Broadcast this evening on M6, “Zootopia” went through many different versions before arriving at the one we know. Back to a sequence, particularly dark and poignant, which was cut from the Disney feature film.
Broadcast this evening on M6, Zootopia is one of the greatest successes in the history of the Disney studios. Released in 2016 and set in the heart of an incredible animal megalopolis, we follow the adventures of fox Nick Wilde, a professional con artist, and rabbit Juddy Hopps, who dreams of leaving her countryside to join the city police.
Endowed with irresistible humor and spectacular inventiveness, Zootopia also offers a deep and mature discourse on life in society, imagining a city where all mammals – whether predators or prey – have exceeded their wild instincts and learned to live in harmony.
A particularly original concept that could have given rise to many different scenarios. Before opting for the story that we know, above all centered on the career of Juddy, the two directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore have indeed considered several other options.
One of them, mentioned in the bonuses of the film, explained to us, for example, how predators had managed to dominate their primary reflexes, and thus found themselves obliged to wear an electric collar around their necks from an early age.
This terrible situation, which the fox Nick Wilde has always experienced, was depicted in a very moving sequence, which was therefore not retained in the final cut of the film:
Walt Disney Animation Studios
“It was a very important scene in the version of the story where Nick was the main character”says director Byron Howard.
“We kept it for a long time, because we found it very poignant. In this version, the predators had to wear “training collars”. It was a rite of passage. At five years old, the parents organized a training party where the child was given the training collar he would wear all his life.”
In this scene – particularly difficult for a Disney classic – Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde try to slip away from pursuers, and find themselves accidentally propelled to the front row of a birthday party: that of a little bear cub. Particularly proud to leave childhood and receive his collar, the young animal realizes that it is now impossible for him to raise his voice without receiving an electric shock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzlRmWC4zf0
“Judy had always heard of these parties, but had never seen one”says director Rich Moore. “It was at a point in history where she and Nick are hiding from mobsters, and she sees for the first time what it’s like for a predator to be given a training collar. And it allows her to to better understand Nick’s plight.”
In this version of the film, centered on this artificial training of predators, Nick Wilde also opened a clandestine amusement park for his congeners. Camouflaged as a dental office, the establishment in question allowed lions, bears, foxes and other predators to take off their collars for a day and roar at will in dizzying rides.
What do you think of this alternative version of Zootopia?
(Re)discover all the hidden details of the Disney film…
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Zootopia: 20 hidden details in the Disney movie
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