With the new cast of Notre Dame de Paris I wanted something Notre Dame de Paris for Fan-art Friday and then I found this;
Drawing by deppangel818
I think this is perfect! I especially love Phoebus and Gringoire.
With the new cast of Notre Dame de Paris I wanted something Notre Dame de Paris for Fan-art Friday and then I found this;
Drawing by deppangel818
I think this is perfect! I especially love Phoebus and Gringoire.
So I had said the Robert Marien, Matt Laurent, and Myriam Brousseau were in the World Tour Cast but it seems that they are in the Asian Tour 2011-2012 Cast. I Suppose with two English Tour cast information get a little confusing. Or Perhaps I’m Waaay off and was wrong about a World Tour.
Anyway here is the Cast of the 2011 Asian Tour Cast
Confirmed Cast (Source) and (Source)
Quasimodo – Matt Laurent
Esmeralda – Candice Parise
Frollo – Robert Marien
Gringoire – Dennis Ten Vergert
Phoebus – Stephen Webb
Clopin – Ian Carlyle
Fleur de Lys – Lilly-Jane Young
Alternates
Quasimodo/Frollo – Nigel Richards
Gringoire/Phoebus – Tim Driesen (Source)
Esmeralda/Fleur de Lys – Myriam Brousseau (Source)
Quasimodo/Clopin -Marc Akinfolarin
Unconfirmed
According to Twitter posts, Rachel Muldoon and Tom Muggeridge are in cast, my guess is that they maybe dancers but I don’t know, some how they’re are linked with the cast.
EDIT 6/25/12
There is a World Tour. It Starts October 31th in Russia. Tour will be English.
(((I’m sorry I got it wrong, but I’ll post something when (and if) and cast news is released on the 2012-2013 cast unless the Asian Tour is in fact the tour that General Entertaiment Associates meant and if that’s the case, why did the say it would be 2012-2013 when the Asian Tour only going to last for a reported 8-9 months? My guess is that the Asian Tour is the Tour Cast and General Entertaiment should have been more clear in their write up. But still it would be cool to have a world tour of Notre Dame de Paris)))
Given how every facet of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame is different from the original novel
, there aren’t that many minor differences. However there a few;
The Good Guys lives. Yeah, this isn’t a big differences. Most film adaptations let the leads live. It is interesting that Esmeralda is really only spared because she is sentence to burn instead of hanging. If she had hanged the scene would have been less dramtic. So another minor difference is all the fire imagery including Esmeralda on the stake. Also in letting the character live it takes away the theme of “Ananke” (simply meaning Death Destiny) Ananke is the word that book is based off of. However it’s only been features in like two adaptations and beside this movie is about how we “not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within” no wait that’s Beauty and the Beast…. no it’s the same in Hunchback of the Notre Dame. Stupid Disney morals ruining their movies.
Another minor difference is the lack of Gringoire. Gringoire in the book was a cowardly poet who runs off with Djali. He also acts like a story teller and the voice of author. In Disney, Gringoire is divided between Clopin and Phoebus. It’s a minor difference because when it comes to cutting characters out Gringoire is seldom cut. Phoebus is the one to get diminished over Gringoire.
There is just so many differences between Disney and the book that to write these posts has been mind boggling. I could just have an entire blog about the differences and it would probably last a good long time. Because let’s face Disney didn’t re-tell Hugo’s story they retold the 1939 version. Then they got 18 people to collaborate on the story who may not have even seen the Charles Laughton version or read the book. This is why Esmeralda is impressed with Quasimodo’s space and not with Phoebus’ name (in the book she loved his name) , why Quasimodo builds models instead ringing his bells, and why Frollo is more obsessed with fire than Esmeralda. If you read the book and then watch the Disney you would know that this movie has very little in common with book. The only things that are correct are names and the settings. That’s it but in regards to the setting Disney may have got the place right but Notre Dame role in this movie is very much twisted.
Next Time -Disney’s Norte Dame Prison or Sanctuary?
In all seriousness Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame really only has the basic premise of the original novel
. All the characters differ in attitudes and backstorys. The way the story unfolds and comes to its conclusion is different because of the characters.
The biggest difference is the Characters;
In making Frollo a judge and not a priest we loss his turmoil which makes Frollo an interesting and complex character. I really don’t care as much about his lust and obsession for Esmeralda just because he hate Gypsies. Also in the book, his obsession occurs slowly. He sees her and is instantly taken by her youthful beauty. After that he begins stalking her and by kidnapping her he forces the the plot to take action. In the Disney movie, Quasimodo doesn’t have the some loyalty and Frollo abuses him by telling him he’s a monster and keeps him locked in the tower. In the book Frollo did no such thing and Quasimodo could leave Notre Dame if he wished.
