Andy Cohen Tells Kristen Bell Why His Son Ben “Hates” Elsa From Frozen

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Andy Cohen’s son Ben can’t hold it back anymore.

Just before Andy Cohen started interviewing Kristen Bell, the star of Frozen, he shared that his 6-year-old has very strong opinions about Queen Elsa, who is voiced by Idina Menzel. Bell, of course, voiced Princess Anna in the 2013 animated film.

Andy, who is also a father to 3-year-old Lucy, shared in a video posted to SiriusXM’s Instagram on October 24th that his son really dislikes Elsa. He’s a huge fan of Anna and firmly believes Elsa is a bad person.

Elsa, a character in the movie, has ice powers that she can’t fully manage, and this leads to a never-ending winter for her kingdom. She’s a complicated character, which is likely why Kristen was so surprised by Ben’s strong opposition to something.

The 45-year-old was so surprised she gasped and told 57-year-old Andy, “I can’t believe I’m hearing that.”

Last year, Kristen revealed a funny detail about one of the songs from the movie musical. She noticed some playful toilet humor in “For the First Time In Forever.” Specifically, during the first verse, Anna sings, “For years I’ve roamed these empty halls / Why have a ballroom with no balls?”

Kristen confirmed the phrase had a hidden meaning, explaining in a TikTok video for Vanity Fair in October 2024 that they intentionally kept it subtle: “We slid it under the radar.”

She went on to explain that there was a moment when they almost excluded something, but they quickly realized that was a misunderstanding. Someone had misinterpreted it in a sexually suggestive way, and they told that person not to think like that.

Although she toned down a risqué joke to keep it in the film, the actress who stars in Nobody Wants This was thrilled to have the opportunity to voice a Disney Princess – a much bigger achievement.

She explained that Disney characters felt incredibly powerful when she was growing up, and she was completely captivated by them. She even remembered recording herself singing songs from The Little Mermaid on a boombox, just in case she ever wanted to listen back to it.

Keep reading for some fun facts about the Frozen franchise…

Disney’s Frozen is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, but the movie took a long time to develop – almost a decade! The idea actually dates back to 1937, with several attempts to get it made over the years. Things started to come together in 2008 when Christopher Buck, director of Tarzan, joined the project, and the film was officially greenlit in 2011 after the success of Tangled. In 2012, Jennifer Lee, who started as a screenwriter, became co-director, marking her as the first woman to direct a full-length animated film for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Originally, the movie was going to be called The Snow Queen, but filmmakers changed it to Frozen to better reflect the story’s themes. Producer Peter Del Vecho explained to Bleeding Cool that Frozen represented both the ice and snow imagery and the emotional thawing of relationships and hearts, and clarified it wasn’t inspired by Tangled. Interestingly, the title The Snow Queen was still used for the film’s release in some countries.

Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell both tried out for the part of Rapunzel in Tangled and met with the film’s producers, but Mandy Moore eventually got the role. Interestingly, Santino Fontana, who later played Hans in Frozen, also auditioned to play Flynn Rider in the 2010 movie.

Kristen Bell always dreamed of voicing a Disney character, and she was the first actress to audition for the role of Anna. Director Chris Buck said they auditioned many people, but Bell was both the first and, in their opinion, the best – they immediately knew she was perfect for the part.

According to Lee, Menzel’s audition for Elsa wasn’t a traditional audition at all. It was a table read with Josh Gad (who played Olaf) before either of them were officially cast. They read through the entire script, and since no songs had been written yet, they sang a duet of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings,’ but performed it as a touching sisterly moment. Lee recalled that everyone in the room was deeply moved by their performance, and it was then they realized the incredible potential of the story and the power of music within it.

Originally, Elsa was conceived as the villain in the early stages of the project. Former Disney animation designer Claire Keane shared that early concept art for Elsa drew inspiration from Bette Midler’s stage persona. Director Chris Buck explained to Nerdist that it was easy to portray her as a villain, but as the story developed, they aimed for a more complex character. The turning point came when the team realized the initial story wasn’t quite working. Art director Michael Giaimo revealed that someone suggested making Anna and Elsa sisters, which fundamentally changed the characters and ultimately shaped the story.

