The Zootopia Star Who Almost Played Anna In Frozen
The 2013 film "Frozen" introduced audiences to the character Anna, voiced by none other than Kristen Bell. During a May 2020 interview with The Ringer, the actress spoke about the casting process for the role. She explained that she was under consideration to play Rapunzel in the 2010 Walt Disney Animation Studios film "Tangled." However, Mandy Moore was ultimately chosen to provide the voice for the quirky princess.
While it was determined that Bell was not the right choice for "Tangled," the movie's casting director instructed the "A Bad Moms Christmas" star to meet with director Chris Buck, who was in the preliminary stages of bringing "Frozen" to life. She later did a table read for the film alongside Idina Menzel. The pair secured the parts of Anna and Elsa after they performed a rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" in front of Disney executives.
While Bell certainly made Anna her own, another well-known actress had been considered to portray the princess of Arendelle.
Ginnifer Goodwin was considered for Anna
During a January 2020 episode of the "Life is Short" podcast, hosted by actor Justin Long, Ginnifer Goodwin shared that Disney was interested in casting her as Anna in "Frozen." She explained that she "was part of the original read-through process of 'Frozen' like 400,000 years ago." She went on to say that it "hurt" when she "did not get the call to keep going." Goodwin then suggested she got offered to play Judy Hopps, a hard-working rabbit who joins the police force, in "Zootopia" because of her reading for Anna.
"I was then delighted that I got the call that I was instead going to be doing 'Zootopia,' and this was 2013, I got the call," said the "Something Borrowed" star. While speaking to Long, the actress also shared that the film originally focused on the fox, Nick Wilde, played by Jason Bateman. "I was just going to be this sidekick," said Goodwin.
She explained that the cast had "recorded ['Zootopia'] for a couple years" until it was "completely rewritten." Goodwin also shared that while recording the film's "original version," she had been "making very strong choices" with her voice acting and "was trying to sound like Holly Hunter." The actress joked that members of the production team had asserted that they "would have called Holly Hunter" if they wanted her voice for Judy.
"'Holly Hunter does Holly Hunter very, very well. So we don't really need you to do a bad version,'" quipped Goodwin with a laugh.