Olaf (Frozen)

The Disney studio made their first attempts to adapt Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, "The Snow Queen", as early as 1943, when Walt Disney considered the possibility of producing a biography film of the author.^[1] However, the story and the characters proved to be too symbolic to translate into film.^[2] Later on, other Disney executives had made efforts to translate this material to the big screen, however these proposals were all shelved due to similar issues.^[1]

In 2008, Chris Buck pitched Disney his version of the story^[3] called Anna and the Snow Queen, which was planned to be traditionally animated.^[4] This version was "completely different" from Frozen; it had a storyline that stuck much closer to the original material and featured an entirely different Olaf character, the role more resembling Marshmallow's.^[5] However, by early 2010, the project was scrapped again.^[4][6] On December 22, 2011, Disney announced a new title for the film, Frozen, which would be released on November 27, 2013, and a different crew from the previous attempt.^[7] The new script, which employed "the same concept but was completely rewritten",^[4] finally solved the long-term problem with Andersen's story by depicting Anna and Elsa as sisters.^[8]

Josh Gad, a Tony-nominated actor best known for his performance as Elder Cunningham in Broadway's The Book of Mormon (which was co-written by the Frozen's co-songwriter Robert Lopez), was cast to voice Olaf.^[9][10] His casting was announced on June 18, 2013.^[11] Having been involved in reading for the part of Olaf when the project was titled Anna and the Snow Queen, Gad was disappointed when it failed to be greenlit. He moved onto other projects and almost lost out to the role due to being involved in another upcoming project for DreamWorks Animation titled Me and My Shadow. When Walt Disney Animation attempted the Snow Queen project again, songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez joined the production and began campaigning for Gad to return to the cast. Gad was released from his obligation to Dreamworks when its project failed due to story complications, which meant that he was free to rejoin the cast of Frozen.^[12]

According to Lee, Gad saved Olaf from being cut from the film entirely. Having joined the project after it was in development, Lee's initial reaction was "Kill the snowman". This decision changed when an animator offered changes to the script with Gad in mind, which led Lee to cast him in the role.^[13]

Gad later expressed that getting a part in a Disney film was a dream for him, due to being a fan of Disney films in his childhood. "I grew up during the second golden age of Disney animation, when every movie that came out was an event – The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King," he said.^[9] Impressed by the performances of comedic relief sidekicks such as Timon and Pumbaa in The Lion King, or the Genie in Aladdin, Gad set the goal to play characters of this type since his early age. "I want to do that one day", he recalled.^[9][14] Gad based his performance on his The Book of Mormon co-star Rory O'Malley.^[15]

As a snowman Anna and Elsa built together as kids, Olaf represents the love and joy the sisters once had when they were young before being forced apart. Lee said that the character began to take shape once the team had established what he meant to the girls.^[16] Lee explained that Olaf represents an innocent form of love. When Elsa is singing "Let It Go" she recalls her last happy moment when she and Anna created Olaf in childhood. Thus, Olaf is imbued with that innocent love and some characteristics of Anna as she was as a child. Olaf also provides a significant amount of comic relief in the film, which Lee described as a "kids-state-the-obvious kind of way".^[2]

In very early versions of the film, Olaf was originally written as one of the guards at Elsa's castle when the concept of Elsa controlling a legion of menacing snowmen was still in the story.^[17][18] Buck talked on this scrapped character setting, "We always talked about she was trying to learn about her powers. So we talked about it like it's the first pancake. You know that pancakes get burned on the bottom that you throw out. Well, that's Olaf. Olaf was her first pancake."^[18] In order to keep the character from getting too complex, the directors wanted him to have a childlike innocence.^[17] According to Lee, "When you're a child the awkwardness and the funny shapes you make with the snowmen, the heads are never perfect" and that's how they came up with the ideas when thinking what kids would think of a snowman.^[17][18]

Gad also made plenty of improvements for Olaf during the recording sessions. But the directors were very careful not to risk the character taking over the story.^[17] "Olaf was very much a sketch until we had Josh Gad, and then we would just get in the room and play and we'd have a lot of fun and that's really how we found his voice specifically and how he looks at the world. It really was working with Josh that did that."^[19] "It was a lot funnier than I expected, thanks largely to Josh Gad's surprisingly well-written deluded snowman character" (Del Vecho).^[20] Gad's studio performance was videotaped, and animators used his facial expressions and physical moves as a reference for animating the character.^[16]

Hyrum Osmond, one of the film's animation supervisors, served as the character lead for Olaf.^[20] Del Vecho described him as "quiet but he has a funny, wacky personality so we knew he'd bring a lot of comedy to it."^[20] Osmond himself admitted that "My personality's a bit like Olaf."^[16]