Creating Olaf in Frozen proved surprisingly difficult, even more so than Elsa. He began as one of Elsa’s initial snowman guards, originally intended to be intimidating like Marshmallow. Director Chris Buck explained that Olaf was funny even in this early form. It wasn’t until Josh Gad joined the project and improvised the line, ‘it’s like a baby unicorn,’ that the team truly discovered the character’s personality – that innocent quality really clicked.

Interestingly, Hans wasn’t part of the original story. Kristoff and Anna were always central characters, but Hans was added later. Initially, he wasn’t meant to be a villain who suddenly reveals his true colors. The idea for his betrayal came later, though the possibility of him being a villain was always there. The team just decided to reveal it sooner rather than later.

As a huge fan, I always wondered about some of the details! Did you know Anna’s funny little “Wait what?” line wasn’t actually written in the script? It was totally improvised by Kristen Bell! And the dedication to getting everything right was incredible. The animators went above and beyond! They had a whole ‘sister summit’ to really nail the bond between Elsa and Anna, learned about weather, even went to Norway for inspiration for Arendelle, and spent days studying snow in Jackson Hole! Seriously, the detail is amazing. Speaking of detail, the scene of Elsa walking onto the balcony of her ice palace? That took over 132 hours to render – more than five whole days! It’s mind-blowing how much work goes into these films.

After some of their initial songs were cut from the film, songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez felt discouraged and decided to take a walk in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. As Kristen Anderson-Lopez explained to Playbill, listening to artists like Adele and Avril Lavigne while surrounded by nature sparked an idea: they began imagining the perspective of a flawed but ultimately resilient character who had lost everything. This inspired them to write the film’s most famous song, “Let It Go,” which became a massive hit in 2014, selling over 10 million copies and winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

After hearing the song “Let It Go” for the first time, Lee realized the character of Elsa and her reasons for acting needed a complete overhaul. She described the moment on the Scriptnotes podcast, saying it was so impactful that she felt she needed to rewrite the entire film. She felt relieved, knowing they were on the right track.

Lee also admitted on the podcast that there was a lot of debate about how Elsa should look after her transformation in “Let It Go,” specifically how much to emphasize her newfound confidence and attractiveness.

The co-director explained that they wanted to acknowledge Elsa’s empowerment without making it about sexuality. She envisioned Elsa’s post-transformation look as a moment of self-acceptance and confidence—a declaration that she was no longer afraid of who she was or what others thought.

Fans noticed a fun detail in the movie – Rapunzel and Eugene from Tangled make a quick appearance during Elsa’s coronation. This sparked a popular theory connecting Frozen, Tangled, and The Little Mermaid. The theory suggests that Anna and Elsa’s parents didn’t just die in a shipwreck – they were actually traveling to Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding! Some fans even believe the wrecked ship seen in The Little Mermaid is the very same one that carried the royal parents.

This idea relies on believing that Anna and Elsa’s parents didn’t actually die in the shipwreck. Animator Chris Buck jokingly suggested in a Reddit interview that the King and Queen, along with a baby son no one knew about, survived and washed ashore in a jungle. They supposedly built a treehouse before being killed by a leopard – and Buck implies this baby was Tarzan! He shared this as his personal, unofficial theory with MTV, saying fans can connect the stories however they like, even if it doesn’t quite fit with what happens in Frozen II. He encourages people to believe whatever makes them happy.

The original ending of the movie Frozen was very different from what audiences saw in the final version. Initially, Elsa was intended to be the villain, and Anna and Elsa weren’t even portrayed as sisters. The story began with a prophecy foretelling that a ruler with a frozen heart would destroy the kingdom of Arendelle. According to Entertainment Weekly, Elsa became the Snow Queen after being left at the altar and choosing to emotionally shut down.

In this earlier version, Anna would ultimately convince Elsa to use her powers to save Arendelle from an avalanche caused by Hans, revealing that the prophecy actually referred to him as the true villain. This would then thaw Elsa’s heart, allowing her to love again.

However, the filmmakers felt this ending was unoriginal and unsatisfying. As producer Jennifer Lee explained to Entertainment Weekly, audiences wouldn’t connect with Elsa because she spent the entire movie as the villain, making her unrelatable and hindering any emotional investment in her journey.

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2025-10-27 18:53