Almost 30 years ago, a street rat from Agrabah came into possession of a magic lamp and the world of animation was changed forever. With Guy Ritchie's live-action remake hitting theaters this weekend, I decided to track down as many members of the cast and crew as I could find, hoping they could give me a little more insight into the making of the original Aladdin from 1992 and the amazing legacy it has created.
In part 1 of this wish-granting oral history, I chat with actor Scott Weinger, who voiced the titular character. You may also know him as DJ Tanner's boyfriend Steven on the beloved ABC sitcom, Full House.
Josh Weiss: How did you become attached to the project in the first place?
Scott Weinger: Honestly, I just auditioned for it. It wasn’t like I had any special interest in animation or access or anything. It was an unusual thing because I had never worked in animation before and I was acting on a sitcom [in Los Angeles] as a kid actor. It was before Full House and my mom said, ‘After work today, you have an audition.’ I said, ‘For what?’ She said,’ Some cartoon’ [laughs]. I found out recently that apparently Ron Clements who [co-directed the movie with John Musker] had seen me in the show that I was in, it was called The Family Man.
He had seen me and heard my voice and thought that it was worth bringing me in [to audition] ... So that was really it; it was just an audition and then six months went by—a very long time after that we never heard anything, and then I was back in Florida, back in school, the show had ended. [Then Disney] called again and said they wanted to hear me again. This was a long time ago so the way we used to do it was I recorded the tape with my mom and mailed it in and ended up getting the part.
Scott Weinger: It was really just me. Maybe it was, and I’m not using a pun, a more animated version of me, more energetic. There was more urgency maybe in my voice than there normally is. I wasn’t doing any special accent of affectation or anything, I was just being myself, which is, I think, what the role demanded. That was cool, I wasn’t playing a teacup or a shoe or something [laughs].
Josh Weiss: What tips did you get from the directors?
Scott Weinger: They were always very present. Especially on an animated [movie], every line, every detail is so considered. There’s no accident in an animated movie generally. Even towards the very end, we were redoing tiny little sounds or even in fight scenes, the sound of a struggle or the sound of a ‘Huh?’ I remember toward the end of the movie they had a list of things that we needed to fix and one of them had been ‘non verbal expression of disbelief.’ And I was like, ‘Huh?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, that’s it exactly!’ It was really funny. They were very hands on.
And the [head Aladdin character] animator, Glen Keane, who’s maybe the real, legendary Disney animator—he was in charge of Ariel on The Little Mermaid ... In any case, he used to come and sketch me during the recording sessions; it was a really cool experience. I had never done anything like it.
Josh Weiss: Did you ever record your lines alongside any of the other voices?
Scott Weinger: All those guys. I don’t remember meeting Gilbert Gottfried; I don’t think we met until the movie was finished. [The same goes for] Douglas Seale, who had played the Sultan, who I think passed away not long after [he died in 1999], but I don’t remember working with him. I worked with Jonathan [Freeman; voice of Jafar] a bunch and I worked with Robin [Williams; voice of the Genie]. I think when the original DVD was released however many years ago, there’s this special feature of the voices behind Aladdin and they have footage of me recording with Robin. I’m so glad that they were video taping it because it was one of the things I never wanna forget, not that I would.
He was so funny. What was interesting was the contrast between the subdued Robin that would be very thoughtful. When we weren’t recording, he wasn’t that crazy, manic persona that everybody thinks about. He was very quiet and thoughtful and when the red light would go on, he was playing the character of the Genie.
As soon as the light would turn on, he would become that character; the Good Morning Vietnam standup comedy Robin. It was an amazing transformation, literally like the flick of a switch. His mind worked faster; it was such an amazing thing to witness, his improv. You would be left thinking, ‘Did he plan all of this in advance or is it really just extemporaneous?’ It was hard to tell because it was so brilliant and rapid fire, it was amazing to see.
I’ve told the story many, many times over the years that he was so funny, that I fell down in the recording studio ... It’s funny [because] I didn’t actually fall down, collapse in hysterics, but I dropped to the floor because if I laughed, it would have spoiled the take because he and I were in the same room and everybody else was in the booth.
They were behind six inches of glass, so they could laugh. You would look and see the sound engineer and all the people who came to watch, the directors, literally with tears streaming down their faces, laughing so hard and I had to keep it together because I was in the scene with him but also because it would ruin the gold, ruin the take. There was one moment where I literally covered my mouth and dropped [to the floor], so I wouldn’t spoil the take. It makes me very happy that that’s on video for posterity to show my kids.
Josh Weiss: This has become such a huge, huge movie. Did you have any idea just how big it was going to become at the time?
Scott Weinger: No, I had no idea and I was very lucky that I didn’t because I would’ve screwed up the audition pretty badly if I had felt that immense pressure. I think it was one of the greatest blessings of the whole ordeal was that I had no clue what I was getting involved in until I had the part. I was talking to Linda Larkin [voice of Jasmine] about it recently because it’s been coming up a lot [thanks to] the live-action movie coming out and she said that it wasn’t until Beauty and the Beast came out when we realized, ‘Oh, we’re next. This is the next one.’
