The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:35, 15 August 2023

The title card to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Status: Partially Found

The Seven Dwarfs was a planned direct-to-video prequel to the 1937 Walt Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The animated prequel was to be produced by Disney's DisneyToon Studios. It went through a troubled production due to executive meddling and then was cancelled outright by John Lasseter.

History

In the 2000s, DisneyToon Studios began development on a prequel to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that was to focus on the titular dwarfs from the first film. The prequel was to deviate from DisneyToon's previous works as it was to be darker than their other films and also have comedic elements mixed in.^[1] The Seven Dwarfs went through multiple writers and directors before falling into the hands of Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi. Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi's version of the film was to follow the lives of the seven dwarfs until they eventually trap the main villain of the film into a magic mirror which sets up the beginning of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While DisneyToon liked Paul and Gaëtan's pitch, they ultimately decided to take the film into another direction.^[1]

Enter Mike Disa

Looking for new talent to take a shot at The Seven Dwarfs, DisneyToon shifted their attention to director Mike Disa. Disa along with the help of writer Evan Spiliotopoulos began to develop a pitch that would have been DisneyToon's alternative to The Lord of the Rings by going over the long history of the dwarfs and their culture that surrounds them. Disa and Spiliotopoulos envisioned the film to be wildly different compared to the other direct-to-video sequels prior. In a 2013 interview with Animated Views, Mike Disa stated:

"We came up with this idea to turn the idea of a Disney sequel on its ear. We thought, ‘There are good stories worth telling here,’ but just doing the same bland, white bread rehash of the original story didn’t satisfy us artistically. So, because neither of us were particularly worried about finding a job, we decided to try something really, really different."^[1]

Disa's Pitch

Mike Disa's^[1] version of The Seven Dwarfs was to start with Dopey and Grumpy living in a village with other dwarfs until a string of "accidents" occurs, forcing the two dwarfs to go on a journey to the "Old Lands". During their journey, Dopey and Grumpy meet the five remaining dwarfs whom all join the two's journey for their own reasons. During their travels, they are hunted by an evil wizard that leads them to all meet a beautiful young woman named Narcissa. The dwarfs eventually start growing a bond with Narcissa and begin caring for her in the same way they eventually will with Snow White. Unlike Snow White's genuine good nature Narcissa starts showing her true colors as an antagonist by making various bad decisions, but the dwarfs still believe she has good in her heart. Eventually, the party's adventure leads them to the ancient city of Dwarfenholme. It is then revealed in a twist in the third act that the wizard who was hunting everyone down is Narcissa's father. It is also revealed that Narcissa and her father have been using the seven dwarfs in order to access the ancient magical powers of the Olden Dwarf. Narcissa then betrays her own father which leads to his enslavement in the magic mirror as seen in the original Snow White. With her newfound ancient magical powers in hand, Narcissa then turns on the dwarfs. In the climax of the film, Dopey sacrifices himself to save his friends, but the dwarfs find a way to bring him back and escape. The film would have ended with Narcissa dethroning Snow White's father and taking the role of the Evil Queen leading to the seven dwarfs having to hide and protect their families from the Evil Queen's wrath.

Mike Disa and Evan Spiliotopoulos pitched their version of the film to the other staff members at DisneyToon Studios and was met with overwhelming success. During the pitch, gasps and crying from the staff members could be heard. Given the outstanding feedback, Disa and Spiliotopoulos were given the green light to produce the film with free rein.^[1]

Production

After Mike Disa's pitch was greenlit, production on The Seven Dwarfs had officially begun. As production started, Disa would receive occasional suggestions from developmental executives asking for minor changes that would be turned down due to said changes requiring the whole film to be changed.^[1] Despite the suggested changes, the film was going all to plan and hopes were high throughout the studio as the screenplay of the film was passed around to various staff workers at DisneyToon to the point where staff members were sneaking copies of the screenplay to read for themselves.^[1] Development artwork of what the film was to look like was also created by artist Ryan Roberts.^[1] Disa's colleagues had also encouraged him to pitch The Seven Dwarfs to Walt Disney Feature Animation as they felt the film was strong enough to be worked on at Disney's main animation studio. Disa respectfully declined their offer.^[1]