Quasimodo in the Disney movie is very much like Ariel. He wants to live with the normal people. He is very naive, kind and gentle. In the book, Quasimodo is kind and loyal to those who have been kind to him i.e Frollo and Esmeralda. However, Quasimodo is also angry and doesn’t really like people. He would never want to leave Notre Dame as Notre Dame is his universe. He loves Notre Dame so much that he is very much a part of it and his lovers are bells. The relationship between Quasimodo and Notre Dame is destroyed in the Disney version as Notre Dame is not so much a sanctuary but a prison. Also in the movie Disney he briefly mentions the bell but you don’t get the sense that he loves the bells. I also don’t see this Quasimodo killing Frollo in fit of rage or lying down next to Esmeralda to die.
Esmeralda is the polar opposition between Disney movie and the book. In the book she is at least part French and is young, beautiful, naive, shallow, childish and kind of dumb. In the Disney movie, while she is beautiful, she has none of the other traits, though the youth is debatable. She is confident and is in control of her sexual appeal. In the Disney version she is a full Gypsy and we are never given any sense of her backstory. In the book she was unaware of her beauty and she lacks any worldliness. This naivety is what gets her into trouble in the book and ultimately is what kills her and not a passion for social justice.
Phoebus in the book is a jerk who is kind of dumb and just wants to sleep with pretty girls. Also he is two-timing cheat, who despite being engaged he tries sleeps with every good-looking girl he can. In the Disney version is he is noble, moral and likes to crack bad jokes. Not like book Phoebus at all.
Clopin in the book in the leader of the Court of Miracles, not the Gypsies. The Leader of the Gypsy in the book was the Duke of Egypt. Typically, the leader of the Court of Miracles and the Leader of the Gypsy get fused into one which is Clopin. That’s a minor issue. Compared to Frollo, Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Phoebus; Disney Clopin’s differences are not so bad. He tells stories like Gringoiore (a character in book) and is the leader of the Court of Miracles; he’s two characters in one, or three.
Djali in the Disney movie is a pretty minor character who doesn’t do anything other than add some charm and humor. In the book however Djali is pretty essential to the plot. Djali is the prime evidence for why Esmeralda is convicted of being a witch. Goats were considered to be representational of the devil and the tricks innocence tricks Djali performed like spelling and telling the time were thought to be the work of witchcraft by the judges in the book. Of course, since the plot veers so far the book it doesn’t really matter. Djali’s main function in the movie is a cute sidekick who sells toys to children.
The Gargoyles do not count, they’re not in the book.
It really does seems like someone early in production took the cliff notes of Hugo’s book, throw them into a blender, strained, added water and poured out the Disney Plot. Then that got re-written by those people who didn’t read. And the differences in the characters in proof that.
Next time – Minor Differences,
Where do you begin to discuss the differences between Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and Victor Hugo’s original novel Notre Dame de Paris? I guess it easier to discuss the similarities. They both take place in Paris, there is a hunchback who is the bell ringer of Notre Dame and a pretty gypsy girl and the main characters are attractive to her. She has a goat and is dancers. There names are the same (Quasimodo, Claude Frollo, Esmeralda, Djali, Phoebus, and Clopin) and that’s pretty much it.
Good Night everybody.
No Seriously next time we’ll go through the major differences.
Click here to buy the Disney Movie Poster
I just want to take a moment and get this out there.
A few months ago it was announced that Tim Burton was rumored to be directing a new adaptaion of The Hunchback of Notre Dame slated for 2013 and attach to this is actor Josh Brolin of such movies as Jonah Hex and True Grit as Quasimodo. I was reading some of comments people left on the websites that announced this and mostly they were discussing how Johnny Depp was not playing the leading character in a Tim Burton movie. Unusual? Yes but does this mean that Johnny Depp will not be in the film?
My guess he will. Let’s face it Quasimodo not exactly a Depp role, sure he played Ed Scissorhand but I can’t envision Depp as Quasimodo. However I could see him as Gringoire. Gringoire is a poet and sometimes he used as a story-teller (as he more less is the voice for the writer) and more often than not he has been paired up with Esmeralda. I would predict that Johnny Depp will play Gringoire, I can see him as Frollo or Phoebus, however he could play Clopin. For Depp to Play Clopin it would depend of the direction of the film. Clopin is not actually a gypsy in the book but in the film Clopin takes on all of the leaders of the Court of Miracles, so sometimes he’s a Gypsy and sometimes he’s not. However I could see him as Clopin or Gringoire. Though I would lean towards Gringoire.
