LOS ANGELES — At long last, it's time to meet the missing co-star of Sleeping Beauty : The vulture.
That's right, a vulture character was destined to star in the 1959 classic, the last animated film produced by Walt Disney . A vulture from New York, no less.
He didn't make the animated cut. Researchers from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library found the long-deleted vulture character among story sketchesduring an extensive look at the film's historical material.
"The vulture has been hidden in boxes and now he's been properly identified," says Fox Carney, the research manager from the library that houses countless pieces of animated art from the Walt Disney Co. "It's a lot of detective work, piecing together this puzzle. But it's a real gem. And it's an aspect of the film that hasn't seen the light of day since the late 1950s."
The vulture, now featured in the extras for the new Blu-Ray edition of Sleeping Beauty(out Oct. 7), was a comical henchman for the evil Maleficent — a bitter fairy looking to put an end to the beautiful Princess Aurora.
With its New York accent, the creature never made it past the story sketch phase.
"The vulture didn't add much to the story and also somewhat detracted from that imposing nature of the villain Maleficent," says Carney. "And this New York type of vulture didn't fit into the world of this classic medieval Europe where this film is set. So they dropped the character."
A non-speaking raven instead earned the part as Maleficent's sidekick.
Carney's team resurrected the dialogue initially written for the vulture. The Blu-Ray extras feature a rough scene from these sketches, with Carney providing the New York accent, In addition, there are details of a deleted story line that had Princess Aurora meeting her true love, Prince Phillip , in disguise at a local fair.
"I'm always fascinated by characters that are discarded, and you wonder why they didn't make it," says Hahn. "It's Darwinian what makes it on the screen. These movies are very lean. Every frame counts and some characters have to fall by the wayside."
The scavenging birds do have a handicap.
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"They are not the most beautiful bird in the world," Hahn adds. "They are the grim reaper, waiting for you to die."
Vulture characters did make it into 1937'sSnow White and 1967's The Jungle Book. In 1973's animated Robin Hood , Nutsy and Trigger served as the vulture guards to evil Prince John.
Hahn also originally included vulture characters in The Lion King, which he produced. The birds interacted with the lion Simba after the character was chased into the wilderness. But the scene was cut down until there was just vulture glimpses.
"Vultures get a bad rap. It's tough for them to make it into movies," says Hahn. "But it's Hollywood, people end up on the cutting room floor all the time. Even vultures."
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