Man who sued Disney over Zootopia thinks sequel's snake is based on him

Gary Goldman raced to see animated sequel Zootopia 2 as soon as it arrived in theatres just before Thanksgiving.

- Brooks Barnes

He loved the first instalment in 2016, especially its exploration of whether a meritocracy is attainable. And the critters were cute.

But the 72-year-old left the theatre deeply unsettled feeling that a major new character, a venomous pit viper named Gary De'Snake, had been based on him.

"It's impossible for me to interpret it any other way," he said.

Even after spending his entire working life in Hollywood, Goldman has never met any of the people at Disney who made Zootopia 2, which has become a global box-office sensation.

He realises that he is not the only Gary in the world. He also knows that his assertion, at least at first glance, could come across as the ramblings of a conspiracy theorist.

That is certainly how Disney views Goldman. The company has won two Zootopia-related court battles with him over the years.

But Goldman thinks you should at least hear him out.

"I'm not the only one who sees a connection," he said. Friends have been texting ("OMG") and emailing to say the same thing, he said. Some people have pointed out that the snake's expressive eyes bear similarities to his own.

Goldman has worked in Hollywood for more than 40 years.

He started as a documentarian. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he worked for mega-producers Larry Gordon and Joel Silver. He then segued to screenwriting, working on Big Trouble In Little China (1986) and the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Total Recall (1990).