A punk-rock Isabela, a secret room for Luisa, and missing magical characters are just some
of the fascinating scenes and storylines cut from the final version of Encanto.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining everything you never
got to see in Disney's Encanto!
A few spoilers ahead, so take care.
Although Isabela can conjure beautiful plants and flowers out of thin air, a fun idea for
her which didn't make it into the movie was the ability to create animated plant creatures,
such as these potato characters.
The idea was that there would have been a little potato family living in the house,
tending to crops, and decked out in traditional outfits.
Isabela was designed with a classic Disney princess look and vibe to reflect her role
as the family's golden child.
As the story progresses though, she reveals that being a Señorita Perfecta isn't what
she really wants and she transforms her look from soft pastel shades to bolder colours.
However, the filmmakers also considered a punk-rock version of Isabela that hinted at
an even edgier vibe, though it didn't make it into the final film.
In the movie, among the expectations placed on Isabela is that she should marry Mariano,
her picture-perfect male equivalent.
But originally her suitor was going to be someone quite different, a guy from the city
called Bubo.
He had a modern look that contrasted with the traditional feel of the Encanto villagers,
and he would have brought a comedic tone to his scenes with a fish-out-of-water vibe and
dorky personality.
Another entertaining piece of concept art which wasn't in the movie is this humorous
moment of Isabela imitating Mirabel with a pair of green glasses created from her vines.
Although each family member has a room of their own reflecting their gift and personality,
we never actually get to see inside Luisa's room.
Concept art from The Art of Encanto book reveals an early idea for her room was that it should
be made entirely of stone to reflect her strength and the fact she's the most responsible person
in the family.
The overall idea was that it should look very boring, except for a secret door in the room
that only Luisa knew about which led to a theme park where she "could just have fun
like a little kid", and escape the pressures of her family duties.
Some other versions of her room include various locations set up as training areas for exercising
and weights for her to practise lifts.
Unfortunately, the closest we got to this in the film was a snippet of Luisa running
on a magical treadmill created by the casita during the opening song, "The Family Madrigal".
Although there are plenty of magical characters in the final film, early concept art reveals
a number of deleted characters we never got to see.
Two characters who were scrapped from the script were magical twins Amélia and Sofía
who were inseparable, but during their 15th birthday celebration they "unleashed blinding
auras over their guests."
Amélia's aura contained all the beauty the twins had collected inside since they were
born and the crowd fell in love with her.
By contrast, Sofía released all their ugliness, sparking a feeling of revulsion towards her.
This traumatic event drove a wedge between the sisters that would take decades to be
undone.
There was also a pool-playing fortune teller character who has a similar look and trickster
vibe to Camilo.
And then there was Zoe who could speak to and connect with machines, getting them to
repair themselves whenever they were broken.
However, when she was asleep or took a siesta, the machines would also shut down and refuse
to work.
This family portrait also reveals more deleted characters.
Behind Mirabel is an angry-looking girl called Fuega who has some kind of fire powers, something
some fans speculated Anna might have in the Frozen sequel.
From the art, it feels like Fuega's gift of fire was triggered in some way by her emotions,
similar to Pepa and her weather powers.
And in this version Pepa had a twin called Leta who were likely versions of Amélia and
Sofía, who I mentioned before.
There's also a deleted character called Princesa, and it looks like her princess vibe ended
up being merged with Isabela's flower powers.
Standing next to Agustín is a woman named Miranda who's holding a bunny implying she
had a connection to animals, similar to Antonio in the final film.
And given she's by Agustín, I think she was the original version of Mirabel's mother Julieta
who has the power to heal injuries with food.
There's also another older character here called Raimi in addition to the grumpy Abuela
below.
And there's a short mischievous-looking girl without a name who wasn't in the final movie
either.
On top of all that, there's a statue of a woman wielding a sword whose name is Alejandra.
My guess is that this stern-looking character was the original matriarch who established
the house and that she was Abuela's mother.