The filmmakers developed a new software called Spaces to aid artists in deconstructing Olaf and rebuilding him as part of the animation process.^[21][22] "It was kind of an animator's dream," Osmond enthused. "You have a character that can come apart. We said to the animation crew, 'Just have fun with it.'" "The fun part of Olaf, we learned early on that his body parts can fall apart and we knew that we would want to take full advantage of that. You will see quite a bit more of that in the movie in a surprising way." (Chris Buck).^[19] "Olaf has become his own sort of standout comic character and the animators are having fun animating him. There's a lot of squash in there – I mean, a lot – and he's the only character we can throw off a cliff and have him come apart on the way down, still survive and be happy. We have the contrast of Olaf being a Snowman but loving the idea of Summer" (Del Vecho)^[20]

While playing together in childhood, Anna and Elsa build a snowman and name him Olaf. Later, after Elsa exposes her powers at her coronation party and flees Arendelle, he is recreated and brought to life by her powers as she is singing "Let It Go". Anna decides to find Elsa and after meeting Kristoff and Sven, they cross paths with Olaf while traveling up the North Mountain. Anna's first instinct is to give Olaf a carrot nose. Before they continue on their way, Olaf sings "In Summer", in which he fantasizes about what it might be like to experience summer heat, unaware that he will melt. Olaf then guides Anna, Kristoff and Sven to Elsa's ice palace.

After they are expelled by Elsa's snowman Marshmallow, Olaf accompanies Anna and Kristoff to the trolls who raised Kristoff to seek help to remove the ice in Anna's heart that was accidentally put there by her sister. The trolls try to marry Anna and Kristoff while singing "Fixer Upper" and Olaf also joins in the sequence.

The group thinks a "True Love's Kiss" can save Anna, and so they head back to Arendelle. Olaf gets separated from the group on the way but reunites with Anna after Hans betrays her and locks her in a room. After warming her up, Olaf comforts Anna, telling her the real meaning of love. After realizing that Kristoff loves Anna, he sees him returning to them, so they head out to the fjord to find Kristoff, but Olaf is blown away. When he finally finds his friends, he is shocked and saddened to see that Anna has been completely frozen but relieved when she thaws. He is the first to realize that Anna's sacrifice to save Elsa was the act of true love she needed to break the spell.

After Elsa dissipates the eternal winter and reestablishes herself as queen, she creates a snow cloud for Olaf so that he can fulfill his dream of experiencing summer without melting. He then smells a flower and sneezes his carrot nose directly into Sven's mouth, but Sven returns it to him. Later, he joins Anna and Elsa on an improvised skating rink in the castle courtyard.

Olaf appears in the short film Frozen Fever where he is caught stuffing a piece of cake into his mouth by Elsa. When Elsa is not paying any attention, Olaf quickly spits it back onto the cake where he ate from. Then, he is found helping Kristoff and Sven trying to get rid of the snowgies that are being produced every time Elsa sneezes. At the end of the special, he is seen helping Kristoff and Sven escort the snowgies to live with Marshmallow at the ice palace on the North Mountain.

Olaf stars in a 21-minute Frozen holiday film along with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven, which debuted in theaters for a limited time engagement^[23] with Disney·Pixar's Coco on November 22, 2017.^[24] It made its television debut on ABC on December 14, 2017.^[25]

When Christmas arrives in Arendelle, Anna and Elsa plan a surprise party for their subjects. Olaf is particularly excited to start the festivities, but when it comes time for the party to begin, all the guests leave after the annual ringing of the Yule bell in the castle courtyard. Anna and Elsa come to realize that their isolation had robbed them of any holiday traditions of their own, which Elsa feels guilty for. Olaf, however, enlists Sven to journey throughout Arendelle and learn from the populace of all the traditions the season has to offer. Once enough information is gathered (including melting and then reforming in Oaken's sauna), Olaf makes his way back to the castle, though a mishap with overloading Kristoff's sled separates the two, and destroys the sled and all the holiday-related keepsakes in the process. With only a fruitcake, Olaf journeys into the woods, and is attacked by vicious wolves while traversing through. He narrowly escapes them, but loses the fruitcake shortly thereafter to a hawk.

Depressed at having failed Anna and Elsa, Olaf wanders into the night, depressed, and figures it would be best to remain lost. Meanwhile, Sven informs Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa of Olaf's encounter with the wolves, and a search party is organized to find the missing snowman. After much searching, the royal sisters come across the downhearted Olaf, who apologizes for failing in his mission. Anna and Elsa reveal that they managed to find a tradition on their own: Olaf. It is revealed that during the years that they were separated, Anna would create drawings of Olaf (and on one occasion, a doll), and slide them under Elsa's door each Christmas as a reminder of their childhood and the love they have for each other. The sisters then lead Olaf and their subjects onto a frozen lake beneath the northern lights to host a holiday party and create a giant Christmas tree made of ice.

