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Film 916: Brave

Trivia: Reese Witherspoon was originally announced as the voice of Princess Merida, but scheduling conflicts prevented from taking the role. Kelly Macdonald replaced her.

This is the first Pixar-produced film to have a female protagonist. Princess Merida is also the first Pixar character to be included in the Disney Princess line.

It took six years to make this film. Mark Andrews was initially the consultant, providing the Scottish themes for Brenda Chapman. However, by October 2010, Chapman left after four years of work with Andrews subsequently taking over but still keeping the intended story that Chapman wrote. Originally 80% of the film took place in snow, but when Chapman left the project so did much of the white stuff.

The name Lord MacIntosh (or McIntosh) is a common Scottish surname, also the name of a well-known variety of apple. It is a reference to the Apple computer. Steve Jobs was a co-founder of Apple and played a big role in Pixar. The movie is dedicated to Jobs with this quote at the end credits: "Dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs, our partner, mentor and friend". It is also a reference to the visual image of Merida being interrupted while trying to eat an apple by biting into it, which her mother considers unladylike, is repeated several times throughout the film.

Two additional software programs were specially developed for this film by Pixar in the period of three years. One of them allows simulation of Merida's 1500 strands of hair curls to move together with her movements.

HIDDEN MICKEY: The belt that Queen Elinor wears in the first half of the movie forms a hidden Mickey when viewed from the front. You can see the distinct Mickey head and the two ears as connecting circles around her waist.

Pixar movie-makers created the family tapestry using a technology that allowed them to create billions of individual threads.

'Sean Connery' (specifically for King Fergus), 'Richard Wilson', David Tennant, Annette Crosbie (for The Witch) 'Sheamus' (for Young Macintosh) were all considered for roles in the movie.