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Frozen director admits she wanted to axe Olaf from the film

5 December 2022, 12:30 | Updated: 5 December 2022, 12:36

Olaf was almost cut from Disney's Frozen. Picture: Alamy

The co-director of Disney’s Frozen has said she wanted to cut Olaf the snowman during the production process.

The director of Disney’s Frozen said she wanted to remove Olaf from the production process.

Jennifer Lee is the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and joined the production team while it was already in development.

But after viewing an early cut of the 2013 film, Jennifer said she wasn’t impressed with everyone’s favourite snowman Olaf and wanted him to be taken out of the story.

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“My first note was, ‘kill the snowman’,” she said, before going on to say animator Josh Gad - who also plays the voice of Olaf - managed to change her mind.

Olaf is a much loved character in Frozen. Picture: Alamy

The pair created a three-page script together and she was so impressed with Josh that Olaf’s character was saved.

Frozen has gone on to win two Academy Awards and gross over $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office.

Jennifer recently accepted the distinguished storyteller award from the Los Angeles Press Club at the Arts and Entertainment Journalism awards on Sunday (4th December).

In her speech, she told her colleague Josh that she looked forward to many more creative adventures together.

Frozen is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen (1844) and was also directed by Chris Buck.