Did You Know?

Irene Bedard, who provided the voice of Pocahontas, was also the physical model for the animated character.

This is one of Disney animated movies inspired by a true story, the other being Mulan.

Animators working on the film regarded it as being one of the hardest films ever produced by the studio. The complex color schemes, angular shapes, and facial expressions meant that the film was in production for 5 years. The hard work paid off, however. Pocahontas herself is now frequently cited as being one of the most beautifully and realistically animated characters in the Disney canon, her fluid movements mainly being attributed to rotoscoping.

In their quest for authenticity, the Disney studios hired mostly Native American actors to do the voices. They also employed Native American consultants and had a session with a real shaman. Despite these efforts, prominent Native American activists issued an open letter condemning the film for its historical inaccuracies and stereotyping of the Indian people. However actor and Native American activist Russell Means (who performs the speaking role of Powhatan) has referred to the film, in particular the opening, as being the "single best representation of American Indians that Hollywood has ever done".

"Pocahontas" was put into production at the same time as The Lion King. Much of the animating talent at the studio opted to work on "Pocahontas" as they saw it as more of a prestige production than the latter film.

"Colors of the Wind" was the first song written for the production and helped define the tone and direction of the film.

At the time, Disney cartoons traditionally featured a show-stopping musical number. Previous examples would include the "Kiss the Girl" segment from The Little Mermaid (1989), "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast (1991), and "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin (1992). This proved to be problematic however, with "Pocahontas" as the story didn't really lend itself to such an ornate production number. Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken penned several songs, of which the leading contender was a song called "In the Middle of the River", but it was eventually dropped when it was decided that the song simply didn't fit within the dramatic context of the story.

The world premiere was staged at Central Park, NYC, on June 10, 1995. 70mm prints were projected on three enormous screens, and the sound was offset by twelve frames to accommodate the vast seating area.

In the very first draft of the script the character of "Grandmother Willow" was written as a male character who was the spirit of the river, the character was named "Old Man River". The song "Just Around the Riverbend" was written for this character to be sung. Gregory Peck was offered the role and as much as it pained him to do it, turned down the role because he felt the title character needed a motherly figure to turn to for advice. Soon the filmmakers agreed with him and the character was changed.

Pocahontas must be one of the few cartoon characters to be granted a proper "photo spread" in Harper's Bazaar. For the June 1995 edition, Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, and Isaac Mizrahi all designed special outfits for her which were then drawn by Disney animators for the magazine.

In real life, Pocahontas would have been more likely to be topless.

Irene Bedard (Pocahontas) and Christian Bale (Thomas) both went on to appear in Terrence Malick's live-action version of the Pocahontas story, The New World (as Pocahontas's mother and John Rolfe, respectively).

Pre-production: According to the behind-the-scenes section in the July 1995 issue of Disney Adventures magazine promoting this movie, there was a title card that featured an early version of the Disney heroine who looked a lot like Disney's Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. It showed her head held up high, eyes closed, arms folded, and surrounded by a few forest animals. Therefore, it seemed it's actually this same Tiger Lily and not just someone who resembled her, but under a different name. And this gave the indication that she might have been considered in the eponymous, lead role at one point early on. The title card is what convinced the Disney executives to proceed with the film.

Rupert Everett, Stephen Fry, and Patrick Stewart were considered for the role of Governor Ratcliffe.