Legendary Disney Villain Animator Reveals That Gaston Was Inspired By LA Gym Bodybuilder Bros

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At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), celebrated Disney animator Andreas Dejas, famous for his work on films like “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” shared a significant influence behind the character Gaston – an insight that many people continue to observe and relate to in their daily lives.

At the “Andreas Deja: 30 Years of Disney Villains” event, Deja shared with TopMob in an interview that a part of his inspiration for Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast” came from observing men at LA gyms who were often preoccupied with checking themselves out in mirrors. He humorously added that he gathers his research on such characters by hanging out at the gym today.

According to Reja, Disney villains are frequently prominent and captivating in popular culture because they aren’t just evil or wicked; instead, they must be intriguing. He suggests that to make them compelling, you should explore their flaws, unique quirks, potentially even a sidekick, ultimately crafting a multi-dimensional villainous character.

Additionally, animator and artist John Ramirez (known for his work in The Lion King, Hercules, and Toy Story 2), as well as renowned voice actor Jim Cummings (famous for voicing characters like Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, Hondo Ohnaka, among others), also became a part of Andreas Deja’s team.

Legendary Disney Animators and Iconic Voice Actor Jim Cummings on Why Disney Villains Are So Popular

“You Have to Go Beyond Evil and Just Being Bad.”

  • TopMob: “Disney Villains are all the rage many times, quite literally. What do you feel has been the key to their success and ability to penetrate the cultural zeitgeist so deeply and so consistently?”

Andreas Deja emphasizes that for any villain to be compelling, they need to be more than just wicked or malevolent. In the Disney film he worked on initially, ‘The Black Cauldron’, the Horned King’s character fell short as he was merely portrayed as a bully and lacked intrigue.

Andreas Deja believes that what makes a villain captivating is when they are complex and multi-dimensional, not just evil for the sake of being bad. Unfortunately, in his first Disney project, ‘The Black Cauldron’, the Horned King was portrayed as a one-dimensional bully without much depth or interest.

In your task, you aim to discover potential quirks, unusual traits, possibly a partner-in-crime. You need to construct a comprehensive character profile for the antagonist. I believe we have managed to achieve this, and we’ve done it with a contemporary twist. To clarify, while timeless classics such as Captain Hook or Stromboli will always be exceptional, characters like these will forever remain remarkable.

In essence, what I’m hearing from the audience is that they can relate to Gaston because they encounter similar individuals in their daily lives. As for developing Gaston, I drew inspiration from modern-day characters I observe, such as those muscle-bound fitness enthusiasts you often see at LA gyms, constantly checking themselves out in mirrors.

John Ramirez acknowledges that having Disney’s name and captivating stories as a foundation is beneficial, but in terms of creating these films, he was a story artist on ‘Hercules.’ As such, they had the opportunity to craft the narratives. He strives to have done a good job, but often finds that the villains tend to be one-dimensional, focusing solely on their own desires and disregarding others’ well-being.

Working on characters like Scar or Jafar, they exhibited quite striking and vibrant personalities, even more so than the heroic figures, wouldn’t you agree? As artists, we have the freedom to portray villainy without truly being evil ourselves. It was a delightful challenge to infuse these characters with a touch of humor as they relentlessly pursued their objectives.

Jim Cummings might express it this way: “Villains often seem to be enjoying themselves immensely, while heroes can sometimes appear a bit one-dimensional. However, villains are cunning, strategic, and entertaining to observe. In fact, Andreas Deja, whom I recently spoke with, also appreciates villainous characters because they’re intriguing, and as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t want to play poker with them due to their devious nature.

The full interviews can be seen here:

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2025-08-08 23:05