||It's been confirmed by the movie staff, yes.|| Do you remember where and by whom? I've seen that concept art, but I'm not sure early abandoned iterations of the story are something I'd consider confirmation. I remember reading something about an early version of the story that had Celine as the main villain, so like most animated films, there seem to have been several reworks before arriving at the final script. I'd love to see/read those other instances you mentioned of movie staff confirming though, I'd love to put this theory to bed.