In fact, this fits with the original idea for Encanto which was that the story "would
take place over 100 years through multiple generations".
In terms of Encanto's time period, according to the filmmakers, the final movie has an
early 1900s look with "a folkloric Colombian aesthetic", although initially it was going
to have more of a 1950s look like these early designs for Mirabel.
Bruno may be a forbidden word in the Madrigal family, but Mirabel's mysterious uncle was
actually originally going to be named Oscar, as revealed in this colour palette for the
family.
However, according to the Disney Fandom wiki, Lin Manuel-Miranda changed the name to Bruno
as he wanted it to fit in the line "We don't talk about Bruno, no, no, no".
Given Bruno is initially portrayed as the black sheep of the family, it's amusing that
Pixar's latest film Luca also had a thing about Brunos.
Silenzio Bruno!
Some early designs for Bruno showed him much younger, and his eyes glowed both green and
blue, which was a way of playing around with the idea that he had the ability to see into
the future.
Another character who changed from her initial concept is Pepa who controls the weather with
her emotions.
Originally, her powers were that she was indestructible and couldn't get hurt, which made her into
something of a daredevil.
The problem was that her indestructibility felt too similar to Luisa's great strength,
so they decided to give her weather-related powers instead, which kept the sense of eccentricity
and strangeness they were looking for in Mirabel's aunt.
And this version of Antonio had him talking through his animals and paying them with snacks,
rather than relaying what they were saying to him.
Uh huh.
I understand you.
The teaser trailer for Encanto has scenes which weren't included in the final movie.
There's Luisa doing weights with a pair of pianos;
Antonio beckoning, then whistling to call all his animals to him;
and Isabela swinging down on a vine outside the house while making flowers around her.
I think these scenes were made specifically for the trailer to show some of the characters'
powers.
There's also what appears to be a deleted scene in the teaser trailer of Mirabel sitting
on a wall with one of Antonio's tapirs which I think was a scene cut from just before she
goes to ask Luisa about what's wrong with the magic.
Although the look and design of the family home was gorgeous, there were also some fascinating
alternate designs.
In this one, the casita was built on top of some kind of rock formation up in the mountains.
The idea was to illustrate how new rooms would be added onto the house whenever a new family
member received their gift.
Other early designs had the house built around the natural rocks and boulders in the environment.
And this version of the house had no straight lines to give it an even more whimsical and
handmade feel.
Another idea for the casita that didn't make it into the final film was that it
"was an extension of Abuela […] rather than the whole family [and] the colour of the wallpaper
would reflect her mood in whatever room she was in."
Likewise, in another version of the movie, as Mirabel narrated the story, the colours
of the world around her were going to change according to her emotions.
Then in the third act, the film would have switched to show "everything from Abuela's
point of view" with things now looking "more realistic and photographic".
According to one of the movie's production designers, that idea was rejected as they
thought it was "too distracting".
In another rejected storyline, Agustín was the family patriarch who originally built
the Madrigal house.
In that version, rather than being Julieta's husband, Agustín was a strong-willed character
who already had a moustache at the age of four.
He was warned by a mysterious woman against building a house in the Encanto, and after
he ignored her, the house threw him out the window.
In Encanto, the characters never leave the town, so only the magical doors and rooms
allow them an opportunity to explore other environments.
However, in an earlier version of the story, Mirabel went with Abuela to the city the old
woman originally came from.
During the visit, they would have seen technology not available in the isolated Encanto, including
the traditional Chiva, colourful buses often considered symbols of Colombia.
And if you want to check out more of the gorgeous concept art from Encanto, consider getting
a copy of The Art of Encanto book.
I've added links in the description on how you can get the book with free worldwide shipping.
So, what do you think of Encanto and do you wish any of these ideas had been in the final
movie?
Let me know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this, then do like and share this video, I really appreciate it.
And next you can tap left to discover the top 50 easter eggs and incredible details
you might have missed in Encanto.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!