Cancellation

While production on The Seven Dwarfs was still ongoing. Mike Disa held a meeting with his co-workers and DisneyToon executives to show new progress and storyboards of the film. While everyone liked the work being made on the project at first, Disa received a phone call from an executive^[1] requesting to make the character Dopey talk. The exec continued by also stating that the film can stay the same, but to add a reason why Dopey doesn't have the ability to talk. The situation escalated when a meeting was held with Disa and more execs to discuss the Dopey situation. The executives wanted Dopey to have a tragic backstory about him witnessing the death of his mother leading him to become mute in the movie's opening act. The executives also felt that the film's original pitch was "too dark" and wanted a more lighthearted film. Mike Disa disagreed with the executives' notions. The executives needed a response from Disa as they were going to pitch the movie to Disney's chief creative officer at the time, John Lasseter.^[1] The situation then escalated to the point where Mike Disa exclaimed:

"You’re out of your [expletive] mind! I am not walking into John Lasseter’s office and pitching him The Dopey’s Too Emotionally-Scarred To Talk Movie!”^[1]

Another meeting was held a few weeks later about the future of the film's direction. Mike Disa had made the decision to walk away from the project as he didn't want to work on a project that wasn't his anymore. The executive that initially suggested for Dopey to talk had become the new director of The Seven Dwarfs.^[1] The new version of The Seven Dwarfs was then pitched to John Lasseter who then cancelled the project altogether.^[1]^[2]

Availability

On December 17th, 2018, Mike Disa uploaded on his Vimeo account two versions of a pitch trailer for The Seven Dwarfs, which still used the placeholder title Snow White II, slated for a Christmas 2006 release. The full trailer lasts nearly two minutes and is only shown in storyboard form, whereas the other upload shows one minute of it with fully rendered CGI versions of Dopey and Grumpy, omitting the opening and closing sequences.

A third video was uploaded on February 17th, 2019 and shows a 40-second-long clip of the scene where Grumpy and Dopey meet for the first time. To date, this is the only known footage of the movie to surface.

Gallery

The full pitch trailer in storyboard form.

A portion of the trailer, fully rendered.

A storyboard clip of the scene where Grumpy and Dopey meet for the first time.

References

↑ ^1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 An article from Animated Views discussing the production and cancellation of The Seven Dwarfs. Retrieved 17 Jun '19
↑ An article from Jim Hill Media about the cancellation of multiple Disney sequels including The Seven Dwarfs. Retrieved 17 Jun '19

[DisaInterview-1] 1.00 ^1.01 ^1.02 ^1.03 ^1.04 ^1.05 ^1.06 ^1.07 ^1.08 ^1.09 ^1.10 ^1.11 ^1.12 ^1.13 An article from Animated Views discussing the production and cancellation of The Seven Dwarfs. Retrieved 17 Jun '19

[2] An article from Jim Hill Media about the cancellation of multiple Disney sequels including The Seven Dwarfs. Retrieved 17 Jun '19

