John Lithgow was originally cast as Hades and recorded all of the dialogue, but was ultimately replaced with James Woods in the final film. Jack Nicholson, Willem Dafoe, and David Bowie were all considered for the voice of Hades.

Phil's physical appearance was partly inspired by Danny DeVito's.James Woods ate a watermelon while recording to make the slurping sounds more authentic in the scene where Hades is eating worms.Even after the script was rewritten, Woods ad-libbed many lines. Hades was scripted as a slow, menacing character until James Woods took the role and impressed the crew with his rapid-fire style.USA - 14 June 1997 (New York City, New York) (premiere).Despite the positive critical reception, the film under-performed in its theatrical release notably in comparison to its predecessors before ultimately earning $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide. Hercules was released on Jto positive reviews from film critics who praised James Woods's performance as Hades, but the animation (particularly the visual style) and music received a mixed response. Computer animation was utilized in several scenes, predominantly in the Hydra battle sequence. Animation for the film was done in California and Paris. Research trips to Greece and Turkey provided inspiration for the background designs. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was recruited as production designer and produced over seven hundred visualization designs of the characters. Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi were brought on board to revise the script. The project underwent multiple story treatments and a first script draft was inspired by the screwball comedy films of the classic Hollywood era and popular culture of the 1990s. Following an unused treatment by Haidar, Clements and Musker studied multiple interpretations of Greek mythology before abandoning Zeus's adulterous affair with Alcmene. Their project was removed from development in 1993, and Musker and Clements joined Hercules later that same year.

Meanwhile, Clements and Musker re-developed their idea for Treasure Planet following the critical and commercial success of Aladdin. The film is loosely based on the legendary hero Heracles (known in the film by his Roman name, Hercules), the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology.ĭevelopment of Hercules began in 1992 following a pitch adaptation of the Heracles mythological stories by animator Joe Haidar. The 35th Disney animated feature film and the eighth animated film produced during the Disney Renaissance, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. Hercules is a 1997 American animated adventure musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures.

Voice of hades hercules disney