 Every aspect of the film was constantly analyzed , with storylines , jokes , and characters regularly being rewritten . Although most animated films do not make extensive changes to the film during active production due to budget restrictions , The Simpsons Movie crew continued to edit their film into 2007 , with some edits taking place as late as May , two months before the film was released . James L. Brooks noted , " 70 percent of the things in [ one of the trailers ] — based on where we were eight weeks ago — are no longer in the movie . " Groening said that enough material for two more movies was cut . Various new characters were created , and then cut because they did not contribute enough . Originally Marge was the character who had the prophetic vision in church . The writers however considered this to be too dark and it was changed to Grampa . The role of Lisa 's love interest Colin was frequently revised . He was previously named Dexter and Adrien , and his appearance was completely altered . One idea was to have Milhouse act as Lisa 's love interest , but the writers realized " the audience was not as familiar with [ his ] long @-@ standing crush on [ Lisa ] as [ they had ] thought " . A car chase in which Homer throws flaming mummies out of a truck at the EPA was replaced with " more emotional and realistic " scenes at the motel and carnival that allowed for a change of pace . 
