A Dream Cast

The spell of ENCHANTED is that it is not just one kind of story. Per the director, “It’s really every genre. And that’s what’s been the biggest challenge of the movie—taking so many different genres and melding them into a seamless whole. You’ve got animation. You’ve got romantic comedy. You’ve got a little bit of action-adventure. And you’ve got a musical comedy. And all of those are happening at the same time. And balancing all of those tones, so to speak, is really the magic of pulling this movie together.” This is the typical challenging creative journey you get when working with Kevin Lima…” says executive producer Chase, “… Kevin loves to bring together talented musicians, painters, actors, technicians, animators – really whomever is the best at what they do and can help him bring his ideas to life. It’s one of the reasons he and I work with Disney so much -- they understand and have a history of working with artists.”

The magic began when a then actress-on-the-rise named Amy Adams walked in to audition for the part of Giselle. Lima was sick at the time, running a temperature of 103°, and had little desire to be anywhere let alone a casting session. Adams’ beautiful and astounding work in “Junebug” had yet to be seen, and so her face was not recognizable to the filmmakers present. And yet, her 15-minute audition became a 45-minute audition and, because of her uncanny ability to embody a naïve, young girl, she stuck in Lima’s mind. After that there was no question and she was cast in the part.

She found Lima to be a kindred spirit and offers, “He comes from animation, so he has such a wonderful visual sense. He understands what an animated character would do far better than I do, so he was very helpful in assisting me to understand what Giselle is like and how to portray her. He set the tone. Also, I grew up in Colorado and I always loved the Disney films and characters. Like most little girls, I wanted to be a princess. But being a Disney princess is much harder that I ever anticipated. I think it is easier if you are an animated princess! Snow White has nothing on me, because she didn’t have to do her own stunts and dancing.”

For the hard-working Adams, landing the role of Giselle was never taken for granted: “It was so exciting and it never really sunk in. I had done a lot of musical theater growing up and as an adult, so that helped me a lot. I often burst into song in the film, because that’s what Disney princesses do. It’s such fun having this musical component. I also loved seeing the hand-drawn animation in the classic Disney style. What an honor to be drawn as Giselle by these talented artists.”

The glove fit of actress to role struck producer Barry Josephson: “Because Amy was always so deep into character, whether she was speaking or singing or dancing, it was her experiencing the moment, completely in character. She’s so expressive and you know emotionally exactly what is running through her. She gives and gives, and offers something new on every take—for the character she’s playing, that emotionality is so much a part of who she is. She’s just wonderful.”

That emotional journey was a gift of the role. Adams offers, “Giselle discovers what love really is and what being human is all about—what it feels like to have genuine emotions. She finds out that life is more complicated than it has appeared so far—it’s not all about happy endings. It’s about something much deeper, much better. That’s something that I really loved about the story, and that journey is something that an actor relishes bringing to life.”

Illuminating that day-to-day, emotional journey is also something for which actor Patrick Dempsey is well-known. At the center of the ensemble show “Grey’s Anatomy,” Dempsey portrays Dr. Derek Shepherd, and has netted awards and popular success from the series, as well as for his previous film work. Dempsey also struck filmmakers as the perfect actor to bring the no-nonsense divorce lawyer, Robert Phillip, to life—a man who no longer believes in happy endings, and who is just trying to bring up his daughter in this somewhat cynical, modern-day world. For Lima, this character serves as the lens of the film—a vulnerable character who doesn’t understand the turns his life has taken. Early on in the casting process, a reading was set up for Patrick and Amy to get a gauge on their on-screen chemistry, and the result was magical.

Dempsey comments, “His wife has run out on him, and he’s raising a young daughter on his own… and then a fairy princess walks into his life. Of course, he thinks she is probably crazy. Later, there is a leap of faith on his part, where he believes in who she is and what she stands for.” For the actor, it was walking that fine line of romantic comedy that became the biggest challenge: “This man has had his heart broken. And he adores his daughter. The question is how do I make the audience believe that I could fall in love with someone like Giselle? It’s tricky, but I’m the real guy entering into her fantasy world. And the filmmakers have brought in levels of sophistication that just make it work, I think. The difficulty and challenge is trying to keep the reality solid, and I had to stay centered. My character is a father first and foremost and everything that motivates me is for my daughter. I have been through divorce, but I’m also representing the audience in some ways—what would they do in this crazy situation? Why do I allow her into my apartment and my life? How do I convince the audience, too? She is a fairytale princess landing in reality, and I am the real guy entering into a fantasy world. It’s a bit tricky.”