I didn’t realize that was the beginning of this new era of Disney animation and that these were all gonna be huge hit movies. I didn’t realize that. When Beauty and the Beast came out, that’s when it first dawned on me like, ‘Oh, we’re the next big [movie]. All those guys came to work on this one.’ I think I was very lucky that I was late to the game.
I still have a best friend from the time I was 9-years-old who happens to be an animation freak in general. Even when we were 13, 14, he was considered an animation historian and he tried to clue me in. He tried to make me appreciate the magnitude of the project and he knew all the directors and all the animators and everybody involved, but it didn’t really dawn on me. I guess when you’re a kid, you’re just living your live, you’re not really thinking about it.
Josh Weiss: Any other fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes from recording your lines?
Scott Weinger: The whole process is so laid back because it’s not like regular acting with hair and makeup and camera pointing at you. It might be the most fun acting job you can have. You go into this door and they close the door—you’re in your own little world—and it’s pretty incredible. A lot of people think that they animate the movie and then we sort of loop the whole thing, that we add the dialogue later on. Of course, it’s the exact opposite. We record the whole movie and then they animate it to our voices and so, you’re really laying the foundation for something and that way, when the movie comes out and you see it, you really see a lot of your own personality and features baked into the characters, which is a really gratifying thing to see.
When I watch Aladdin, it was inevitable that my mannerisms would translate [to the screen]. My facial expressions and hand gestures, it all wound up animated in the movie and it’s really a cool thing to see and if you don’t know me, you wouldn’t necessarily recognize it, but if anyone who knows me well watches the movie, it’s me animated up on there, which is pretty cool. It was really exciting to be a part of it when I was a kid when the movie came out. I think it was the biggest Disney movie of all time at the time [of its release], the biggest movie of the year, so that was cool and gratifying and exciting, but I think now all these years later that I’m older and I’m a dad and the movie’s not the hot new thing, but it’s a classic movie, I think that’s even cooler. I’m glad I got live long enough to see it [laughs].
Scott Weinger: I didn’t do the singing in the movie. I’m just the speaking voice of Aladdin. My involvement in the singing was at the original audition when I thought it was just some cartoon, they said, ‘That went great! Oh by the way, it’s a musical. Can you sing?’ And I had learned from being a veteran child actor to just lie, to just say sure. I didn’t say, ‘Oh, can I sing? I’m the greatest singer of all time.’ I just said, ‘I’ve never been on Broadway or anything, but of course I can sing. Sure.’ They said, ‘Great!’
And they gave me sheet music and a tape to listen to with Alan Menken’s demo track, which is on the internet now and it was a gorgeous song called ‘Proud of Your Boy' ... I worked really hard, I practiced with a singing coach and I thought I could really go in there and nail it and it was not a great experience for anybody. It was laughably bad. I’m very proud of myself for a teenage boy to make yourself vulnerable that way and sing when you know you can’t in a room full of really intimidating grown-ups.
I was happy that I did it but at the same time, I was not ready to sing alongside [Jasmine's singing voice] Lea Salonga. It worked out [because] what they ended up doing was they … I didn’t know this until recently, my mom told me this. I just forgot, it was something from when I was a kid. We went out to lunch with a lady who was tasked with the job of finding someone who could sing and sound like me. We out to lunch and she recorded our conversation and used that tape to find a match. I don’t think they could have done any better. Brad Kane had such a beautiful singing voice and nobody was any the wiser. All these years later, people say, ‘You’re the voice of Aladdin? You have the most beautiful voice.’ [To that] I just say ‘Thank you.’ [laughs]. No need to disappoint them.
Brad Kane and I, we became good friends and total coincidence, but he and I are both, as adults, TV writers now. It was really weird because our paths don’t cross often in TV writing land because I write more comedy and he’s more of a drama writer, but it’s funny that we chose the same profession as adults.
Scott Weinger: It became a big part of my life because I had never been a part of a movie of that magnitude. We had to go travel to a lot of different places, to press junkets to talk about the movie. There was one year where I ended up, and this was pretty amazing for a kid, to spend two months at Disney World in Florida. We were doing all these Aladdin promotion things. I also happened to be acting at the time on Full House and we shot two episodes of Full House that same year [down in Florida].
All the sudden, Disney became a huge part of my life, but it was a strange feeling because I grew up down in Florida and we used to drive up to Orlando to go to Disney World for the weekend my whole childhood. All the sudden, to basically be living there and to be a part of it in that way, to be backstage, to be a cast member of Disney, was great.
Obviously, it doesn’t suck to be a teenager skipping the lines at Disney World. In between press interviews, I would say, ‘Do you mind if I go do Space Mountain two or three times?’ And they’d drive me to the back, I’d hop on the ride, do it two or three times, and then I’d go do the interview. It doesn’t get much cooler than that, so it was great. I’m lucky enough that I was young enough to find it super, super thrilling and old enough to remember and appreciate it.
Josh Weiss: Any standout fan interactions over the years?
