Desde Hollywood recently participated in a recent virtual press conference with the stars and filmmakers of the anticipated musical DISENCHANTED.
Actors and filmmakers behind the sequel to the beloved original film, ENCHANTED, talked about the journey towards the sequel:
Amy Adams (Giselle), Patrick Dempsey (Robert), Maya Rudolph (Malvina), Idina Menzel (Nancy), Gabriella Baldacchino (Morgan), Yvette Nicole Brown (Rosaleen), Jayma Mays (Ruby), Oscar Nunez (Edgar/Barista/Mirror), producer Barry Josephson, director/executive producer Adam Shankman, and composer and co-songwriter Alan Menken.

Read below some highlights from the interesting conversation.

DISENCHANTED> is now streaming on Disney+.

Adams on portraying Giselle in a new chapter of her life:

“We were looking at where Giselle would be now. When we leave her in Enchanted, there’s been an evolution from the beginning of the movie to who Giselle is at the end of the movie. So, this film is taking that evolution of who she might be after spending 10 years [away]—but also making sure we keep her grounded and true to her feelings, without losing that joy, and that naivete and innocence and purity that makes Giselle so special. That’s where my launching place was—taking everything that I loved about Giselle in the first movie, and then getting this opportunity to spin it throughout. It was really just such a pleasure.”

Jacobsen on the genesis of this new chapter:

“It was just such a joy to see the script come together and become something really joyous, a musical with comedy but with the right amount of drama, all pivoting around, what is Giselle’s new ‘character?’ What is her dilemma? How do we progress from the original movie and yet make something that was definitely a new movie, a fresh new start for her character and the other characters that everybody loved from the first film?’ And I can’t think of anybody’s stewardship that it was better to develop with than Adam, because he really understood what the music elements needed to be and how all the characters needed to grow.”

Rudolph on the joy of being part of a Disney musical:

“We all had fun; we really did. Even though I’ve had a chance to sing in things before, it was nothing like this experience. And knowing that I was going to get to sing this Menken and [Stephen] Schwartz song was really, truly like a ‘life fulfillment’ [thing—like I’d been training for the marathon my whole life! And that’s what it was every day. We’d go to vocal rehearsal and we’d go to dance rehearsal, and we were working towards the day where we shot the song. And then we shot it, and it was amazing! Truly, I’m not worthy. Such a dream came true. There are no words for stuff like that… This was little Maya’s dream of what it’s like to be in a musical.”

Menzel on the evolution of her character Nancy in the sequel:

“Mine was a pretty drastic change [in the first film]. I go from this cynical New York chick who jumps down a portal—or a manhole—and then I come out [entirely different]. It was so much fun, but the challenge was figuring out the balance; Adam and I would talk, and I’d say, ‘How much of my New York accent do I still have, coming back from Andalasia? And how much has this idyllic, romantic, beautiful, perfect place rubbed off on me?’ And then putting on the corset and all that—it was an easy journey for me.”

Dempsey on coming back to his character, Robert:

“At the very beginning, Robert is very much the same, although he is kind of trying to balance life with his new baby—and with his older child, and the conflict [there] between the stepmother, and that dynamic. But then getting into the larger-than-life stuff was completely freeing and really fun. For me, it was a fantastic ride. I had a great time, where I could do some sight-seeing in Ireland and work on the musical. And that whole process of finding your voice—working with the [vocal] coach on that—learning the lyrics and the choreography was an extraordinary experience, and something I’d never done before. I really appreciate the talent, the voices—the singing that Idina and Amy and Maya and everyone [does]. It’s an extraordinary feeling you get when you sing; the vibration—there’s something very intoxicating about it. So, it was nice to get a taste of that.”

Menken on collaborating again with Schwartz again to bring the story to life through song and music:

“Rather than write for any individual actors, Stephen and I—in the case of this musical—write for the characters and the storyline and take it from there. It just so happens that the actors are perfect for this. In terms of ‘where to start,’ in a way you start from the first Enchanted, which had the most amazing premise: We start in the world of early Walt Disney animation, and this animated princess is thrown into Times Square, where she’s totally unequipped to deal with what happens, and the score kind of grows up with her as she begins to adapt to this world. Well, in the new version, she longs for that world. So, we still go back to those early [themes]—but there’s no ‘happily ever after’ in our world, unlike an animated ending. So, she makes this wish, and that just throws us into this amazing storyline.
Stephen and I had the best time working together. It’s our fourth movie together: Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Enchanted, and now this.”

Shankman on the timing of this sequel and the meaning of “happily ever after”:

“Things were getting really complicated out in the world when we started all of this. There was just a lot of conflict going on, and it felt like it was a good time. The stars definitely aligned; the movie is coming out at the right time. And I would say my ‘happily ever after’ is just the continued love and support of my friends and my loved ones around me. ‘Happily ever after’ sort of says ‘time stops’—because it indicates that life ceases; like bad things never happen again, which is not how life works. To be able to move through life with the joy and the love and the support, in good and bad, with my friends—this group included, for sure, and that is not bologna—that’s ‘happily ever after’ to me. To be able to keep that level of love and support and friends—and laughing!—that’s ‘happily ever after.’”

DISENCHANTED> is now streaming on Disney+.

It has been more than ten years since Giselle (Amy Adams) and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) wed, but Giselle has grown disillusioned with life in the city, so they move their growing family to the sleepy suburban community of Monroeville in search of a more fairy tale life. Unfortunately, it isn’t the quick fix she had hoped for. Suburbia has a whole new set of rules and a local queen bee, Malvina Monroe (Maya Rudolph), who makes Giselle feel more out of place than ever. Frustrated that her happily ever after hasn’t been so easy to find, she turns to the magic of Andalasia for help, accidentally transforming the entire town into a real-life fairy tale and placing her family’s future happiness in jeopardy. Now, Giselle is in a race against time to reverse the spell and determine what happily ever after truly means to her and her family.