This week it was announced that Disney’s Frozen would be coming back to the big screen for a second feature film adventure. But before Elsa, Olaff, Anna and Kristoff come back for 90 minutes or more, they’re starring on the big screen in Frozen Fever, the animated short screening before Disney’s live action adaptation of Cinderella, in theaters now. We spoke with Frozen Fever directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, the dynamic duo who brought both films to life, about returning to Arendelle and Elsa and Anna’s latest adventure!
After the global phenomenon that was Frozen, did the directors feel any nerves when it came to returning to these beloved characters? “I think it was a bit daunting at first,” said co-director Jennifer Lee. “I will say we were all a little creatively tired and obviously not sure how to follow up the film and were still in the midst of surprise at the whole thing. (laughs) But then we just got into the room and started saying, ‘What if, what if,’ and had a lot of fun and then just the thought of being with these characters again—we missed them, we really care about them—and so it really just found itself and the storytelling took over and we really weren’t as worried about everything else.”
Frozen Fever centers around Elsa getting everything ready for Anna’s birthday. Elsa wants everything to be perfect, of course, but the one thing she didn’t anticipate was coming down with a summer cold! It’s a very cute premise and it was a lot of fun to get to see the sisters spending some quality time together after being mostly estranged for the first film. I asked the pair if they were excited to see the girls getting to hang out and according to co-director Chris Buck, it was a pleasant task. Buck told us, “It was actually really nice and we took advantage of that in a way by letting the Elsa and Anna go to some of the same locations that they did in the feature. Anna is riding alone down the hallway on the bicycle and then we put the two of them in the hallway and we put Anna in the portrait room in the feature when she talks to the painting and now it’s the two of them so we played with that, with the two of them, showing that now they’re together and they can enjoy the things together so it was fun!”
Of course, a Frozen adventure wouldn’t be complete without a brand new song and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were back to write “Making Today a Perfect Day.” It was a major team effort according to Buck, as he explained, “We couldn’t have done it without them. They are the Frozen music. It was a lot of back and forth when we were creating it. We came up with the idea about the cold and the birthday and then we worked with them to create the song.” A song that will undoubtedly be stuck in all of our heads until the next movie comes out!
Frozen Fever is in theaters now screening before Cinderella.
