99 Fun Facts About Anastasia (1997)

Who directed and produced the 1997 animated film Anastasia?

Don Bluth and Gary Goldman had walked out of Disney together in 1979 to make rival cartoons, and Fox spent more than $100 million building them a studio for this one.

How do Rasputin's demons try to kill Anya aboard the ship carrying her toward Paris?

By making her sleepwalk overboard: a dream sent by the demons walks her to the rail in the night, and Dimitri pulls her back at the last moment.

Fox built the animation studio that made Anastasia in which Arizona city?

Phoenix won the studio with job-training funds and cheap loans, and about a third of its 300 artists had followed the directors over from their old studio in Dublin, Ireland.

Who voiced the adult Anya in Anastasia?

Meg Ryan hesitated over the part, so the filmmakers animated a scene to dialogue from one of her own romantic comedies and screened it for her; she signed on.

Who provided Anya's singing voice in Anastasia?

Liz Callaway only came in to record demos, hoping they might lead to some background singing, and the songwriters liked them so much that her voice stayed in the film.

Who voiced the conman Dimitri in Anastasia?

John Cusack spoke the part but freely admitted he couldn't sing, so stage performer Jonathan Dokuchitz took over whenever Dimitri burst into song.

Which Frasier star voiced the former nobleman Vlad in Anastasia?

Kelsey Grammer did what the film's two romantic leads did not: he sang his own songs, while their musical numbers were handed to Broadway voices.

Who voiced the villain Rasputin in the 1997 film Anastasia?

Christopher Lloyd beat Peter O'Toole to the role for a simple reason, the screenwriter recalled: children didn't know O'Toole, but they had all seen Back to the Future.

Which Simpsons voice actor played the bat Bartok in Anastasia?

Hank Azaria had the directors laughing within ten minutes of his audition, beat Martin Short to the part, and ad-libbed lines for the bat's kung-fu routine.

Who voiced the Dowager Empress Marie in the 1997 film Anastasia?

Angela Lansbury crossed enemy lines for the part: six years earlier she had been a Disney voice, the singing teapot Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.

Which Broadway legend voiced Marie's cousin Sophie in Anastasia?

Bernadette Peters sings the film's big Paris production number herself, and her Sophie is the gatekeeper whose quiz decides whether Anya gets to meet the Empress.

Who voiced the young Anastasia's speaking lines in the 1997 film?

Kirsten Dunst only spoke the part: Lacey Chabert sang the child's songs, and with the adult role split the same way, four performers share one princess.

Which songwriting duo wrote the songs for Anastasia?

Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens were in a New York café when someone pitched an undead Rasputin with a bat sidekick; when they took the story to the stage, they cut both.

Which song was the first the songwriters completed, written during a heatwave?

They joked about sweating while writing winter imagery.

Which Anastasia song earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song?

Journey to the Past had the bad luck to be nominated in the year of Titanic: the Oscar went to "My Heart Will Go On".

Which R&B singer performed Anastasia's Oscar-nominated song at the 1998 ceremony?

Aaliyah sang it at the Oscars because her pop version closes the film over the end credits; inside the story the song belongs to the heroine's Broadway singing voice.

Years before meeting Anya, how had Dimitri already crossed paths with the real Anastasia?

As a palace servant boy he opened the hidden door that let the princess escape, which is how he later knows that Anya's hazy memory of that night can't have been coached.

In Anastasia's 1926, Saint Petersburg officially had which name?

Leningrad had been the city's name since 1924, in honour of Lenin, but the film's opening number is still called "A Rumor in St. Petersburg".

What three words are inscribed on the necklace Marie gives Anastasia?

Together in Paris is the only clue the amnesiac Anya has to her past, so ten years later those three words send her across Europe to find whoever gave them to her.

Which tsar hosts the ball that opens Anastasia?

Nicholas II hosts a party the film has moved: the real Romanov tercentenary was celebrated in 1913, three years before the 1916 ball that opens the story.