Being the “straight man” amidst the comedy actually worked for Dempsey, who says, “The movie is about true love. There is also a nice balance—it’s an escape movie, it’s fun and contemporary, and in some ways, it’s a little old-fashioned with singing numbers. It’s quirky and fun and challenging. And I didn’t sing, but I think that helps the audience be able to relate to my character—because they probably don’t sing that much in their lives either.”

Princes, on the other hand, sing quite a bit, at least in animated films. Prince Edward sings, and swaggers, and goes on quests in search of love—in short, he’s the classic Disney prince. For the role, filmmakers tapped James Marsden, known more for his work in the global “X-Men” franchise than for anything resembling animated princely behavior.

And that is precisely what appealed to Marsden: “I thought it was a great opportunity to do a film that my kids could see. I have a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl and I don’t get out to the movies very often these days. So the movies I do see are these types of films... so I thought it would be fun to make a family movie, and one particularly for my kids.”

For Marsden’s character, it’s a real search-and-rescue kind of endeavor. “The juxtaposition of these perfect, iconic Disney characters—Giselle from Andalasia landing in the middle of New York’s Times Square, and my character, Prince Edward, not far behind—with a more cynical, present-day New York provides great opportunities for a lot of humor. One of the hardest parts about playing this character is that you know that you’re playing this flawless drawing of a Disney prince, and you have to represent that when you come into the real world. So all of a sudden, you have this giant magnifying glass over you, and it’s all got to be perfect.”

For Lima, Marsden struck the perfect notes of royal puffery and bravado, along with a streak of sincerity a mile wide. Per Lima: “Jimmy plays bigger than life beautifully, and he’s as handsome as a prince, and he’s lit with this inner light. He was able to be theatrical without playing down to the character.” EP, Chase remembers: “Jimmy’s audition was just like Amy’s, they both walked into their auditions and nailed the characters perfectly. Kevin was so relieved after those sessions because he began to believe that we finally might be able to really bring these characters to life.”

Marsden sees ENCHANTED as “...a real homage to the old Disney classic fairytale films, and then brings those characters into the real world. These characters feel like aliens running through Manhattan. I think it’s really funny—this prince is a great character, a peacock who’s full of himself…in a good, naïve, sort of healthy and innocent way.”

Accomplished British funny man (as well as dramatic actor) Timothy Spall also got to bring a healthy sense of fun to his character of Nathaniel, a “comic villain” and Queen Narissa’s lackey (he also happens to be in love with Narissa), who has the grim duty of acting on her behalf as he attempts to poison Giselle. Luckily for him, he has no idea that the Queen actually despises him and considers him a buffoon. Spall remembers, “When I first read the script, I thought it was very clever, smart and witty. I thought it was an extremely entertaining story and I also recognized immediately that it was a new take on many of the classic Disney films I’d seen back as a child. But it stands up on its own as a piece of very clever, witty writing with an excellent story and some wonderful, comic, romantic characters—a real compendium of entertainment, actually. I thought, if they want me, I definitely want to do it.”

Josephson jokes, “Both Jimmy and Tim play a good part of the movie acting opposite a CG animated chipmunk, and when that is your lot, I think you have to have a sense of humor about your work, and they both do. And they both have a joy that comes through in their performances.”

Another one of the many surprises of ENCHANTED is seeing Tony-winning Broadway superstar, Idina Menzel, onscreen. Menzel explains, “I’m a real New Yorker at heart, and that’s who my character Nancy is. I guess I kind of know her and relate to her. You find yourself a little jaded, being brought up in New York, and you have to sort of remind yourself that there are people out there who live for dreams and the fairytales. This movie is a great reminder. It’s an amazing combination of genres—as a musical, which obviously I’m comfortable in, and it’s animated, it’s a fairytale, it’s an action movie and, most of all, it’s just a great romantic comedy.”

For Menzel, it was “...the idealism of the movie. You know, New York is often portrayed as a dark, hard-edged city, and Giselle brings this colorful, vibrant energy to New York City. Even my character and Patrick’s character are affected by her idealism. And as much as we try to resist being hopeful and enchanted, we can’t help ourselves, can’t help but feel something special, and learning from her. Nancy is very ambitious and motivated, but is also a hopeless romantic—she hides that and tries to be cooler than she is. She’s moved on and will take what she can get—whatever modern love looks and feels like.”

In the classic formula—especially where princes and damsels are concerned—the story won’t get very far without a really great villain. Filmmakers could not believe their luck when, to fill the role of their grandiose, black-hearted queen, they landed an iconic beauty with ample talent, heart and smarts—Oscar®-winner Susan Sarandon.

