Josh Gad Has One Big Regret About Voicing Olaf In Disney's Frozen
When Josh Gad joined the voice cast of Disney's animated movie "Frozen," which came out in 2013, he probably didn't think that he was about to become part of one of the biggest pop culture juggernauts in recent history. Both the original and its 2019 sequel, "Frozen II," made buckets of money at the box office, while the first movie also scored an Academy Award for best original song (thanks to the inescapable earworm "Let It Go"). Plus, Gad's character Olaf, a living snowman who wants to experience summer, became a breakout success on his own. So does Gad have any regrets about his "Frozen" experience? Yes, actually. He wishes he'd changed his voice a little more for the character.
"If I could do it all over again, I would not have lent that snowman my voice. I would've created a different voice," Gad said while participating in an interview at Fan Expo Canada, which one fan chronicled on TikTok. "It's very weird being in a supermarket and having a little child go like this ..." Gad joked, as he slowly turned his head to the side, mimicking kids who recognize him in public.
"That was my first big mistake," Gad went on, before admitting that his voice is something he's used to great effect throughout his career. "But, you know, people tell me I have a very unique voice. People seem to like my voice, so I try to give it to them when I can."
Josh Gad is still on board for future Frozen projects
Since the first "Frozen" movie came out, Josh Gad has voiced "Olaf" in both of the official movies and plenty of side projects, including a ton of shorts featuring the character. (Notably, one of them, "Olaf's Frozen Adventure," irritated parents so much that it had to be removed from screenings of the Disney-Pixar film "Coco.") Gad has also worked on the miniseries "Olaf Presents," the pandemic-era short series "Olaf at Home," and the short film "Once Upon a Studio." As he recently revealed, he's on board for some major future projects too.
During an appearance on "Live With Kelly and Mark," Gad told hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos that he'll definitely be a part of the future "Frozen" sequels, but that news of their existence caught him off guard. "All of a sudden, my phone's blowing up," Gad said, recalling the moment where he found out about the forthcoming "Frozen" films. "And people are like, 'Oh my God, I'm so excited about Frozen 3 and Frozen 4.' And I responded, 'So am I?' I had no idea.' Nobody thought to call us up and be like, 'Oh, by the way, we're doing two sequels to your movie[s].'"
Still, Gad remains fully optimistic about "Frozen 3" and "Frozen 4" and promises that they'll be a good time. "But I have since heard some things about it, and it is going to be unbelievable," he said. "I'm so excited about what they're dreaming up right now. It's pretty incredible."
Josh Gad has a pretty extensive resumé outside of the Frozen franchise
Josh Gad is definitely firmly associated with "Frozen" and Olaf at this point, so it's easy forget that he has a pretty extensive resumé outside of that franchise. The actor broke onto the scene in a big way thanks to his role alongside Andrew Rannells in "Book of Mormon," the Tony Award-winning musical from "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (an interesting tidbit about that is that Robert Lopez co-wrote that musical and wrote "Let It Go," as well as the other songs featured in "Frozen"). Around that time, Gad also worked as a correspondent on "The Daily Show" and popped up in movies like "Love & Other Drugs." In fact, "Frozen" wasn't even his only big project in 2013, as he also appeared in movies like "The Internship" and "Jobs".
Throughout the years, Gad has performed in everything from "The Wedding Ringer" to "Pixels" to "Marshall" — as well as the live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast," where he plays LeFou – and since 2022, he's been starring on the Peacock series "Wolf Like Me" with Isla Fisher (seen above). If you're not familiar with that show, it focuses on a budding relationship between Gary (Gad) and Mary (Fisher), with one obvious obstacle between the would-be lovers: Mary is a werewolf. (Happens more than you might think.)
You can stream "Wolf Like Me" on Peacock, and all of the "Frozen" content you could possibly want is available on Disney+.