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ===Enter Mike Disa===
-Looking for new talent to take a shot at ''The Seven Dwarfs'', DisneyToon shifted their attention to director Mike Disa. Disa along with the help of writer Evan Spiliotopoulos began to develop a pitch that would have been  DisneyToon's alternative to ''The Lord of the Rings'' by going over the long history of the dwarfs and their culture that surrounds them. Disa and Spiliotopoulos envisioned the film to be wildly different compared to the other direct-to-video sequels prior. In a 2013 interview with Animated Views, Mike Disa stated: <blockquote> “We came up with this idea to turn the idea of a Disney sequel on its ear. We thought, ‘There are good stories worth telling here,’ but just doing the same bland, white bread rehash of the original story didn’t satisfy us artistically. So, because neither of us were particularly worried about finding a job, we decided to try something really, really different.”<ref name=DisaInterview/></blockquote>
+Looking for new talent to take a shot at ''The Seven Dwarfs'', DisneyToon shifted their attention to director Mike Disa. Disa along with the help of writer Evan Spiliotopoulos began to develop a pitch that would have been  DisneyToon's alternative to ''The Lord of the Rings'' by going over the long history of the dwarfs and their culture that surrounds them. Disa and Spiliotopoulos envisioned the film to be wildly different compared to the other direct-to-video sequels prior. In a 2013 interview with Animated Views, Mike Disa stated: <blockquote>"We came up with this idea to turn the idea of a Disney sequel on its ear. We thought, ‘There are good stories worth telling here,’ but just doing the same bland, white bread rehash of the original story didn’t satisfy us artistically. So, because neither of us were particularly worried about finding a job, we decided to try something really, really different."<ref name=DisaInterview/></blockquote>
 ===Disa's Pitch===
-Mike Disa's<ref name=DisaInterview/> version of ''The Seven Dwarfs'' was to start with Dopey and Grumpy living in a village with other dwarfs until a string of "accidents" occurs, forcing the two dwarfs to go on a journey to the "Old Lands". During their journey, Dopey and Grumpy meet the five remaining dwarfs whom all join the two's journey for their own reasons. During their travels, they are hunted by an evil wizard that leads them to all meet a beautiful young woman named Narcissa. The dwarfs eventually start growing a bond with Narcissa and begin caring for her in the same way they eventually will with Snow White. Unlike Snow White's genuine good nature Narcissa starts showing her true colors as an antagonist by making various bad decisions, but the dwarfs still believe she has good in her heart. Eventually, the party's adventure leads them to the ancient city of Dwarfenholme. It is then revealed in a twist in the third act that the wizard who was hunting everyone down is Narcissa's father. It is also revealed that Narcissa and her father have been using the seven dwarfs in order to access the ancient magical powers of the Olden Dwarf. Narcissa then betrays her own father which leads to his enslavement in the magic mirror as seen in the original ''Snow White''. With her newfound ancient magical powers in hand, Narcissa then turns on the dwarfs. In the climax of the film, Dopey sacrifices himself to save his friends, but the dwarfs find a way to bring him back and escape. The film would have ended with Narcissa dethroning Snow White's father and taking the role as the Evil Queen leading to the seven dwarfs having to hide and protect their families from the Evil Queen's wrath.
+Mike Disa's<ref name=DisaInterview/> version of ''The Seven Dwarfs'' was to start with Dopey and Grumpy living in a village with other dwarfs until a string of "accidents" occurs, forcing the two dwarfs to go on a journey to the "Old Lands". During their journey, Dopey and Grumpy meet the five remaining dwarfs whom all join the two's journey for their own reasons. During their travels, they are hunted by an evil wizard that leads them to all meet a beautiful young woman named Narcissa. The dwarfs eventually start growing a bond with Narcissa and begin caring for her in the same way they eventually will with Snow White. Unlike Snow White's genuine good nature Narcissa starts showing her true colors as an antagonist by making various bad decisions, but the dwarfs still believe she has good in her heart. Eventually, the party's adventure leads them to the ancient city of Dwarfenholme. It is then revealed in a twist in the third act that the wizard who was hunting everyone down is Narcissa's father. It is also revealed that Narcissa and her father have been using the seven dwarfs in order to access the ancient magical powers of the Olden Dwarf. Narcissa then betrays her own father which leads to his enslavement in the magic mirror as seen in the original ''Snow White''. With her newfound ancient magical powers in hand, Narcissa then turns on the dwarfs. In the climax of the film, Dopey sacrifices himself to save his friends, but the dwarfs find a way to bring him back and escape. The film would have ended with Narcissa dethroning Snow White's father and taking the role of the Evil Queen leading to the seven dwarfs having to hide and protect their families from the Evil Queen's wrath.
 Mike Disa and Evan Spiliotopoulos pitched their version of the film to the other staff members at DisneyToon Studios and was met with overwhelming success. During the pitch, gasps and crying from the staff members could be heard. Given the outstanding feedback, Disa and Spiliotopoulos were given the green light to produce the film with free rein.<ref name=DisaInterview/>
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 While production on ''The Seven Dwarfs'' was still ongoing. Mike Disa held a meeting with his co-workers and DisneyToon executives to show new progress and storyboards of the film. While everyone liked the work being made on the project at first, Disa received a phone call from an executive<ref name=DisaInterview/> requesting to make the character Dopey talk. The exec continued by also stating that the film can stay the same, but to add a reason why Dopey doesn't have the ability to talk. The situation escalated when a meeting was held with Disa and more execs to discuss the Dopey situation. The executives wanted Dopey to have a tragic backstory about him witnessing the death of his mother leading him to become mute in the movie's opening act. The executives also felt that the film's original pitch was "too dark" and wanted a more lighthearted film. Mike Disa disagreed with the executives' notions. The executives needed a response from Disa as they were going to pitch the movie to Disney's chief creative officer at the time, John Lasseter.<ref name=DisaInterview/> The situation then escalated to the point where Mike Disa exclaimed: <blockquote>"You’re out of your [expletive] mind! I am not walking into John Lasseter’s office and pitching him ''The Dopey’s Too Emotionally-Scarred To Talk Movie!''”<ref name=DisaInterview/></blockquote>