Olaf is featured in the sequel to Frozen, Frozen II; released on November 22, 2019, in the US. In this film, it is revealed that Olaf no longer needs his personal flurry and now has a layer of permafrost that keeps him from melting. While running from Arendelle, Olaf starts to blow but Kristoff saves him from being blown away. He was seen playing with the children as they were decorating some ice crystals.

When Elsa gets frozen knowing the truth about the past, Olaf disintegrates once Elsa's power is gone. After Anna has the dam destroyed, and Elsa is saved by her action, Elsa rebuilds Olaf.

Once Upon a Snowman tells Olaf's story after he is created by Elsa and before he meets Anna and Kristoff. It explains why Olaf likes summer and how he remembers his name.

Inspired by a scene in Frozen II in which Olaf recaps the entirety of the first film in 90 seconds, Olaf Presents has Olaf recapping several popular Disney films in that same vein. He recaps The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, Tangled, and Moana.^[26]

Olaf made an appearance in an episode of the television series Sofia the First titled "The Secret Library: Olaf and the Tale of Miss Nettle", the second episode of a four-part story arc, which premiered February 15, 2016 on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. He is once again voiced by Josh Gad.^[27]

A series of short animated episodes titled At Home With Olaf was released exclusively on the official Disney Animation YouTube channel from April, 6, 2020. Featuring the voice of Gad, it presents Olaf in a variety of adventures.^[28]

He is one of the several Walt Disney Animation Studios characters that appear in the short film Once Upon a Studio. He is seen drawing the Genie from Aladdin, who surprises him when he comes out of the drawing, and is later part of a group photo with the rest of the characters. Josh Gad returned as the voice of the Olaf.^[29][30]

Olaf is the protagonist of the video game Frozen: Olaf's Quest.^[31]

The video game Disney Infinity 3.0 includes Olaf as a playable characters, like other characters in the game being launched a figurine of him to be linked to the game.^[32]

Olaf is a playable character to unlock for a limited time in the video game Disney Magic Kingdoms.^[33]

He is a secondary character in Kingdom Hearts III, where he appears in the world of Arendelle, having the same role as in Frozen. The game also features a mini game in which the protagonist, Sora, must find the parts of Olaf's body.^[34][35] Josh Gad reprises his role in the English dub of the game, while in the original Japanese version he was initially voiced by Pierre Taki, later being reddubed by Shunsuke Takeuchi in an update patch.^[36]

Olaf is one of the villagers in the game Disney Dreamlight Valley, where he is voiced by Jake Green.^[37][38]

An alternate version of Olaf appears as a playable character in the video game Disney Mirrorverse.^[39]

At Disneyland, there was a talking audio-animatronic Olaf sitting on top the roof of the cottage that was home to the Anna and Elsa meet-and-greet.^[40] From July 5 to September 1, 2014, as part of 'Frozen' Summer Fun show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Olaf will appear in Olaf on Summer Vacation section to chime in and keep visitors updated on all his adventures. He is also available for pick-ups and take-along in various locations in the park. The character will also appear in "Frozen" Fireworks Spectacular section alongside Anna, Elsa and Kristoff, a fireworks display set to the music of Frozen.^[41][42] Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf will make appearances in Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, offered during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom in November and December 2014^[43] (from November 7 to December 31).^[44] Officially starting January 7, 2015, Olaf began making meet and greet appearances in Disney California Adventure at "Olaf's Snow Fest", and guests could learn how to draw either Olaf or Marshmallow at the Disney Animation Building's Animation Academy as part of the park's "Frozen Fun" event.^[45][46]

Beginning May 22, 2015, Disneyland debuted a new nighttime parade called "Paint the Night", which includes a Frozen float featuring Anna, Elsa, and Olaf, as part of the park's 60th anniversary celebration.^[47] Olaf appears as audio-animatronics in the dark ride Frozen Ever After, which opened in Epcot on June 21, 2016. He first appears alongside Sven, inviting guests to Elsa's ice palace to the tune of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?". He is later seen ice-skating in her castle while singing "For the First Time in Forever" and appears at the end alongside Elsa and Anna to perform "In Summer".

• He also makes an appearance in the Sky Adventures television advertisement.^[48]
• A balloon of the character debuted in the 91st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2017.^[49]

David Crow of Den of Geek described Olaf as a "cute little sidekick" and felt that the character was loaded with "earnest sincerity".^[50] While finding fault with the other leading characters, Scott Foundas writing for Variety found Olaf to be the only "unimpeachable" character and thought that he deserved a spin off feature.^[51] In an IGN review of the film, Chris Carle described Josh Gad's performance as "consistently hilarious" and praised his "perfectly timed" voice work and Olaf's "show-stopping" song.^[52] Christy Lemire writing for RogerEbert.com found Josh Gad's Olaf to be "lovably goofy".^[53] Matt Singer of ScreenCrush initially hated Olaf but years later admitted to gaining an appreciation for the character, particularly the innocence of Josh Gad's vocals and the physical comedy involving Olaf's disconnected body parts.^[54]

• Official character page