As for Helena Bonham Carter (another staple in a Burton movies), there is a lack of females in Hunchback of Notre Dame and it’s up to the film’s direction if they’ll have more than just Esmeralda. I wouldn’t cast Carter as Esmeralda or Fleur de Lys ( if Fleur de Lys is in this adaptation). Pending on film direction I would cast her as Sister Gudule, Esmeralda’s mother. However if the film doesn’t go for Esmeralda’s back story which I’ve only ever seen twice in adaptations, Carter will have some cameo of some sort maybe La Falourdel (the women who house Phoebus rents a room from in order to seduce Esmeralda). In case I would predict her to be in the film is some capacity.
I hope they get someone who is more akin to Esmeralda in the book; someone who is not overtly sexy and youthful, that would be refreshing to see.
Anyway these are all rumors and predictions, but I would love to hear what you think on this upcoming movie.
Next Character – Clopin – The Story Teller plus that Large life character who gets the big Musical Numbers
Clopin (voiced by Paul Kandel) is the Leader of The Court of Miracles, Master of Ceremonies and Story Teller of the film. He accomplishes all this with only about 8 minutes of screen/voice time in the movie. Amazing! Clopin also gets three song which means he sings the most songs in the film and each song is big and over the top. Despite his limited screen time Clopin exhibits a lot of personality. He’s fun loving, mischievous diplomatic, funny, and somewhat nice. He also has a puppet version of himself (he also has one of Frollo. Makes you think who else does Clopin have puppets of?)
Isn’t it Cute???
Examples of Clopin varoius roles: Master of Ceremonies The Court of Miracles, and Story Teller.
Clopin has looks very similar to Kuzco from the Emperor’s New Groove. Has a long pointy long face, straight long black hair, pointy nose, and thin. Clopin is older and has a few age lines, balding (a little bit) a beard, bushy eye brows and some missing teeth. Clopin gets two costumes, a performance look and a casual look. Unlike Esmeralda he is seen more in this performance outfit. It Harlequin that is purple and yellow with bells on his neck piece, a purple mask, and long back gloves. He has wears a purple hat with a big yellow feather. The hat is akin to the one that Thomas Mitchell wore in the 1939 version. Clopin casual costume looks similar to this performance garb but it all purple and less festive. He also wears the same hat. Like Esmeralda and Djali, Clopin also wears a single golden hoop earring. He cosplays (costume play) as Frollo. He also makes awesome expressions.
Clopin and Esmeralda have some connection to each other independent of being Gypsies and living in the Court of Miracles. Since Esmeralda performs with him in the Feast of Fool and she has some sway in the Court she must have some significant connection to Clopin. Since we’re given no back story for these two it’s impossible to know for certain. He either raised her, they’re related, or Esmeralda is just well liked in the Court of Miracles. I wish there was an answer but I guess this would have taken too much focus off of Quasimodo.
Like Phoebus, Clopin moonlights for the role of Gringoire. Gringoire in the book is a poet so in various versions Gringoire is a story teller, or the voice for the audience. Clopin fills this role, he tells the back story of Quasimodo and Frollo and reprises the theme of the film at the end.
Given his limited screen time there is not a ton that can be said for him as a character but he one of the most enjoyable characters in the film. He should have gotten more screen time!
Next up
The Gargoyles (shutters)
Hey People in internet land, make your opinions known (to me)! Who is your favorite character from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame? I’ll go first, I like Djali and Clopin. Now it’s your turn, don’ t be shy, I’d love to know. And you don’t like anyone well then say so ^_^.
So what you may not know about me is that in addition to expressing a geeky fandom on a blog, I also make/edit music videos. Typically I use anime sources (another geeky fandom ^_^). So while I was reviewing the 1939 version I made a little promotional music video using the 39 version. Some of you may have seen it already but for those of you who didn’t,
or click here to view on youtube
Next Character – Phoebus – Auxiliary Hero?
Part of Disney’s formula to success for their films of the 90’s are archetypes. You have the hero/heroine, villain, sidekicks both good and evil, some kind of parental figure and some kind of larger than life characters that’s usually one of the side kicks (they’ll usually get the show stopper of the film). Of course these are not set in stone, different characters are given different presidencies. So how does Phoebus fit into the Disney’s archetypes? That’s a good question, he’s not the hero that’s Quasimodo. He’s not the villain, Frollo fits very snugly into that role. He’s not the heroine – wrong sex. He’s not an annoying sidekick- the film already exhausted that one. He could be a villain sidekick as he worked for the villain but those are usually goofy or bumbling if a villain gets one at all and plus he not villainous. He’s kind of parental in the way he encourages Quasimodo but he’s not that archetype either. Mmmmmm, I’m out of archetypes. Well I guess Phoebus is the Auxiliary Hero. He does heroic stuff but all the credit goes to Quaismodo but Phoebus gets the girl. I guess Phoebus gets a better deal “half the work and a girlfriend.” Better luck in the sequel Quasi.
