The Hunchback of Notre Dame

***The Hunchback of Notre Dame*** is a 2024 upcoming American animated musical comedy-drama live action film producing by Disney Studios.

## The Hunchback of Notre Dame

### Genre

Adventure
Drama
Musical
Fantasy

### Written by

Victor Hugo
David Henry Hwang
Irene Mecchi

### Produced by

Josh Gad
Don Hahn
David Hoberman
Todd Lieberman

## Plot

The movie opens in 15th Century Paris with Clopin, a Gypsy puppeteer, telling a group of children the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The story begins in 1462 as three gypsies sneak illegally into Paris but are ambushed by a squadron of soldier-like thugs working for Judge Claude Frollo, the Minister of Justice and *de facto* ruler of Paris. A gypsy woman attempts to flee with her baby, but Frollo, thinking the woman is carrying stolen goods, catches and kills her just outside Notre Dame, intending to kill her deformed baby (Frollo says to the Archdeacon that the baby is "an unholy demon" and that he is "sending it back to hell where it belongs"), but the Archdeacon appears and accuses him of murdering an innocent woman. Frollo denies that he is in the wrong saying his conscience is clear, but the Archdeacon declares he can lie to himself all he wants, but he cannot hide his crime from heaven ('the eyes of Notre Dame', the statues of the saints outside the cathedral). Fearing for his soul and to atone for his sin, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed child in the Cathedral's bell tower as his son, naming him Quasimodo. He notes that someday the child may have use for him.

Twenty years later in 1482, Quasimodo has developed into a kind yet isolated young man with three gargoyles as his only company as well as the pigeons, is constantly told by Frollo that he is a monster who would be rejected by the uncaring outside world. Every year Quasimodo looks forward to seeing the Festival of Fools however this year he isn't excited about watching it as he never goes there. However Quasimodo's friends insist he go as he loves the festival and would have fun, Quasimodo reminds them he can't leave the tower because of Frollo who cannot stand the event himself. After some prompting, Quasimodo almost leaves but Frollo has arrived to see him. While reviewing the alphabet, Quasimodo accidentally lets the term festival slip (he tries to change his answer to forgiveness) and Frollo becomes angry that Quasimodo wants to go to the festival, he expresses that Frollo goes every year and he should to. Frollo explains he goes because he is a public official despite hating every second of it. He reminds Quasimodo that nobody would like him because of his appearance and how after his mother "abandoned him" he would have been treated poorly had Frollo not taken him in. Before leaving, Frollo reminds Quasimodo that the bell tower is his only safe haven. Despite these warnings, Quasimodo still wishes to see the city and plans to sneak out of the Cathedral to attend the Feast of Fools. Meanwhile Captain Phoebus who has been away at war has returned to Paris to serve as Frollo's new captain of the guards. He manages to save a gypsy dancer Esmeralda who is accused of stealing money which earned for dancing. Phoebus manages to humiliate two guards and afterwards escort the new captain to the Palace of Justice. There Phoebus meets with Frollo, who expects Phoebus to be the best as his last captain was a disappointment (he was being tortured). Frollo explains that they are to stop the gypsies as he has been trying to get rid of them but they manage to stay strong, Frollo has heard of their safe haven called The Court of Miracles and shows Phoebus that he intends to destroy it like the bugs under a stone. Phoebus sees the Judge's point and afterwards, the Judge who must attend the Festival of Fools invites Phoebus to come along. While at the festival Quasimodo tries to stay out of sight but accidentally falls into Esmerelda's tent, she helps him up and comments on his "mask." After Frollo arrives he has a Phoebus watch Esmeralda, both of which become smitten with her dancing, (Frollo especially). At first Quasimodo manages to stay out of sight of Frollo at least until he is invited with others to be crowned King of Fools but everyone is shocked at Quasimodo's face and Frollo cannot believe he is here. At first Quasimodo is embarrassed but Clopin points out they were looking for the ugliest face in the city and found it. Quasimodo is crowned and showered in joy and praises, Frollo however just glares at Quasimodo. The joy is short lived however as immediately after the song he is humiliated by the crowd when Frollo's thugs start a riot. Frollo, refuses to help Quasimodo, even holding back Phoebus' attempts to help and the crowd only stops when a kind Esmeralda frees Quasimodo from his restraints and openly defies Frollo. She then throws the crown at Frollo, deeming him to be the biggest fool. The judge immediately orders her arrested, but she escapes by means of illusions, which Frollo refers to as "witchcraft," and assistance from the performers. Before disappearing, two soldiers manage to knock down Frollo's tent, humiliating and angering him. Frollo then confronts Quasimodo and sends him back inside the Cathedral and orders Phoebus to bring Esmerelda to him alive.

