Production Ice Age (2002 film)

1 production

1.1 development
1.2 writing , character development
1.3 voice casting

production
development

blue sky studios got opportunity ice age script turn computer animated film. chris wedge , carlos saldanha took on directors. drama dropped film because 20th century fox accept comedy. however, drama kept in notable element, making film more dramedy.

writing , character development

writer michael j. wilson stated on blog daughter flora came idea animal mixture of both squirrel , rat, naming scrat, , animal obsessed pursuing acorn. plan have scrat talk dropped, worked better silent character comedic effect. name scrat combination of words squirrel , rat , scrat has characteristics of both species; wedge has called him saber-toothed squirrel. scrat s opening adventure inserted because, without it, first real snow , ice sequence wouldn t take place until 37 minutes film. role intended scrat, proved such popular character test audiences given more scenes. filmmakers made many of scenes scrat appear directly after dramatic moments in film.

in 2012 interview jay leno, denis leary s character, diego sabertooth tiger, died near end of film. however, reported kids in test audience bursted tears when death shown. leary himself warned producers happen. when proven true, scene re-written ensure diego survived.

originally, sid sloth supposed con-artist , hustler, , there finished scene of character conning aardvark kids. character later changed talkative-clumsy sloth because team felt audience have hated him. there alternate scene of sid in hottub ladies shows him saying them let s jump in gene pool , see happens. 1 of female sloths kicks him in groin. cut because not suitable children , may have gotten film pg-13 rating. other innuendos sid cut film. sid supposed have female sloth named sylvia (voiced kristen johnston) chasing after him, whom despised , kept ditching. removed scenes can seen on dvd.

the fat saber-tooth cat named lenny described scimitar cat in film s essential guide book.

voice casting

for manny mammoth, studio looking @ people big voices. james earl jones , ving rhames considered, sounded obvious , wedge wanted more comedy. instead, role given ray romano because thought voice sounded elephant-like. wedge described romano s voice deep , delivery kind of slow, s got sarcastic wit behind it.