Phoebus is a weird character in the realm of the Hunchback adaptions: sometimes he’s the hero, sometimes he’s an asshole, sometimes he just a plot point, sometimes you hardly notice him and sometimes he’s not even there. In this way Phoebus is like Pierre Gringoire. The differences between the two is Gringoire is a coward not a jerk and sometimes he’ll be the story teller. Now for the people who have only seen the Disney film, Gringoire is not in the film but his characterization was split between Clopin and Phoebus.
We’ll get back to thought in a bit but let’s look a Phoebus a little. Phoebus (voiced by Kevin Klein) is a nobel who is a captain in the army. At the start of the film he gets a promotion to Captain of the Judges’ Guards which means he has to “take care” of Gypsies. This evidently wasn’t in the job description because he had no idea what he signed up for and he’s annoyed to come back from the wars to deal with beggars, street performers and fortune tellers. Phoebus has a dry wit, a lot of integrity and morality (He’s the male Esmeralda). He has a very different look than most disney men – he’s older and has facial hair (a first for Disney). He falls for Esmeralda very early in the film when he first sees her dancing and is further interested when he sees her “conflict aversion” skills (the chase scene).
He saves Esmerlda from Frollo by saying that she claimed sanctuary which she never did. Phoebus proves to be of the hero variety when he stands in opposition of Frollo’s mad man antics. Phoebus is ordered to burn down a house of a family who accused of harboring Gypsies with the family inside. Phoebus doesn’t compile and saves the family. Because Frollo doesn’t take kindly to people not obeying his every little insane whim, Phoebus is to be executed. Esmeralda creates a distraction and Phoebus tries escape on Frollo’s horse but is shot and falls into a river and Esmeralda has to save him agian. Esmeralda takes him to Notre Dame for safety. It’s there where they share the longest Disney kiss (over 30 seconds). After Frollo announces he going to attack the Court of Miracles, Phoebus unwittingly encourages Quasimodo to warn Esmeralda and the rest of the Gypsies. So they find the Court of Miracle and after a brif encourter with the noose, he and Quasimdo warn the Gypsies to leave but Frollo shows up and arrests everyone. So Phoebus is to be executed after Esmeralda but luckily Quasimodo saves Esmeralda and Phoebus escape his cage and rallies the people to fights against Frollo. Phoebus then saves Quasimodo from falling off Notre Dame and happy ending are shared by all (except Frollo).
So Phoebus is a hero but Quaismodo is the focused hero and the film never wants you to forget that. Back to the thought of Phoebus filling in as Gringoire. Gringoire in the book has the best relationship with Esmeralda and that’s why so many of the films place these two together more than the Phoebus/Esmeralda relationship. The rallying of the people and helping Esmeralda are things that Gringoire exhibits. One of the deleted songs from the Disney version called “As Long as there a Moon” and it occurs right after Esmeralda saves Phoebus and Quasimodo from Clopin’s fun. It was supposed to be a love song for Phoebus and Esmeralda and it included a wedding ceremony where they smashed a pitcher. So Phoebus takes on Gringoire in this delated scene. The reason why it was delated is because the directors felt it took the focus off of Quasimodo but it really did throw off the pacing of the film
Phoebus – Hey Frollo’s coming leave now,
Clopin – Ok, but let’s have a wedding first,
Phoebus – Well that’s sensible
Phoebus is a very mallable character that can be used to carter to the whims of the movie. In the Disney film he’s a male Esmeralda (think about it, they’re the same) he does everything Esmeralda does, stand for the same things, gets into the same scrapes as she does and is an agent of Quasimodo’s liberation. In book Phoebus is not that static of character, Phoebus changes in his regard for his fiancee Fleur de Lys. In the Disney movie he has a change, which was defying Frollo’s authority but from the word go he was never keen on Frollo’s politics so it was only matter of time (a day) for that insubordination to occur. Phoebus a fun character and he did prove necessary for the story that Disney was telling.
Next Character – Clopin
Tell me who your favorite character from Disney Hunchback? Just Leave a comment or just leave a comment about any old thing that you want to say about Phoebus or the Hunchback in general. Until Next Time!