As Dylan O’Brien is getting ready for the world to see his take on Dan Aykroyd in Saturday Night, which will be released on the 2024 movie schedule in a few weeks, it’s been revealed that the actor once had “hopes” of joining another iconic (yet totally different) ensemble, the Frozen II cast. However, as he hilariously shared, he realized pretty quickly that he did not have what it takes to play a citizen of Arendelle.
O’Brien did not say who he auditioned for, but my instinct tells me he must have auditioned for a later cut character. That's because, in the 2019 movie, only the original cast sang songs in the soundtrack. Here’s what he had to say about what happened during an appearance on Late Night:
I knew I probably wasn’t going to get it. So, it’s a musical, and they are looking for sort of multi-talented, multi-hyphenate people, who can act and sing. I didn’t check, to be honest probably either, but I sang across a desk to the casting associate, and I know I can’t sing, but I just wanted to do it, because sometimes it’s just good.
Hey, to even be called into Walt Disney Animation to be considered is a rather big honor, isn’t it?
However, O’Brien went into the audition without feeling strongly about his singing skills, and it backfired on him, as you can imagine. With that in mind, he continued his story with a lightness about the whole thing:
This poor woman. I remember actually… she asked me painfully if I could get to the chorus, because she needed to see if I had a certain range, and I was just kind of swimming in the first verse a little bit, you know? And, reluctantly she was like ‘I do need to hear more,’ I was like ‘ok’, and then I went higher and it was really bad.
It sounds like it was a rather awkward moment for Dylan O’Brien, but perhaps it was all worth it since it makes such a good story, as he also shared:
When she said to me ‘Ok, ok!’ She said two okays, I’ll never forget it, and then she said ‘Thank you for coming in, I think we’d probably need a bit of a stronger singer.’ And I was already like nodding going, ‘Yeah, I know.’ I was like ‘Thanks, for having me.’ [Laughs].
As I mentioned, O’Brien told the story while on a segment of Late Night With Seth Meyers promoting his new movie, Saturday Night, You can watch the clip below:
While there’s definitely some vulnerable embarrassment about that story, Dylan O’Brien also said that he only remembers it “fondly.” It sounds like one of those instances of an actor trying something out of their comfort zone and it just not being the right fit for them. Props to him for trying!
Hey, perhaps he has another chance on Frozen 3 or 4 if he’d like to go through the pain again? Walt Disney Animation is currently developing another sequel for the Disney princess franchise that has proved to be one of the House of Mouse’s biggest titles ever. Jennifer Lee is set to write and direct the third movie. And no, we don’t know the Frozen 3 release date yet, but we’ll definitely keep you posted with all updates we hear about the movie.
However, when it comes to Dylan O'Brien, rather than holding out hope that he might become a Disney character, you can see him in Saturday Night when it hits theaters on October 11. While the actor has shared that he “did not do a lot of prep” to portray Dan Aykroyd in it, critics have been loving the comedy and his performance in it, showing that he's a man of many talents. However, it sounds like singing isn't one of them.