Scott Weinger: The thing that amazes me is how many people recognize me on the street as the voice of Aladdin. It’s not something that you would expect because he’s an animated character. It’s not like it’s me and so, it’s shocking to me how many people come up to me and say, ‘I just wanna tell you I grew up watching Aladdin.’ I’m like, ‘This is nuts!’ And I think because of the Full House connection, I think it was sort of baked into people’s minds at that time in pop culture. It’s sort of like a ‘90s fun fact to know that the boyfriend from Full House is also the voice of Aladdin.
I think people recognize me from one thing and they know, but it’s amazing to me how many people say they grew up with the movie and what an important part of their childhood it was. Because it was certainly an important part of mine and I certainly grew up with it and it is really fun for me to share. I have a son and to share it with him is pretty incredible. It’s interesting to me that maybe it affected it my life in a different, but it’s amazing to me how many people had an inmate sort of relationship with that movie and grew up with that movie and are now sharing it with their kids. It’s pretty cool.
I was a huge fan of Hamilton and there’s a line in the song ‘My Shot’ and Hamilton says how he’s a diamond in the rough. And I thought, ‘Lin-Manuel Miranda’s the exactly the right age where he grew up watching Aladdin and I guarantee you that’s an Aladdin reference.’ Somehow, he and I started tweeting at each other one day and he confirmed that it was, and it was my coolest Twitter moment. I think I canceled my Twitter account after that because I knew it wouldn’t get any better than that [laughs]. The point is it made me realize, ‘Wow, this thing is really baked into the culture in an interesting way.’
Josh Weiss: What do you think of the remake?
Scott Weinger: I’m going with my family to see the premiere at the El Capitan. I’m excited. It’s funny, I don’t go to a lot of movie premieres generally; it’s not my life. I don’t really do it that often, but this one I didn’t wanna miss. I know my son, it’s gonna blow his mind. It’ll be especially fun for me because the original Aladdin premiere was at the El Capitan Theater ... I distinctly remember it so clearly going when I was 17-years-old to the premiere of Aladdin at that theater, so it’s really fun for me all these years later going with my wife and my son to see this one … I think it’ll be fun.
I’m excited for the movie. I literally haven’t seen a frame of it beyond what everybody else has seen in the trailer. Actually, you know what? That’s not true. I was at Alan Menken’s house a few weeks ago and he showed me a clip of one of the songs. This gorgeous new song that he wrote, ‘Speechless.’ It’s an amazing new song that he wrote for Princess Jasmine and so I saw a rough unfinished version of that. It looked spectacular.
I hope that the movie is a big hit, I hope people love it … It’s funny, people who know me are asking if there’s some sort of Easter egg surprise or cameo; if you’re paying attention will you spot me in the movie? The answer is no, I have nothing to do with it, I’m not in it. I wasn’t involved in the production at all, but I do feel connected to it and I hope that people respond well to it.
Josh Weiss: What advice would you give the live-action Aladdin (played by Mena Massoud)?
Scott Weinger: I think it would be the same advice that the Genie gives Aladdin which is just be yourself. By the way, the cast seems incredibly talented. The voices sound great, the music sounds great ... The [new] guy who plays Aladdin sounds like he’s spectacularly talented and they don’t mess around. I’m sure they put together a good group.
I have to say I admire Will Smith for taking on the role [of the Genie] because it must’ve been intimidating and I’ve seen interviews with him where he said it was intimidating to fill those shows or try to fill those shoes. He’s so talented and obviously I think he’s so different than Robin Williams; I think the smartest thing to do was just to try and be himself and make the role his role.
Josh Weiss: Have you seen the Aladdin musical?
Scott Weinger: Oh yeah, several times. I saw it when it was in Toronto and then I saw it when it went to Broadway. It’s fantastic. Now it’s been five years. The show’s been running for five years on Broadway. It’s a monster hit, and I’ve met the cast, they’ve become friendly.
Josh Weiss: Other than Aladdin, who's your favorite character from the movie and why?
Scott Weinger: I feel a connection to Jasmine, but I think my favorite character in the movie and probably most people’s [favorite character] is the Genie. That was such an iconic role for Robin and it was so funny and it changed animated movies. Right after Aladdin, you see everything about animated movies change. Everything from deliberately hiring big stars to take on roles. For example, Eddie Murphy playing the donkey in Shrek or people with really recognizable voices and famous personas taking these things on. I think that Robin’s performance in Aladdin sort of changed the direction of the feature animation. It’s pretty interesting.
Josh Weiss: Anything to add?
Scott Weinger: It’s funny to be talking about Aladdin this much all these years later. It’s the only thing I would say. If you had asked me when I was 17-years-old if I’d still be doing these kinds of interviews decades later, I wouldn’t have thought it. I didn’t see it coming, but maybe I should have [laughs]. But I don’t mind it. It’s a pleasure. It’s pretty amazing that Aladdin, all these years later, is a pretty big part of my life and especially now as a parent I appreciate it more than ever.
Aladdin takes a magic carpet ride into theaters everywhere this Friday. In Part 1 of this series (coming tomorrow), Linda Larkin will explain her journey as the original Princess Jasmine.