Esmeralda follows Quasimodo to find him, but she herself is followed by Phoebus. who himself has fallen for Esmeralda. The two engage in combat after she beats him, Phoebus states he refuses to arrest her inside the Cathedral. After the two are introduced, Frollo comes inside and orders Phoebus to arrest her, Phoebus covers for her saying that she has claimed 'Sanctuary' and thus cannot be arrested as long as she remains in Notre Dame. Frollo finally leaves (or pretends to) when the Archdeacon intervenes, but not before groping Esmerelda's arm. He tell her he's patient and she won't last long inside. He then sniffs her hair claiming to imagine her with a noose but she knows what he was thinking. Frollo is impressed with her wit and that is typical of all gypsies to give people unholy thoughts. He leaves but not before warning Esmeralda that his men will capture her the moment she attempts to escape the Cathedral. Esmeralda cannot stand Frollo but the Archdeacon advises her to not anger Frollo anymore. She then voices her frustration on the fact that not one person from the crowd helped Quasimodo because he is different. He tells her that not all the wrongs of the world cannot be fixed easily but maybe someone else will help. After watching everyone praying, Esmeralda expresses through song a pray for all those suffering. Afterwards she finds Quasimodo in the bell tower who heard her sing and befriends him. Since Esmerelda is his first company, Quasimodo shows her around his home, including his wooden city, the gargoyles, the bells (all of which he named) and the view from the top of the tower. He even invites her stay but she states that she cannot. He then states that she is nothing like the Romani Frollo told him about. She asks why a cruel man like Frollo raised a sweet man like Quasimodo, he tells her Frollo took him in when no one else would because of his appearance. After some palm reading, she sees that he is no monster at all, only a misunderstood soul. When asking if she is evil, he says no and that she is kind to him. As gratitude for helping him in the crowd, Quasimodo helps Esmeralda escape Notre Dame. In return, she leaves him with a map to the Romani hideout, the Court of Miracles, should he ever choose to leave Notre Dame again (Quasimodo at first won't leave or see her but after a kiss changes his mind). After making it back up the tower Phoebus is there and asks to see Esmeralda, Quasimodo is angry to see a guard searching his tower demands that he leaves, Phoebus explains that he is sorry for trapping her here, he only wanted to keep her from being harmed. Before leaving Phoebus tells Quasimodo to tell Esmeralda she is lucky to have a friend like Quasimodo. Back at the tower the three gargoyles comment on how well he and Esmeralda are together. At first Quasimodo thinks there's no hope with his appearance but soon believes that if one person can love him for who he is than he may have true happiness. Frollo himself begins to realize his lustful feelings for Esmeralda and wishes to be free of them to escape eternal damnation. He soon learns of Esmeralda's escape and instigates a city-wide manhunt for her so she will be given the chance to be his or die.

The next morning an unrested Frollo begins the search for Esmerelda with Phoebus. They track down the Romani being hidden throughout the city, and even after offering them pieces of silver for information on Esmerelda, no one gives her away so Frollo has them locked up. Realizing that Frollo has lost his mind, when he traps a miller and his family in their house to kill them, Phoebus politely refuses to kill them as he was not trained to do this but is told that he was trained to follow orders. Regardless, Phoebus defies the judge by saving an innocent family, as Frollo orders him executed for treason but is assisted in escape by Esmeralda. After being hit by an arrow, Phoebus falls into the Seine River and is left for dead by Frollo, but he is rescued by Esmeralda, who takes him to Quasimodo for refuge.