What does Rasputin give up in return for the power to destroy the Romanovs in Anastasia?

His soul buys him a curse and a wretched afterlife: when he drowns with the job unfinished, he is left stuck in limbo as a living corpse for the next ten years.

The 1997 film Anastasia drowns Rasputin under river ice, but how did the real Rasputin die in 1916?

Murdered by Russian nobles who feared his hold over the royal family: they shot him and dropped the body into an icy river, so the real Rasputin ended up under the ice too.

How does the young Anastasia lose her memory in the 1997 film?

She hits her head boarding a train: her grandmother is hauled onto the moving carriage, the girl's hand slips, and she wakes on the platform with no idea who she is.

What does Dimitri do with the reward for finding Anastasia?

Turns it down: the whole con was built around that money, but by then he has fallen for the woman he meant to pass off as a princess and wants nothing for bringing her home.

What does Anya name the stray puppy she meets after leaving the orphanage?

Pooka settles the plot before it starts: Anya, torn at a crossroads, asks for a sign, and the puppy grabs her scarf and tugs her down the road toward St. Petersburg.

How do Anastasia and Dimitri end the 1997 film?

They elope together, leaving only a farewell letter: having crossed Europe to reclaim her title, Anastasia walks away from life as a grand duchess for a reformed conman.

How do Rasputin's minions first attack the heroes' train in Anastasia?

By overheating the engine they turn the train into a runaway, and the three passengers have to cut their carriage loose and jump before it goes over the edge.

At which Paris theater does Anya attend the ballet in Anastasia?

The Palais Garnier is where the plan falls apart: the Empress refuses to meet one more claimant, and Anya overhears that she was recruited as part of a con.

What object finally convinces Marie that Anya is her granddaughter in Anastasia?

The music box plays a lullaby that only the two of them shared, and when Anya starts to sing along, the Empress knows she has her granddaughter back.

On which Paris bridge does Anastasia's final battle with Rasputin take place?

The Pont Alexandre III is family ground: it is named for Anastasia's own grandfather, the late husband of the Empress she has just been reunited with.

How does Anastasia finally destroy Rasputin in the 1997 film?

By crushing his reliquary under her heel she breaks the bargain that has kept him going since the night of the curse, and the sorcerer crumbles to dust on the spot.

Fox opened Anastasia nationwide just ahead of which American holiday, a slot Disney films usually owned?

Thanksgiving had been Disney territory for years, so Fox went all in on the date and even bought its Russian princess a float in the Macy's parade.

Which George Bernard Shaw play gave Anastasia its peasant-to-princess makeover story?

Pygmalion's professor and flower girl became two conmen drilling an orphan in royal manners; the directors wanted, in their words, something like My Fair Lady.

Which actress, also a busy Hollywood script doctor, did uncredited rewrites on Anastasia?

Carrie Fisher ghostwrote the scene in which Anya leaves the orphanage for Paris; as the film's composer put it, Princess Leia wrote that scene.

Anastasia's makers researched the Romanovs' story with help from former agents of which agency?

The CIA veterans, once posted to Moscow and St. Petersburg, supplied the real history, and the directors then judged it too dark and made a fairy tale anyway.

Bartok in Anastasia was first written with which comedian's voice in mind?

Woody Allen was the model for the neurotic bat until the scandal over his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, when a studio executive suggested they forget about him.

Which Disney re-release opened a week before Anastasia?

The Little Mermaid returned to cinemas and Fox cried foul: Anastasia's screenwriter later claimed Disney did it just to knock $3 million off their opening weekend.

Disney's ABC refused Anastasia ads during The Wonderful World of Disney, giving what reason?

To avoid brand confusion, the network said, and it had a point: shoppers were already walking into Disney Stores and asking for Anastasia merchandise.

Which 1997 film beat Anastasia to number one on its opening weekend?

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, a video-game sequel, won the weekend in what Variety called an ambush, pushing the heavily promoted cartoon into second place.

Which 2000 flop closed Anastasia's studio?

