Terry Pratchett novels, a villainous mentor, and a tap-dancing mailman giraffe are just
some of the deleted characters and rejected concepts from DreamWorks' animated movie Trolls!
In this video I'm going to take a peek at some of the characters and ideas that were
cut from the theatrical release of Trolls.
Before I start, I've got a second copy to give away of this beautiful hardback book
from Titan called "The Art of DreamWorks Trolls" which is packed with concept and production
art and info on the movie.
For a chance to win the book, subscribe and leave a comment or reply to a comment about
the film on this video.
And for some bonus ways to enter the giveaway, check out the Gleam link in the video description
below for more details.
Quick warning: there are spoilers here if you haven't seen the film already, so if you
want to avoid those you can click here to watch my spoiler-free review of the movie.
The original villain for the movie, who ended up being deleted, was a character called Miss
Guffin.
In an earlier version of the film, Miss Guffin was Poppy's mentor and an elder Troll who
was kidnapped by the Bergen Chef.
And in a twist in the story, it would have been Miss Guffin who betrayed Poppy and the
other trolls later in the film, rather than Creek who ends up as the turncoat troll in
the final film.
Trolls movie producer Gina Shay said that Miss Guffin was set up to be "so appealing
and funny that nobody could recover when she turned evil."
Although Miss Guffin was cut from the movie, the character wasn't completely lost though
as her design was reused for Grandma Rosiepuff, Branch's grandmother.
You'll remember that Grandma Rosiepuff appeared in Branch's flashback scene where she sacrificed
herself to save Branch when he accidentally drew the Bergens' attention because of his
singing.
Grandma Rosiepuff is voiced by YouTuber, GloZell Green, and as a nice easter egg to that the
character has green lips and hair.
Another deleted character from the movie was the master yogi Cybil.
After Creek became a more significant character in the film, Cybil was sadly cut, although
as art director and character designer Timothy Lamb explained "a lot of [Cybil's] yoga [and]
Zen elements [were] incorporated into Creek's character".
Although the Trolls movie made its first official casting in 2014 with Anna Kendrick in the
role of Princess Poppy, the film's history is much more complicated and goes all the
way back to 2001 when DreamWorks Animation bought the rights to adapt author Terry Pratchett's
The Nome Trilogy, aka The Bromeliad Trilogy.
And in 2008, they attached Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle as the director of the
planned adaptation, but that was abandoned due to the economic crisis at the time.
The project was restarted in 2010 with a new director and a new title, Trolls, and was
set to combine the Trolls toys with some elements of Terry Pratchett's novel.
Both Chloe Moretz and Jason Schwartzman had been cast as leads by this point, but the
story had changed so much that their casting was no longer a good fit.
So, the film was completely recast starting with Anna Kendrick and the following year
in 2015, Justin Timberlake joined to voice Branch.
Satin and Chenille, also known as "The Fashion Twins" and voiced by Swedish electropop duo
Icona Pop, were originally going to have a running joke through the movie where they
changed their clothes in every scene.
For example, after being captured by the Bergens, they would have reappeared dressed in prison
clothes, like an orange jumpsuit.
However, the filmmakers ended up abandoning the idea as it would have been very expensive!
The giraffe-like Cooper is one of the most distinctive trolls in the Troll Village and
the inspiration for his design came from a set of "animal"-type trolls that character
designer Timothy Lamb discovered while researching the history of Troll toys.
But before the filmmakers settled on Cooper's final design which we see in the movie, initial
concept art showed him as a mailman and a tap-dancing giraffe.
When the villainous Bergen, Chef, finds Poppy and the trolls during her celebration party
in the theatrical release, Poppy is dressed in her normal clothing; however, in the same
scene in the trailers, she's wearing what looks like a ceremonial robe.
This change suggests Poppy was going to be made queen much earlier in the story rather
than at the very end of the film.
So guys, what do you think about the deleted characters and concepts?
And are there any you think should have stayed in the movie?
Don't forget to subscribe and comment for your chance to win this gorgeous The Art of
DreamWorks Trolls hardback book!
For bonus ways to enter the giveaway, click on the Gleam link in the video description
below.
And if you enjoyed this video, you'll also like my 15 hidden secrets and easter eggs
from the Trolls movie – click left here to check those out, or check out these awesome
deleted scenes from Finding Dory by clicking over there on the right.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!