Frollo has started to burn Paris to find Esmeralda and soon returns to the cathedral wondering how she escaped the guards. Meanwhile the four friends look down on the city being burned and feel terrible for everyone. Soon Victor, Hugo, and Laverne encourage Quasimodo to tell Esmerelda how he feels as he has much to offer. However Phoebus and Esmeralda have fallen for each other after she tends to him. Soon Frollo comes to visit Quasimodo, before she leaves, he promises to take care of Phoebus but with Frollo approaching this forces Quasimodo to hide Phoebus. After Frollo arrives Quasimodo says he thought Frollo wouldn't be coming but he tells the bell ringer he always has times to see him. While having some grapes together Frollo hints that he knows Quasimodo is hiding something but he keeps calm and tries to show nothing is wrong. Discovering the wooden figure of Esmeralda that Quasimodo made Frollo says he knows he helped Esmeralda escape and loses his temper at Quasimodo stating that Paris is burning and that she is a gypsy who is incapable of love. He clutches Quasimodo by his shirt, but stops to recompose himself as he thinks Quasimodo is under her spell and they'll be free from her. As he leaves, the judge bluffs that he knows where the Court of Miracles is and intends to attack it at dawn with a battalion. After he leaves, Phoebus requests Quasimodo's help in finding the Court before Frollo. At first Quasimodo won't save her because he knows everyone won't immediately hail him as a hero and Esmeralda now has her own knight in shining armor. However, knowing that she is trouble he agrees to join but only for Esmerelda's sake. Using the map she left, they find The Court of Miracles and are almost hung by Clopin for being spies (which they fail to explain), but they are saved when Esmeralda intervenes and clears up the misunderstanding. Phoebus tries to get the court to retreat as Frollo plans to invade at dawn; Esmeralda advises that they leave right away and everyone starts to pack up. Esmeralda thanks Phoebus for telling them, even though it was risky but Phoebus tells her Quasimodo is to thank. Suddenly, Frollo's army appears and captures them all, with the judge revealing that he followed Phoebus and Quasimodo. He gloats about Quasimodo being useful at last and finding Esmeralda, he is also impressed at Phoebus being alive and will remedy it. He tells the gypsies there will be a bonfire tomorrow night and everyone is invited to witness it. He has everyone locked up, Quasimodo pleads with his master to stop but Frollo won't have it, he has his soldiers take Quasimodo back to the bell tower and to stay there.

Frollo reads Esmerelda's crime of witchcraft and to be burned, he tries to ask her again to be his lover or she will burn, she spits on Frollo's face refusing his proposal of her becoming his mistress, he then orders Esmeralda burned at the stake. Up in the bell tower, the gargoyles try to free Quasimodo telling him not to give up but he won't have it, they stop helping but tell him he is stronger than stone. Frollo gets a torch and burns the wheat Esmeralda is standing on, and she starts coughing, and then she goes unconscious. When Quasimodo sees Esmeralda in pain, he gives in to his anger and rescues her, bringing her to the cathedral and yelling "Sanctuary!" As Frollo grabs a sword and orders his men to attack the cathedral, Phoebus ignites a rebellion among the people of Paris who have had enough of Frollo's tyranny, and a battle ensues in the street between the citizenry and Frollo's thug army. Quasimodo places Esmeralda's unconscious body on a bed and after fighting back with wood, stone, bricks and even pigeons, the team pours a cauldron of molten copper onto the streets to ensure nobody gets inside. Frollo, however, manages to break in and force his way past the Archdeacon. Quasimodo, believing Esmeralda to be dead, breaks down in tears beside her body as Frollo comes into the room to kill him with a dagger. Quasimodo, in his fury, disarms his former guardian which causes Frollo to actually show fear and tearfully Quasimodo tells Frollo that people like him are the only reason the world is so "dark and cruel". Esmeralda wakes up alive, and Quasimodo grabs her and flees. The deranged judge chases them onto the balcony, where he attacks Quasimodo and Esmeralda with his sword. The battle ends with Frollo maniacally quoting the Bible, and him and Quasimodo both falling from the balcony. After Frollo falls to his death, Quasimodo also falls but is caught by Phoebus on a lower floor and Quasimodo laments the death of his old master and adoptive father. About this short time, the three friends reunite.

As the citizens celebrate their victory over Frollo, Quasimodo reluctantly emerges from the Cathedral to face the populace again, only this time, he is hailed as a hero and is finally accepted into society.

A brief post-credits scene sees Hugo enthusiastically wishing everyone a good night.

