It’s perhaps a Herculean task to take on the challenge of making a sequel to a movie an entire generation came up on. Adam Shankman made the decision to make it two times in one year. And, according to the filmmaker, the real challenge of making a sequel is realizing that fans don’t always want too much growth in their characters.
The first was that he produced the executive “Hocus Pocus 2” for Disney+, and now, he’s celebrating the release of “Disenchanted,” He also directed the event. He celebrated the occasion away from social media during the initial days, to avoid any negative reactions. He’s happy with what he made, and he simply hopes the people who came up on “Enchanted” They are also happy.
“The reality is — and this is kind of, this strangely feathers into the movie — a lot of what I deal about this whole part of the process now, is you know, I made something. It is what it is because of a million reasons,” Shankman explained that to. “And then it’s done, and I can’t control what happens out in the world after that. And so it is not in my best interest to try to control it, to try to control the narrative.”
He continued, “Because I can’t. And that’s actually literally like, what the movie’s about. With this, Giselle is like, ‘I can’t control something, so I can try to control it. And if I try to control it, I’ll just make things worse,’ you know? And so, my feeling is, step away.”
The case of “Disenchanted” However, Shankman was more interested in a situation in which he stepped up to an item he left over ten years earlier. He explains that he was being viewed to direct “Enchanted” It was Disney’s first time it came up. But back then, it wasn’t quite what ended up on screen.
Shankman says that Shankman was the original “Enchanted” It had a more PG-13 vibe. The script had not been finalized and no cast members were available. He was only just getting off. “Bringing Down the House” With Queen Latifah, Steve Martin and Notes “I was kind of psychologically moving in that direction” At the moment. Also, what time? “Enchanted” got a bit more family-oriented, he stepped away — and still beats himself up about it.
“And, you know, big mistake. Congratulations Kevin Lima. Everybody,” Shankman spoke. “I saw it, and then I saw what Amy was and did, the cast, and [James Marsden] who right after he made ‘Enchanted,’ came to me to do ‘Hairspray!’ It was wild.”
You can check out ’s full conversation with Adam Shankman below.
Obviously, “Enchanted” It is an important movie that many people love. What does this mean? “Disenchanted” You jumped at the chance to be there.
Well, that was because, by now, I’ve now become friends with everybody. Like I’m, I directed [James Marsden], I’m friends with Jimmy. I’ve known Patrick for many years. Amy, a close friend, is also a good friend. We are connected by our mutual love for musical theatre. Actually, she actually had her benefit right after I had it. ‘Enchanted!’ She and Jimmy did a duet during a benefit that I directed. Then I put together a performance for them. And that’s how we met. Our deep, almost obsessive love for musical theatre was the root of our friendship.
And so now I’m friends with Amy, and Idina [Menzel] Since many years. When I first went to Disney I was curious about the whole project. Barry Josephson, I know. [the producer of “Enchanted”] had been trying to get it move forward through — I think through, like, two administrations at that point that we had gone through. Dick Cook, Oren Aviv to Rich Ross to Sean [Bailey]We are where we now. And he’d been trying to push the boulder up the hill for so long. It’s really hard to get projects moving through administration flips.
When I got in, I was aware that the place was in a very remote area. I asked Sean for more information. He said: ‘Well, it’s something that we’re still kicking the tires on.’ And he pitched me the story, and there was elements of it that I was like, ‘Oh!,’ And then, I felt like: ‘Oh’. Like, there are other elements where that didn’t seem didn’t seem right or fair to the characters. That’s what I meant. ‘Can you give me the script that you currently have?’ It’s a book I want to read. Then he replied, “sure, why not,” and he handed it to me. Then I took it.
To my mind, I was like, well, I don’t think it should be this direction that they had gone in. But I was like, what everybody seems to be just missing was, with Morgan being a teenager and all that, I was like — does everybody not see that Giselle is Morgan’s stepmother? Giselle would find these words to be different. Oder, her idea of a stepmother might be different than it is in real life.