Titan A.E. flopped so badly that Fox shut the studio within days of its release, leaving Anastasia, which took about $140 million worldwide, as the only cinema hit it ever made.

Anastasia out-grossed its director's 1980s hits An American Tail and The Land Before Time, both made with which producer?

Steven Spielberg backed both films, and each took about $85 million worldwide, a mark the Russian princess beat by more than $50 million.

Which fast-food chain was among the film's promotional sponsors?

The $50 million-plus campaign outspent Independence Day's marketing by more than a third.

Which toy company made the Anastasia dress-up dolls?

Galoob, the maker of Micro Machines, got more than a license: Fox let the toymaker advise its animators on how to draw the heroine's gowns, so the dolls' outfits would match the film.

What was the title of Anastasia's 1999 direct-to-video spin-off?

Bartok the Magnificent recasts the villain's sidekick as a travelling showman whose act is a fraud: the savage bear he defeats nightly is his own business partner.

Who wrote the book for the stage musical adaptation of Anastasia?

Terrence McNally had written Ragtime with the same songwriters, and they said he had no interest in just putting the cartoon on a stage, so the sorcerer and his bat were cut.

Who originated Anya in the Anastasia musical, first in Hartford in 2016 and then on Broadway?

Christy Altomare never handed the part on: after the Hartford tryout she played all the way to the final Broadway performance in March 2019, the show's 808th.

Who starred in the 1956 live-action Anastasia that Fox already owned?

Ingrid Bergman made it her Hollywood comeback: shunned for years over her affair with director Roberto Rossellini, she returned in this role and won the Best Actress Oscar.

Which famous Anastasia impostor was exposed by DNA as Franziska Schanzkowska?

Anna Anderson, in truth a Polish factory worker, kept the claim alive through German lawsuits that ran from 1938 to 1970 and ended with neither side able to prove who she was.

Anastasia earned two Oscar nominations but none for Best Animated Feature, for what reason?

The category did not exist yet: the first Best Animated Feature Oscar went to Shrek four years later, so in 1998 the film could compete only with its music.

Anastasia's Oscar-nominated ballad lost Best Original Song to a hit from which 1997 blockbuster?

Titanic won with Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, a song critics agreed left the Anastasia ballad little chance of winning.

Anastasia makes Rasputin a sorcerer, but the real man treated the tsar's son for which illness?

Hemophilia afflicted the heir Alexei, and the real Rasputin entered the family's circle as the boy's faith healer, not as a court magician.

The real Grand Duchess Anastasia was a great-granddaughter of which long-reigning British monarch?

Queen Victoria was grandmother to Anastasia's mother, Empress Alexandra, and became a surrogate mother to her after Alexandra's own mother died.

Anastasia puts the Dowager Empress in Paris, but the real one spent her exile in which country?

Denmark was her birthplace, and after the revolution she made her holiday villa Hvidøre, near Copenhagen, her permanent home.

Anastasia's animators won over their hesitant star by animating her lines from which romantic comedy?

Sleepless in Seattle supplied a clip of her character Annie Reed, which the crew animated into a reel and screened for her at the studio.

Anastasia's Rasputin actor was hired for his popularity in which time-travel film series?

Back to the Future made him so popular that he beat Tim Curry, Patrick Stewart, Peter O'Toole and Jonathan Pryce to the part.

Rasputin's sidekick Bartok in Anastasia stands out from other bats by being which color?

White came late in the design: the directors wanted a comic sidekick so audiences knew it was all right to laugh, then made him albino to be different.

In Anastasia, which ballet is on stage in Paris the night Anya is taken to meet Marie?

Cinderella is danced by a Russian ballet company that night, but Marie will not see Anya because she has heard of Dimitri's lookalike scheme.

In Anastasia, which document is Anya told she needs when she tries to buy a ticket to Paris?

An exit visa is what the trip requires, so an old woman sends her to find Dimitri, and that errand is how the two first meet as adults.

The real Anastasia never reached Paris: her family was killed in 1918 in which Russian city?

