Alan Tudyk is a versatile voice actor. Many of his characters sound completely different, although there is a humorous vocal similarity between Valentino in the “Wish” trailer and Clayface from the “Harley Quinn” series. For Mad Hatter, he does an impeccable impression of Ed Wynn, honoring Disney’s past. But the team who made “Once Upon a Studio” initially wanted to do a more meta gag with Tudyk.
The short film is mostly comprised of quick scenes with characters from different properties interacting in humorous ways. For example, Moana and Flounder both emerge out of water, but since Flounder is a fish, Moana has to find him a place to breathe right away. Some of these bits ended up on the cutting room floor, and one idea that got scrapped involved a ton of Tudyk’s characters from Disney movies getting together. As mentioned in the Q&A, “Early on, in the studio, we sent a request form of ‘Who would you like to see in the short?’ And there were a lot of requests of having an Alan Tudyk room that someone walks into.” It would’ve been great to see Tuk Tuk from “Raya and the Last Dragon” interacting with Toucan from “Encanto,” but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
They confirmed that Tudyk only has one role in the short, but it’s perfect in a way. It involves a merging of Disney’s past and future by taking an older character and getting them voiced by the current Disney animation good luck charm.
“Once Upon a Studio” premieres on ABC on October 15 at 8/7c.
