Fun Fact of the Week #501 (featuring John Dusenberry)

Hi everyone! To celebrate the 500th week of posting these weekly fun facts, I'm super excited to share that this week's fun fact was written by a very special guest writer. That guest is none other than the amazing John Dusenberry, who was a story artist for SCOOB!, and the head of story for Scoob! Holiday Haunt. John shared not one, but four fun facts with us, including a few previously unshared details about Holiday Haunt.

• Despite the news that Holiday Haunt was getting shelved, we were still given the greenlight to finish the film. So, unlike Batgirl and some of the other shows that were cancelled during that time, Holiday Haunt is DONE! In the can! Ready to GO! As emotionally taxing as it was to finish a film knowing it was destined for the vault, we prided ourselves in bringing the film to completion in the off chance that it'll eventually see the light of day.
• Scratch dialogue plays a crucial role in shaping animated movies before final voice actors are cast. And thanks to my background in acting and improv, I often step in to provide voices for characters as we develop them. On Holiday Haunt I was cast as the voice of Santa Claus right up until the end, when an impromptu line read by Mark Hamill revealed that he was clearly the better choice. Can you believe it?! (Haha). I also provided scratch for a character Andre Braugher ended up voicing and by some crazy coincidence I was also tapped to do scratch for a part that Andre was slated to voice in the upcoming Cat in the Hat!
• There was a standout character in Holiday Haunt that was directly inspired by one of our childhood heroes: John Candy. And while it would have been ideal for John to voice the part, we knew that wasn't possible. So, we aimed to find someone who not only knew and loved John, but would also be perfect for the role in their own right. Our first pick was the legend himself, Mr. Dan Aykroyd. But, due to his commitments to the new Ghostbusters film, Dan couldn't take the role. This led to a rather fortunate turn of events when another actor connected to John Candy stepped in: the one and only Michael McKean! McKean brought a level of professionalism and depth of character exploration that I have never seen from another voice actor, and it was truly an honor to work with him.
• Bonus Fun Fact: McKean had worked with John Candy in that iconic scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which by some cosmic coincidence was a major source of inspiration for my "Lady Cop" sequence in the first SCOOB!.

A huge thank you to John for guest writing this week's fun fact! It was so fun getting to talk to him and getting to learn this behind-the-scenes info about the film, and I'm excited to share that this isn't all! I had the pleasure of doing a full interview with John about his experience working on SCOOB! and Scoob! Holiday Haunt. Be sure to check back tomorrow for my full interview with John!