We May Not Have Heard The Last of Gilbert Gottfried as Iago
If you’ve been following along with MickeyBlog this past week you’ll know that Gilbert Gottfried passed away at the age of 67 after a long illness. A beloved actor and comedian, Gottfried is best known in Disney circles as the smart-talking parrot Iago from the 1992 animated film Aladdin. According to a recent piece in the NY Post, we may not have heard the last of the actor in this iconic role!
According to the piece in the Post, back in 1992, the films co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements noted that the key to the success not only of the role of Iago but also Robin Williams’ Genie was improvisation. When the filmmakers were originally pitching the Aladdin idea to then Walt Disney Studios head Jeffrey Katzenberg, they played a clip of Gottfried from his role in Beverly Hills Cop II.
Though the film already had a master comedian in Williams, the directors thought that since Williams doesn’t come in until a bit later in the film, it would be beneficial to introduce another comical character first. Clements said, “We thought Gilbert could bring some of that kind of humor earlier in the movie.”
Many of Gottfried’s improvised lines would go on to make it into the finished film. But, other material is still floating around somewhere. Back in a 2016 interview, Gottfried recalled, “The makers of Aladdin were very open to have me improvise. They gave me a lot of freedom but often they would have to stop and go, ‘Gilbert, this is a family film.’”
“I think there were things locked away,” Clements chimed in. “There were things with Robin, too. In terms of recording sessions, they tend to be loose and freewheeling. I think Gilbert had a lot of fun doing it.”
on stage at the “Comedy Central Roast Of Bob Saget” on the Warner Brothers Lot on August 3, 2008 in Burbank, California.
Even if those “Iago” tapes never surface, Gottfried is also responsible for an incredible 200 hours of taped recordings for Cameo, a video app where clients ask celebs to record personalized messages for them. Gottfried was one of the apps top earners having recorded over 12,000 videos earning an estimated $2 million.
“He put the work in every day and gave it 110 percent,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis stated. “Think in retrospect how sick he was. And yet he left it all out there. Even when he was ill, Cameo was a way for him to earn money for his family and pay his bills.”
We hope this means that we haven’t heard the last of Gottfried’s iconic voice and impeccable timing whether that be through tapes in the Disney vaults from Aladdin or some of the people he touched through Cameo! His legend definitely lives on!
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Source: NY Post
