Storytellers Behind “Frozen 2” Find Inspiration on Trip to Nordic Regions

By Melanie Gable

*I recently attended an early press day for “Frozen 2” at Walt Disney Animation Studios. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s been nearly six years since we first met Elsa and Anna—royal sisters grappling with Elsa’s out-of-control, magical ice powers—back in 2013 when Walt Disney Animation Studios released “Frozen.” The film went on to become the highest grossing animated film of all time in worldwide box office, and the sisters became pop culture icons. With Elsa encouraging audiences to “let it go” and embrace their true identities, and quirky Anna saving the day with selflessness and familial love, both kids and adults fell in love with the characters and story.

Film still courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Two short films followed: “Frozen Fever” (2015), which revisited the sisters celebrating Anna’s birthday in the spring, and “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” (2017), a holiday story. Both shorts were fun and beautifully animated, but Disney felt there were still enough questions from “Frozen” left unanswered that it was worth digging deeper into Arendelle’s past to create the story for a new feature film.

By now you’ve probably seen the official trailers for “Frozen 2,” which show Queen Elsa being haunted by a recurring siren song that leads her on a journey through gorgeous autumn landscapes to find the source of the voice and, possibly, her own powers. Joining her are her sister Anna, of course, Anna’s love interest Kristoff, reindeer Sven, and magical snowman Olaf.

Film still courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

What you may not know is that the filmmakers and artists behind “Frozen 2” took research trips to Norway, Finland, and Iceland and found great inspiration in both the natural surroundings and the myths of the Nordic regions, which created an important dichotomy for the story.

Marc Smith, director of story on “Frozen 2,” spoke enthusiastically about the crew’s journey overseas. “We took a trip to Finland and Norway, north of the Arctic Circle and then to Iceland, which is super fascinating and fun. And on the left here is Lake Inari in Finland and it felt like a fairytale. Like, it just got us—you understood why all of their tales are so imbued with magical spirits, forest spirits, magic. And it was really fascinating. And then on the right there, that’s Iceland and Iceland just felt mythic. It felt like nature was just trying to kill you,” Smith remarked, laughing. “Everywhere you turned you just felt like a tiny little human in the face of nature. So, we started developing these themes of fairytale and myth.”

Art courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Director/writer Jennifer Lee, who is now Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, shared a bit about her own experiences on the trip. “In Finland we did an 8-mile hike through a forest that was very much feeling like it was coming alive as we went,” she divulged. “You have to ask the spirits if you want to do something and they’ll answer. And the joke of it was they didn’t seem to like me in the Norwegian forest. I…ripped my pants, falling down, everything went wrong for me in Norway. [Director] Chris [Buck] was skippin’ along…”

“Oh I had a great time in Norway,” laughed Buck. “Norway and Finland feel like this very fairytale world and it’s very cozy and warm and wonderful. Of course, we were there in the fall, so it was beautiful. And then we compared our stories.”

“Frozen 2” director Chris Buck and director/writer Jennifer Lee share insight into the filmmaking process at the early press day on the animation studios lot – Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

In Iceland, the adventurous Buck and cautious Lee reversed roles. Said Lee, “I get to Iceland, and I’m not a great flyer. I get afraid of things. And this was this incredible land that was alive. It could kill you at any turn. There were like jokes about that. Like, man is definitely not in charge. And I was like, ‘I’m home. I’m completely fine with this. I will go into the volcano. I will walk in the glacier. Yeah, I know you could slip and die if you go down that crevasse. I don’t care. I’m here.’” Confessed Buck, “I love adventurous things, but when you’re there, every second you feel like you’re gonna die. I’d rather take that cozy fairytale place.”

Art courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

While on the trip, Lee realized that the differences between her and Buck’s experiences could be reflected in Elsa and Anna. “Iceland for me, a lot of story in terms of Elsa’s journey came out well on that trip.” Buck agreed, adding that, “It was kind of a stark contrast between Norway and Iceland that framed the concept for us. Anna felt at home in Norway with its fairytale settings, but Elsa felt strangely at home in this dark, mythic Iceland.” The push-pull dynamic of warm autumnal beauty and frigid, icy landscapes was reflected in Elsa and Anna’s struggles as very different characters occupying the same story.

“Anna is your perfect fairytale character,” Said Lee. “She’s an ordinary hero, not magical. She’s optimistic. Whereas Elsa is the perfect mythic character. Mythic characters are magical. They carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. In fact, the mythic characters often meet a tragic fate, and we realized we had two stories going together: mythic story and a fairytale story.” It’s Anna’s desire to protect Elsa from a tragic fate at the hands of her own (or another’s) powerful magic that appears to drive much of the action in the new film.

Art courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

And action there is, as evidenced by one key scene where Elsa battles a mysterious water spirit both above and below dark ocean waters. In the official “Frozen 2” trailers and the sequences shared with us during the early press day, we see Elsa testing the limits of her ice powers to face off against a powerful water horse spirit named Nokk that nearly gets the best of her. Nokk is based on the shape-shifting water spirits of Norse mythology, which were featured in folklore throughout the Nordic regions and parts of Europe. The Dark Sea that Nokk inhabits was modeled after Iceland’s Black Pebble Beach.

Film still courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Svetla Radivoeva, one of the film’s animation supervisors, gave insight into the visual creation and animation of Nokk. “It’s a shapeshifting spirit, but the directors had decided it’s going to have the constant shape of a horse and the direction was to be as realistic as possible and to not have cartoony, funny expressions.” To capture a true-to-life look for the horse spirit, the animation department conducted extensive research, which included studying horse anatomy and clips of horses in motion. “But we also like to push research further,” shared Radivoeva, “so we went to the [Los Angeles] Equestrian Center to watch beautiful horses and to speak to a trainer for a little more information. The trainer told us that horses are very peaceful animals, and in the Dark Sea, the Nokk is a warrior. It’s the protector of the Dark Sea and it will allow only someone that is worthy to pass by, so we thought of the Nokk as a wild stallion that has not been tamed.”

Art courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

The Elsa/Nokk battle was one of the most difficult scenes to animate in the studio’s history, requiring close collaboration between departments and pushing current animation technology forward to support the storytelling. Multiple nature spirits inspired by Norse folklore appear in the film, and effects supervisor Erin Ramos shared some of the obstacles the animation teams faced when trying to represent Nokk and the other spirits onscreen. “You’re creating creatures that are both ethereal and made up of other objects. It’s not solid material—it’s water or it’s a nebulous assortment of collected stuff like a vacuum,” said Ramos. “They both present their own challenges.”

Art courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Even though “Frozen 2” will feature stunning, cutting-edge animation and wild nature spirits, director Buck emphasized that, “It really boils down to Anna and Elsa and their relationship. And that real struggle between, you know, siblings and people who are very close. You’ve got your own sort of antagonists right there, so every time we would stray we’d always go back to Anna and Elsa and use them as the core of that. And that would always really land beautifully.”

Look for my second piece about the “Frozen 2” early press day next month!