The director of the 1993 film “Cool Runnings” is opening up about his experience working on the film as Disney celebrates the movie’s 30th anniversary this month.
Jon Turteltaub directed the comedy about the Jamaican national bobsleigh team competing in the 1988 Winter Olympics, and he revealed that the studio forced the actors to Americanize their Jamaican accents to appease Middle America.
The film stars Malik Yoba, Leon, Rawle D Lewis, and Doug E. Doug in a loose adaptation of the story of Jamaican Olympians Yul Brenner, Junior Bevil, Derice Bannock, and Sanka Coffie. The four men defied the odds to become Jamaica’s first Olympic-qualifying bobsled team. Comedian John Candy also starred in the film as coach Irving “Irv” Blitzer.
Turteltaub told The Independent that he and former Disney boss Jeffrey Katzenberg had disagreements about the Jamaican accents used by the actors in the movie. Katzenberg allegedly thought Americans would not be able to understand authentic Jamaican accents, and the actors were told to sound like Sebastian the Crab from “The Little Mermaid.”
“He said, ‘If you can’t get these accents to where I can understand them clearly, I’ll find a director who can,’” recalled Turteltaub. “The next day, I told the cast, ‘I’m going to get fired if you don’t sound like Sebastian the Crab. Please don’t get me fired.’ We joked about it, but they got it. They understood. ‘We’re not going to do Sebastian the Crab, but we’re going to make an Americanized version of the movie that people around the world can understand.’”
Leon added that they wanted a Disney version of a Jamaican accent.
“They wanted me to sound like a black Aladdin,” he said. “They wanted a Disney version of the accent. It was tough because if anybody wants to be authentic, it’s me. But I’m a professional and I had to do the job.”
“They’d say ‘people in Middle America won’t be able to understand you,” said Yoba. “I think, at that time, people had less access to cultural differences and didn’t know how Jamaican really sounded.”
Fans reacted to the news about the film’s accents on social media.
“And that’s exactly what they sounded like lol,” replied one fan.
“That’s so sad,” noted another.
While the film touched on racism and cultural differences, that didn’t stop the actors from experiencing micro-aggressions while making the movie. Lewis noted that Disney didn’t want shots of the men’s crotch area because “Cool Runnings” was a “family film.”
“They were like, ‘Don’t show their crotch’ because it was Disney and a family film,” said Lewis. “They thought we were going to have these packages.”
The film was originally written as a drama but was rewritten for Disney and turned into a feel-good comedy.
“You could see their heart and warmth,” said Turteltaub of the film’s characters. “No matter what they were saying or doing, you liked them. They had a sense of humor and fun to them, and that can’t help but come out on screen.”
“Cool Runnings” became a surprise box office hit and grossed $154.9 million. It also became a fan favorite, and Leon recalled a young fan sharing how the film touched his life after his father passed away.
“So many people have shared stories with us about how ‘Cool Runnings’ has changed their lives,” said Leon. “I’ll never forget the 12-year-old boy who lost his dad and was so depressed that he watched the movie for 30 days straight to make himself feel better. I don’t take it for granted.”
Turtletaub teased that the film would make for a good sequel, as many Disney films have done, but nothing is currently in the works.