Yekaterinburg is where Bolshevik guards held the family in the Ipatiev House, also called the House of Special Purpose, before killing them in July 1918.

Who composed Anastasia's score, four decades after his father scored the 1956 live-action film?

David Newman followed his father Alfred, who scored the 1956 Anastasia, and the 1997 film brought the son an Oscar nomination.

Which Party of Five actress, later in Mean Girls, sang the young princess's part in Anastasia?

Lacey Chabert sang the childhood lullaby opposite the Dowager Empress in the prologue, while a different child star spoke the role.

Which longtime voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger sang Rasputin's villain number in Anastasia?

Jim Cummings was the singing double for the star who spoke the part, and he later voiced Rasputin outright in the film's tie-in video game.

Which voice of Fred in Scooby-Doo provided the barks of Anya's puppy in Anastasia?

Frank Welker, who has played Fred since 1969, also voiced the Black Pegasus in the same film.

Which future Oscar winner for Whiplash was among the ensemble and character voices in Anastasia?

J. K. Simmons shares the film's ensemble credit with Billy Porter, years before his Academy Award for playing a brutal jazz teacher.

A third of Anastasia's crew had worked at the directors' earlier studio in which European capital?

Dublin had drawn the directors' previous studio with government incentives, and a third of the 300 artists and technicians followed them to Arizona.

Before settling on Anastasia, its makers weighed animating which Fox musical about a governess at court?

The King and I and My Fair Lady were both on the table before a Fox executive proposed remaking the studio's 1956 Anastasia instead.

Anastasia's two leads broke with animation custom by recording their dialogue in which way?

Side by side sessions replaced the usual solo recordings once the directors found the scenes between Anya and Dimitri too hard to capture apart.

Anastasia was its lead director's first profitable film since which earlier animated feature?

All Dogs Go to Heaven was only a moderate hit in cinemas but sold strongly on home video, and nothing he made after it turned a profit until Anastasia.

Which Chicago Sun-Times critic awarded Anastasia three and a half stars out of four?

Roger Ebert praised the quality of the story, scoring it half a star higher than his TV partner Gene Siskel, who faulted its history.

In Anastasia, where has Rasputin been stuck for ten years when Bartok finds him again?

Limbo holds him because his curse failed to kill every Romanov, and it is there that he sings his villain number with a chorus of insects.

In Anastasia, how does Dimitri force the Dowager Empress to meet Anya after the ballet?

He hijacks her car with Marie inside, drives her to Anya, and wins her over with a keepsake he has held since the palace fell.

Which two pop singers recorded At the Beginning, the duet over Anastasia's end credits?

Richard Marx and Donna Lewis released it as the soundtrack's first single; it plays only over the credits, so no character sings it.

Which country singer recorded a pop version of Anya's lullaby theme for the Anastasia soundtrack album?

Deana Carter's version was released as a music video and sits on the album beside the original sung in the film.

Which rock producer known for Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler hits produced Rasputin's song in Anastasia?

Jim Steinman produced the track, on which a singing double replaces the actor who speaks the sorcerer's lines.

Which Mexican pop star recorded a Spanish-language version of Anastasia's Oscar-nominated ballad?

Thalía covered the song in Spanish and in Brazilian Portuguese, and her recording was added to the album as a bonus track.

Fox's marketing bill for Anastasia topped by over a third its spend on which 1996 blockbuster?

Independence Day's campaign was beaten by more than 35 percent, as Fox put over $50 million into launching its first in-house animated feature.

Which theme park chain hosted a giant inflatable playground called Anastasia's Kingdom before the film opened?

SeaWorld set up the 40-foot-long, 20-foot-high inflatable at its San Diego and Orlando parks three months before the film reached cinemas.

How did Anastasia's Russian distributor pitch the film so audiences would not judge it as history?

As a fairy tale set against the background of real Russian events was how distributor Gemini Films sold it, stressing that the story was not history.

The Los Angeles Times review said Anastasia echoes the landscape of which earlier Russian-set film epic?