-Another meeting was held a few weeks later about the future of the film's direction. Mike Disa had made the decision to walk away from the project as he didn't want to work on a project that wasn't his anymore. The executive that initially suggested for Dopey to talk had become the new director of ''The Seven Dwarfs''.<ref name=DisaInterview/> The new version of ''The Seven Dwarfs'' was then pitched to John Lasseter who then canceled the project altogether.<ref name=DisaInterview/><ref>[http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2007/06/21/say-so-long-to-direct-to-video-sequels-disneytoon-studios-tunes-out-sharon-morrill.aspx An article from Jim Hill Media about the cancellation of multiple Disney sequels including ''The Seven Dwarfs''.] Retrieved 17 Jun '19</ref> None of the production material from ''The Seven Dwarfs'' up until cancellation have surfaced online. It is also unknown if any material from the project will surface.
+Another meeting was held a few weeks later about the future of the film's direction. Mike Disa had made the decision to walk away from the project as he didn't want to work on a project that wasn't his anymore. The executive that initially suggested for Dopey to talk had become the new director of ''The Seven Dwarfs''.<ref name=DisaInterview/> The new version of ''The Seven Dwarfs'' was then pitched to John Lasseter who then cancelled the project altogether.<ref name=DisaInterview/><ref>[http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2007/06/21/say-so-long-to-direct-to-video-sequels-disneytoon-studios-tunes-out-sharon-morrill.aspx An article from Jim Hill Media about the cancellation of multiple Disney sequels including ''The Seven Dwarfs''.] Retrieved 17 Jun '19</ref>
 ==Availability==
-On December 17th 2018, Mike Disa uploaded on his Vimeo account two versions of a pitch trailer for ''The Seven Dwarfs'', which still used the placeholder title ''Snow White II'', slated for a Christmas 2006 release. The full trailer lasts nearly two minutes and is only shown in storyboard form, whereas the other upload shows one minute of it with fully rendered CGI versions of Dopey and Grumpy, ommiting the opening and closing sequences.
+On December 17th, 2018, Mike Disa uploaded on his Vimeo account two versions of a pitch trailer for ''The Seven Dwarfs'', which still used the placeholder title ''Snow White II'', slated for a Christmas 2006 release. The full trailer lasts nearly two minutes and is only shown in storyboard form, whereas the other upload shows one minute of it with fully rendered CGI versions of Dopey and Grumpy, omitting the opening and closing sequences.
-A third video was uploaded on February 17th 2019 and shows a 40 second-long clip of the scene where Grumpy and Dopey meet for the first time. To date this is the only known footage of the movie to surface, albeit in storyboard form.
+A third video was uploaded on February 17th, 2019 and shows a 40-second-long clip of the scene where Grumpy and Dopey meet for the first time. To date, this is the only known footage of the movie to surface.
 ==Gallery==
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
    |description3 =A storyboard clip of the scene where Grumpy and Dopey meet for the first time.
 }}
+==See Also==
+===Advertisements===
+*[[The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)]]
+===Animation (Disney)===
+*[[Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)]]
+*[[Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)]]
+*[[American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)]]
+*[[The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)]]
+*[[Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)]]
+*[[Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)]]
+*[[Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)]]
+*[[Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)]]
+*[[Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)]]
+*[[Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)]]
+*[[Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)]]
+*[[Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)]]
+*[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)]]
+*[[Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)]]
+*[[Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)]]
+*[[My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)]]
+*[[Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)]]
+*[[The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)]]
+*[[Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)]]
+*[[Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)]]
+*[[Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)]]
+*[[Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)]]
+*[[Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)]]
+===Animation (Pixar)===
+*[[A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)]]
+*[[The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)]]
+*[[Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)]]
+*[[Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)]]
+*[[Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)]]
+*[[Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)]]
+*[[Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)]]
+*[[WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)]]
+===Audio===
+*[[Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)]]
+*[[Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)]]
+*[[Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)]]
+*[[The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)]]
+===Live Action===
+*[[101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)]]
+*[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)]]
+*[[Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)]]
+*[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)]]
+*[[Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)]]
+===Short Films===
+*[[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)]]
+*[[Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)]]
+*[[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)]]
+*[[Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)]]
+*[[Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)]]
+*[[Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)]]
+*[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)]]
+*[[Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)]]
+*[[The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)]]
+*[[Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)]]
+*[[Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)]]
+*[[Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)]]
+*[[Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)]]
 ==External Links==
-*[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Seven_Dwarfs An article from the Disney FANDOM wiki about ''The Seven Dwarfs''.] Retrieved 17 Jun '19
+*[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Seven_Dwarfs An article from the Disney FANDOM wiki about ''The Seven Dwarfs''.]
-*[https://metro.co.uk/2016/04/03/did-you-know-disney-once-planned-a-prequel-to-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-5793091/ A 2016 article from Metro.co.uk discussing ''The Seven Dwarfs''.] Retrieved 17 Jun '19
+*[https://metro.co.uk/2016/04/03/did-you-know-disney-once-planned-a-prequel-to-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-5793091/ A 2016 article from Metro.co.uk discussing ''The Seven Dwarfs''.]
 ==References==