And there’s even a moment in the first movie where younger Morgan makes the distinction of mother vs. stepmother, and Giselle says “I’ve heard they’re not all bad.”
Exactly. It all depends on the way it is said and what context it takes. The emotional moment would make it happen. The truth is that I went straight from there, created a pitch, then hit Sean. Sean then went to Amy (and Barry), and the entire thing was done, which led us to our current position.
We are here! I know Amy Adams was a producer on this, so I’m curious what your conversations with Here Once the story was finished, what did it look like? She is in this role because it’s so important.
Well, here’s the thing. This is how I frame it. In Hocus Pocus, it’s not hard to stay with the math and the formula of the first one for a very crowd-pleasing experience. All you have to do is revive the witches that died in a specific location. And so when they’d come back, they would be just as they were. So that’s going to be very crowd pleasing for fans. It’s because even though fans are often hungry or desperate for more sequels, I have found that they do not want everyone to be exactly the same. This is quite complicated.
Giselle has a problem “Enchanted” — and this This was the conversation with Amy, and it’s very important — is that Giselle is no longer a fish out of water. It would have been a decade later, she’s not going to be playing just the traditional ingenue anymore, she would have progressed. She would be a completely different, more mature person than she used to be. This was extremely important. The first was the most important. “Enchanted” Her journey to integration into the real world is very positive. She has a relationship, she’s taken on work, you know what I mean? She’s in it.
Now, imagine what that would look like after all those years. You don’t have her personality, or individuality to use anymore. It was crucial to you, so where are you going? [Amy] She had changed. She’s like, ‘If I’ve been living in the world for all this time, I would be different.’ And I said yes. It was a challenge to find the right balance between keeping her optimistic and moving forward.
This seems to be the case with Giselle discovering what sarcasm was, which I found really hilarious.
Well it’s — because Morgan is growing up and [Giselle] doesn’t know how to deal with it. A young child becoming a teenager is a far greater change than just watching Robert grow up in this world. So this is the most dramatic change in a person that she’s seeing. Morgan makes a short speech to describe her experience. ‘You know, I was just this young girl who saw a princess. Of course I believed in magic.’ Then she sort of, you’d say, got out of it and, probably, as many teenagers, felt embarrassed by her parents. She said it: “Imagine if your mom was a magician and performed the drive-thru.” I mean, it’s almost like nightmarish for a teenager.
Gabriella Baldacchino played Morgan in the film. “Disenchanted,” She was an outstanding performer for me. Her character was so beloved that I had to go and look up the movie to find out if Morgan appeared in it.
I’m glad that you appreciated her and liked her! I think Gabby was a true — it was a real find. For me it was easy and fast. I mean, I saw a lot of ladies, and I just — you know, it’s sort of like when I saw Nikki Blonsky for the first time [for Hairspray]. It was as if, ‘Oh, I think I found her.’ It’s obvious that my brain and heart set a limit on me and never let go.
Her performance was extraordinary. I want to say a big thank you to all the fans for Idina Menzel’s performance in this song! Everyone was so sad when the first one came around and Idina didn’t get a song, so was it important to you guys to make sure that she got a musical number this time?
One of the first things that was out of my mouth, and Amy’s mouth. It wasn’t a question. It was my first encounter with Alan. [Menken] Stephen [Schwartz]It was similar to ‘Is Idina–‘ and I was like, ‘Yep, let’s write her a song.’
We were at the peak of quarantine in May 2020. There was a lot of civil unrest in the world. The world was locked up. Everybody was scared to get near the other and all doors were closed. And so Amy and Idina recorded those vocals — like, a completely hazmat-covered person would come in with a briefcase, with a kit, and they would drop it at their house. Completely masking, they shielded all.
Amy, Idina, and Idina would then take it. The computer was there, as well as a microphone, so they could record. They would need to get into their smallest closet to be able to record their lives in their own closets.
Those are the voices that you hear in the movie. Amy’s “Fairytale Life,” The emotional one is the most important. I’d say 95%. “Love Power.”
“Disenchanted” Disney+ now streams the video