## Cast and characters

* To-be-announced actor as Quasimodo
* To-be-announced actress as Esmeralda
* To-be-announced actor as Claude Frollo
* To-be-announced actor as Phoebus
* To-be-announced actor as Clopin Trouillefou

## Differences from the original story

Since the original Victor Hugo novel is filled to the brim with heaps of dark and morbid subject material that would be considered inappropriate for family viewers, Disney took considerable liberties with the original source material and therefore altered the story. Here are some main differences:

* In the book, Quasimodo was deaf, and had unintelligible speech; in the film, he was not deaf, and quite capable of fluent speech.
* In the book, Frollo willingly adopts Quasimodo; in the film, Frollo is made Quasimodo's guardian by the Archdeacon as atonement for murdering Quasimodo's mother.
* In the book Quasimodo's mother is cruel and neglectful, having abandoned him on the steps of Notre Dame. In the film, she is kind and caring towards the deformed Quasimodo, as she loves him in spite of his deformity, even sacrificing herself to save Quasimodo from the cruelty of the French government led by Frollo.
* In the book, Quasimodo is around four years old when Frollo takes him in; in the film, he is an infant.
* In the film, Esmeralda was confirmed a gypsy. In the book, she was not born a gypsy and was born to a recluse.
* In the film, Esmeralda saves Quasimodo and Phoebus from being hanged in the Court of Miracles. In the book, she saves a man named Pierre Gringoire.
* In the book, Phoebus was an untrustworthy womanizer. He was much kinder and friendlier to Quasimodo and Esmeralda in the film.
* In the book, Esmeralda was 16 years old. In the film she appears to be much older, perhaps in her late-20s or early-30s.
* In the book, Frollo successfully killed Esmeralda. In the film, Quasimodo rescues her from being burned at the stake.
* In the novel, Quasimodo committed suicide after Esmeralda and Frollo died. He found Esmeralda's dead body and clutched it until he starved to death.
* In the film, Frollo was a judge, was archenemies with the archdeacon, was racist, and named Quasimodo after his disfigurement. In the book, Frollo *was* the archdeacon had more sympathy and compassion and named Quasimodo after Quasimodo Sunday.
* In the book, Esmeralda was sentenced to be hanged. In the film, she was nearly burned at the stake.
* The talking gargoyles do not appear in the book.
* Gringoire, Fleur-de-Lys, Paquette, and Jehan Frollo do not appear in the movie.
* In the book, Frollo was thrown off the cathedral by Quasimodo after Esmeralda's death. In the film, the gargoyle on which he was standing broke, and he fell into the pit of molten lead (that Quasi and the gargoyles poured earlier) while trying to murder both Quasimodo and Esmeralda.
* In the book, Phoebus tried to seduce Esmeralda, was stabbed by Frollo (who framed Esmeralda for it), but survived, and instead of claiming Esmeralda's innocence, he married a woman named Fleur-de-Lys, though their marriage ended up being an unhappy one. In the film, he truly loved Esmeralda, and later happily marries her in the sequel, having a son (Zephyr) with her.
* In the book, Esmeralda does not like Quasimodo instantly.
* In the book, Frollo tried to rape Esmeralda when she hides in the bell tower, but Quasimodo picks Frollo, and slammed him against the wall. While in the movie this isn't stated outright (being a family film), there are several noticeable hints that Frollo lusts for Esmeralda and that the only thing that keeps him from acting on that lust is his nature as a religious fundamentalist.
* In the book, Quasimodo gave Esmeralda a high pitched whistle, one of the few things that Quasimodo can hear; this does not appear in the film.
* In the book, Clopin leads his Gypsies in an attack below Notre Dame, using a scythe to fight and singing gleefully, until he is shot and killed with an arquebus (an early gun); in the film, Clopin is mostly absent from the final battle, only seen leaping out of his cage with Djali and the other Gypsies when the townspeople free them; he survives the battle and provides the closing narration/reprise.
* In the book, during Esmeralda’s execution, the people of Paris vehemently condemn her as a witch. However, in the film, the people have an exact opposite reaction. Instead, they protest against Esmeralda’s burning by proclaiming and maintaining her innocence. Some have even been seen struggling against Frollo’s soldiers.