Doctor Zhivago was critic Kenneth Turan's comparison: he found the cartoon lacking in originality but hard to dislike for long.

In Anastasia's 1999 spin-off film, which folklore figure is wrongly blamed for kidnapping the young royal Ivan?

Baba Yaga turns out to be innocent: the boy's own adviser, Ludmilla, staged the kidnapping to seize the throne.

In Anastasia's 1999 spin-off film, the hero's stage partner Zozi is which kind of animal?

A bear, Zozi plays the savage beast the hero pretends to defeat in the grand finale of their travelling show.

In the Anastasia stage musical, which Bolshevik officer replaces Rasputin as the story's antagonist?

Gleb Vaganov is ordered to kill Anya yet cannot do it, torn because his own father was among the soldiers who shot the Romanovs.

The Anastasia stage musical played 808 regular performances at which Broadway theatre?

The Broadhurst was its home from spring 2017 until March 2019, after a tryout run in Connecticut the year before.

Which shaven-headed star played the scheming general in the 1956 live-action Anastasia film?

Yul Brynner, himself born in Vladivostok, played General Bounine, who coaches an amnesiac to pass as the lost grand duchess.

Which stage legend, called the First Lady of American Theatre, played the Dowager Empress in the 1956 Anastasia?

Helen Hayes made the role a comeback, having paused her career for several years after her daughter's death.

The 1956 Anastasia film that Fox later remade as a cartoon began as a stage play in which language?

French dramatist Marcelle Maurette wrote the play in 1952, and an English translation by Guy Bolton carried it to the English stage and Broadway.

The real Rasputin, Anastasia's sorcerer villain, was born a peasant in which region of Russia?

Siberia's village of Pokrovskoye was his birthplace, and a pilgrimage to a monastery in 1897 turned the peasant toward religion.

Some Orthodox Christians found Anastasia offensive because their church honors the real grand duchess as what?

A saint to them, she had been canonized as a new martyr in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Which animated film was the first feature made by Anastasia's lead director after he quit Disney?

The Secret of NIMH came from the studio he founded after resigning from Disney on his 42nd birthday with a group of fellow animators.

Anastasia's songwriting duo won a Tony Award for Best Original Score with which Broadway musical?

Ragtime opened on Broadway in January 1998, two months after the film reached cinemas, and ran for 834 performances.

Anastasia's music lost the Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score to which 1997 hit?

The Full Monty won for Anne Dudley's music to a British comedy about jobless Sheffield steelworkers who form a striptease act.

Anastasia premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre, a week before its nationwide release, in which city?

New York's Ziegfeld hosted a limited opening weekend that took in $120,541 before the film went wide across the country.

In 1998 Anastasia was adapted by Feld Entertainment into which kind of touring live production?

An ice show titled Anastasia on Ice skated under the Ice Follies banner, nearly two decades before the story reached Broadway as a musical.

Which Canadian comedian was also considered to voice Anastasia's bat sidekick before the role was cast?

Martin Short was in the running, but the eventual voice won the part ten minutes into his audition.

In Anastasia, why had the Romanovs banished their adviser Rasputin before he cursed the family?

For treason, the film says, and the exiled adviser comes back to crash the opening ball and take his revenge on the Romanovs.

What occasion is the grand ball at the start of Anastasia celebrating?

The dynasty's 300th year is toasted in the film's 1916 prologue, although the real Romanov tercentenary celebrations were held in 1913.

In Anastasia's final battle, what does Bartok do when Rasputin and his minions attack Anya?

Refuses to help is the bat's choice: he sits out the fight on the bridge and leaves his master to face Anya, Dimitri and her dog alone.

Disney countered Anastasia's opening by releasing which of its family comedies the following weekend?

Flubber arrived a week after Anastasia, part of a Disney schedule that a Fox executive called a deliberate attempt to be a bully.

At the end of Anastasia, how does the heroine say goodbye to Marie and Sophie?

By letter is how she takes her leave of them, promising in it that she will come back one day.