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If you've seen Frozen 2, then you'll know the unthinkable happened, and everyone's favorite cuddly snowman Olaf tragically (and temporarily) died near the end of the movie.
It's a tearjerker of a moment, and, as it turns out, the original version was even more upsetting – so much so it had to be toned down after it traumatized the youngsters in the audience.
"Jenn [writer/director Jennifer Lee] and I started recording the dialogue and I couldn't get through it without sobbing. Those first recordings were brutal, and I remember feeling that we were doing something that was going to pack a serious punch," Olaf voice actor Josh Gad wrote in his memoir In Gad We Trust, via Entertainment Weekly.
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But, it was apparently such a serious punch that the kids in test audiences were getting way too distraught. "One of the major issues was that Olaf's death scene was causing absolute havoc with the younger viewers," Gad wrote. "They were apparently sobbing, screaming, and fully traumatized by the extended sequence and the tone of the scene."
Even Disney CEO Bob Iger had thoughts, pointing out that kids relate to Olaf's childlike character. So, eventually, Lee "fought to do an altered version in which Olaf isn't scared, but instead is at peace and comforts Anna before he leaves," Gad explained. "It was one of the lightbulb moments and creatively brilliant pivots that Jenn and the Frozen team are known for at this point." All's well that ends well…
I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film section. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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