As Disney celebrates the 25th anniversary of the release of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, composer/producer Alan Menken revealed that Michael Jackson almost performed some of the classic songs for the film. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is often one of the films from the "Disney Renaissance" era that gets overshadowed by more popular animated movies, such as Aladdin and The Lion King. The film, loosely based on the novel by Victor Hugo, was noticeably darker than some of its counterparts, partially thanks to its brooding soundtrack. While the Disney adaptation features significantly less violence than Hugo's French gothic version, it still tackles dark, adult themes, particularly Parisian religious conflicts.
The story is as old as time, but Disney's 1996 rendition is arguably the best. It follows a physically deformed and gentle man named Quasimodo, who's responsible for ringing the bells at the Notre Dame Cathedral. He's raised by antagonist Judge Claude Frollo, the uber-conservative Minister of Justice, who treats Quasimodo like he is a monster due to his appearance. The bell-ringer goes on a wild journey with quite the cast of characters, including street dancer, Esmeralda, and a goofy band of gargoyles.
Menken is one of Disney's musical collaborators responsible for hit soundtracks including Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid. He recently spoke to SlashFilm to commemorate The Hunchback of Notre Dame's 25th anniversary, and he revealed that Michael Jackson showed interest in working on the soundtrack. Menken met Jackson, who's a major Disney fan, when working on "A Whole New World" for Aladdin, and the king of pop wanted to co-write the song. "I could get a sense of who Michael was. He was a very unique, interesting individual... in his own world," Menken added.
The story goes that Jackson's assistant reached out to Menken "out of nowhere" while the pop star was dealing with allegations about inappropriate behavior with underage kids. All the while, he was going through a breakup with Lisa Marie Presley. He was looking to "change the subject" surrounding his name. Menken suggested Hunchback and the two met in the studio to talk possibilities. Menken continued:
There’s three songs. One was ‘Out There,’ one was ‘God Help the Outcasts,’ one was ‘Someday.’ Michael said, ‘I would like to produce the songs and record some of them.’ Wow. Okay. What do we do now? Michael left. We got in touch with Disney. It was like somebody dropped a hot poker into a fragile bowl with explosives. ‘Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.’
Finally, predictably, the word came back, ‘Disney doesn’t want to do this with Michael Jackson.’ I go, ‘OK, could someone tell him this?’ You can hear a pin drop, no response, and nobody did [tell him]. It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney.
In retrospect, it was the right decision. [But] Quasimodo is a character…if you look at his relationships with his family and his father, I would think there’s a lot of identification there.
While it's unsurprising Disney didn't want to take any of the heat surrounding Jackson's allegations, it is shocking they'd turn away such a big name to draw viewers to the film. Prior to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney worked with big names like Elton John and Phil Collins on The Lion King and Tarzan, respectively. And while the score was one of the highlights and compliments the plot so perfectly, the film itself is often forgotten by Disney fans. So, a feature from Jackson might have helped boost The Hunchback of Notre Dame's popularity compared to other animated films from Disney's golden age.
Source: SlashFilm
