Yahoo Lifestyle Josh Gad Revealed That Olaf Was Almost Entirely Cut From "Frozen," And I Literally Cannot Imagine It Without Him
Josh Gad’s memoir, In Gad We Trust, was released earlier this week, and it’s definitely going into the hall of fame for celebrity autobiography title puns (which is a totally real thing that I didn’t just make up).
While Josh is, of course, known for his work originating the role of Elder Cunningham in the Broadway smash hit The Book Of Mormon, he’s arguably most recognized for voicing everyone’s favorite snowman in Frozen.
In fact, as revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, he’s still asked by other celebrities to do his Olaf voice — even over a decade after the first film’s release in 2013.
“I get a lot of requests to record in odd places,” Josh laughed as the interviewer listed off famous fans like Melissa McCarthy, Adam Sandler, and Sacha Baron Cohen. “Still to this day.”
It’s no secret that Olaf has resonated with kids since he waddled onto our screens. However, in the interview Josh revealed that he nearly wasn’t involved in the Frozen whirlwind at all.
“I only found out recently from Jennifer Lee that the character was almost cut from the film,” Josh stated.
Jennifer Lee, the director of Frozen, Frozen 2, and the upcoming Frozen 3 and 4 (as announced last year by current Disney CEO Bob Iger) was the first woman to direct a feature that grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Frozen 3 is currently in production, and is projected to hit theaters over Thanksgiving weekend in 2027.
Referring to the early development process of Frozen, Josh told ET, “I had done a reading of it years before called Anna and the Snow Queen.”
“It was me, Megan Mullally playing what would become Idina [Menzel]'s character [Elsa], Jason Biggs was the Kristoff character… It was really different,” he added.
“At the time, I played this Olaf character — he was like a henchman to the evil queen,” Josh revealed.
Thankfully, evil Olaf was scrapped. Although I would have loved to hear Josh’s take on it.
“So I did this reading, forgot all about it,” he said. “Cut to two years later, I get a call that this movie’s back and it’s called Frozen now, and the only thing that really remains is this Olaf character,” he concluded.
So it looks like, in the end, everything else about Anna and the Snow Queen got scrapped and Olaf survived. And based on the sequel, threequel, and fourth movie coming out (four-quel?) it looks like Jennifer Lee and Disney made the right choice.
Josh also shared that his daughter, Ava, recognized him instantly in a Frozen preview when she was little — from his laugh alone.
“Just off my laugh, she goes, ‘Da-da? More Da-da?’ and I start weeping,” Josh shared emphatically. “I was like, ‘You know me!’”
Ugh, too adorable. Can you believe there’s gonna be four Frozen movies? My money’s on Disney doing at least eleven — like Fast and Furious. LMK your thoughts below.
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