and relatable (I blame this on his unclear motivation). I don't know why they chose to go that route since I didn't think Aladdin was like that even though it had humor, it's just that the humor there mostly came from the Genie and it was more of an uplifting humor and less cynical, and the Genie had his sincere moments as well. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Aladdin is considered a Classic more than Hercules is.
What do you think?

The voice Jasmine omn Swedish also voices Meg in this movie anbd she took over the role of Ariel around the time The Little Mermaid 2 was released.

farerb wrote:I saw this film again the other day and it made me realize that this film is extremely cynical and I never really noticed this before, what comes to my mind is the scene where Meg goes to the woods and then woodland creatures appear as if they came from Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, then they start talking as if they are from Loony Toons and then it turns out to be Pain and Panic. It stood out to me cause that's something that Walt would have never done in his films, but there were other moments, but overall most of the characters are cynical: Hades, Meg, Phil, Pegasus. Hercules seems to be the only one who's sincere, which would have been fine if I found him to be somewhat interesting and relatable (I blame this on his unclear motivation). I don't know why they chose to go that route since I didn't think Aladdin was like that even though it had humor, it's just that the humor there mostly came from the Genie and it was more of an uplifting humor and less cynical, and the Genie had his sincere moments as well. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Aladdin is considered a Classic more than Hercules is.
What do you think?

Perhaps because Musker and Clements were basically forced into making it, their heart wasn't really in it and that shows up in the final project? It's just a strange product in itself, interesting but still strange, where all the ingredients that make it are so mismatched (source material, visual design, celebrity/pop culture humor, gospel music) yet they still somehow work.

I recently read a Disney review thread on another forum and there are some posts that touch upon what you wrote about Hercules the character:

That said I do have to first get an early disappointment I had in the film out of the way, much as I loved it then and still enjoy it now, and it's this: the initial character of Hercules that was presented to me in the earliest trailers made for a much more interesting character than what we ultimately saw in the finished product. The early trailers portayed Herc as something of a bumbling, self-absorbed egotistical type hero having comic misadventures, and I was really looking forward to that type of portrayal, a "Gaston who learns a lesson" if you will. What we got in the actual film is just another pining, honest hero soul-searching for his place in the world. I think he could have done with a few more arrogant, musclehead character flaws to ironically make him more likeable.

and:

I liked Hercules a lot as a kid but the plot really goes nowhere. Hercules doesn't really sell me on the hero's arc. He is constantly relying on borrowed power to accomplish his goals, using god-like strength to defeat enemies and Zeus' influence to get access to a legendary mentor. He has the epic training montage, and then proceeds to beat up a bunch of monsters to be a hero. Then comes the plot revelation where Zeus shakes his head and reveals that beating up lots of monsters is great, but it isn't what makes you a hero.

This seems like it would be the plot hook for the final act where Hercules has some sort of epiphany or revelation about what true heroism is. But it never really happens, in part because his so-called "mentor" doesn't seem to actually appreciate or understand true heroism and thus can't impart any useful knowledge, but also because Hercules never really makes any effort to dig deeper or discover anything new about himself. The plot point of him losing his powers could have been a great way to explore this, forcing Hercules to save the day on his own merits instead of his god-given gifts. But in the end he just gets his powers back and uses those to save the day. Then he just sort of stumbles into the secret of true heroism in the ending doing what he would have done anyway.

and also:

The pacing's weird, the story structure is weird, the whole heroes as celebrities thing is weird. The whole thing is emotionally distancing and you never feel for the characters. The ending with Herc's sacrifice is just eh and you never feel for the guy or his struggle(?). The only bit that works at all is Won't Say I'm In Love. I think it's because the movie finally slows down to spend time with a character.

Source: https://www.talking-time.net/showthread ... 08&page=12

I can't say I really disagree but I still enjoy the movie.

I like the film for what it is, even though it's messy. I get why people love it and I also get why people don't.
I saw The Emperor's New Groove and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it more than Hercules to be honest, I know it had a troubled production, but I feel like not adhering to the Renaissance plot elements did help it in the end even if it doesn't feel "Disney". I feel like sticking to that comedic aspect instead of making it yet another Disney epic is what eventually led to a solid good comedy, and somehow I feel like that might have been Hercules' problem - putting so much that eventually the film couldn't hold its own weight. Unfortunately Musker and Clements did it again with The Princess and the Frog, especially with the convoluted plot and the poor protagonist - antagonist dynamic.
Anyway, I still like Hercules, it's still fun and funny despite its problems.

Mooky wrote:

I liked Hercules a lot as a kid but the plot really goes nowhere. Hercules doesn't really sell me on the hero's arc. He is constantly relying on borrowed power to accomplish his goals, using god-like strength to defeat enemies and Zeus' influence to get access to a legendary mentor. He has the epic training montage, and then proceeds to beat up a bunch of monsters to be a hero. Then comes the plot revelation where Zeus shakes his head and reveals that beating up lots of monsters is great, but it isn't what makes you a hero.

This seems like it would be the plot hook for the final act where Hercules has some sort of epiphany or revelation about what true heroism is. But it never really happens, in part because his so-called "mentor" doesn't seem to actually appreciate or understand true heroism and thus can't impart any useful knowledge, but also because Hercules never really makes any effort to dig deeper or discover anything new about himself. The plot point of him losing his powers could have been a great way to explore this, forcing Hercules to save the day on his own merits instead of his god-given gifts. But in the end he just gets his powers back and uses those to save the day. Then he just sort of stumbles into the secret of true heroism in the ending doing what he would have done anyway.

Forgive me for shooting off-topic here, but this reminds me of a criticism of My Hero Academia I'd read that you'd think Izuku would end up proving his worth without powers rather than being given powers later. The idea is interesting, but I'm not sure I'd really want to see it really (in MHA or Hercules)? As they point out, the ultimate focus of the plot is on how being a hero is what the motivation is (and possibly the sacrifices you're willing to make), not really whether you solve the problem with brain or brawn.

I kind of felt the same way about the Gaston idea. It's hard for me to remember that far back, but I can imagine how some would have expected that kind of film for Hercules. That said, I like that Hercules himself is more pure and that he wears down the cynical world around him. That idea of a Gaston-type hero reminds me sort of what we got with Flynn later. Not that it's not one worth exploring, I've just seen so many films with conceited heroes who have to be taken down a peg by the end.* Although, admittedly, Hercules would've come before most of those if it had featured that kind of story. I actually agree that the film is "weird" in the sense that it's such a hodgepodge of many discordant things, but I don't agree with that last quote though in regards to pacing / structure or the heroes-as-celebs aspect with all the merchandise and so on.

* That was actually a common Renaissance trope, of men being "enlightened" by a female character. It's actually interesting to see it in reverse with Megara being changed and overcoming her faults because of Hercules.