From Sarandon’s perspective, “The film is original, but it is also inspiring, because—unlike many fairytale heroines—Giselle is not only strong, but also a great female role. I like ENCHANTED because the princess is plucky and actually saves the prince. They have taken a modern spin using iconic Disney characters that we all grew up with—the whole style of the film is quite unusual. I like the fact that it is old-school animation. You don’t come across many original concepts, and basically, I think this film is original and great!”

The director observes, “Susan can do anything, and she transitions from being a cartoon character to a larger-than-life villainess with that wonderful archness and a magnificent sense of theatricality. She takes what she did in the animation—both as the queen and as the old hag—and perfectly recalibrates them for live-action. It’s just amazing to watch her. Even under all that old-age makeup, the performance comes through. Just with her eyes. And it’s wonderfully scary to watch.”

Josephson adds, “There is a great deal of joy and passion in Susan’s evilness. We’re lucky in that she wanted to play this part for about five years. She was so committed that she was working on the character, giving us script notes—she was that passionate about the project. And that’s come out from her since the first day on the movie…she wanted to be wicked and she wanted to be expressive. But it isn’t a standard villain. She and Kevin worked out a way for it to be unique, something that we haven’t quite seen before.”

Young actress Rachel Covey was cast as Morgan, Robert’s six-year-old daughter. The youngest performer in the cast revealed, “Morgan’s supposed to be six-years-old, except secretly, while we were filming, I was almost eight. She’s very sweet, and that’s why I play her…because she’s a lot like me!”

Filmmakers also decided—in addition to the ENCHANTED characters sharing similar qualities with their Disney ilk—that the screenplay would also ‘tip the hat’ to the genre it was re-imagining. Lima relates, “Early on in the process, we tried to let the script speak back to all the traditional Disney movies, and we peppered the characters’ journey with of a lot of the iconic ideas and character arcs from such classics as ‘Snow White,’ ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ So we looked for ways to work in such things as a glass slipper, or a poisoned apple—especially that moment when she takes a bite out of it and the apple hits the ground, and you see the character’s arm hit the floor and the apple roll away. We ended up calling those the ‘princess moments’ in the movie…and there are a lot of them sort of hidden throughout the movie.

“Then, we thought that it might be fun to take it a step further,” he continues, “so we got in contact with many of the women who have voiced Disney princesses and we’ve peppered the film with them.”

So Jodi Benson, the voice of “The Little Mermaid,” appears as Sam, Robert’s assistant. Paige O’Hara—Belle of “Beauty and the Beast”—portrays Trish, an actress on a soap opera. And Judy Kuhn plays a woman with kids for whom Prince Edward is too late.

Additionally, the script of ENCHANTED contains salutes big and small to the studio and its heritage, both verbal and visual: Robert is representing a client with the last name of Banks (the family in “Mary Poppins”); at one point, Giselle’s reflection looks back at her from an array of soap bubbles (as seen in “Cinderella”); Queen Narissa appears reflected in water, in everything from glass bottles to a soup pot (“Mirror, mirror” from “Snow White,” anyone?); Giselle encounters a very short, very angry business man, whom she mistakenly calls Grumpy; along with many other winks to the cognoscenti in the audience. Says Chase, “The fun of it is that if you don’t know it doesn’t matter one bit. It’s just a big smile for those of us who grew up with Disney.”

And what would an endlessly cheerful, almost-princess (both in hand-drawn animation and real-life forms) be without a sidekick, preferably some kind of telegenic and amusing creature? Enter a feisty chipmunk named Pip.

Director Lima on the chattering rodent: “I’m just thrilled with Pip, because he’s one of those rare moments when you capture something that’s in your head. I remember when I was on the set, I would act out where Pip would be and what he’d be saying and how he’d be moving for everybody. I’d be saying things like, ‘And then he jumps up on the cup. And he looks at you and he goes, “SQUEAK!”’ And the crew would look at me like I was crazy.”

“I just had an idea of what he was supposed to be from the very beginning. So to have him come to CG life in this way, and be actually more than I thought he would be is pretty grand. I love the fact that we’ve created a performance with a character without him having to speak at all. You know exactly what’s going on with Pip from just the way he holds his shoulders or he droops or he touches his head or his expression changes. It’s a tribute to the animators that Pip’s performance is so grounded and true. It’s really the art of animation at its finest.”

The director is also proud that, while a lot of the time these sidekicks are blessed with the voice of a very funny, probably very famous actor, Pip is silent for most of the film… save his squeaks… which are actually supplied by Lima himself.

Again, per Lima: “It was out of necessity more than anything, actually. When we started putting together the real world pieces with Pip, we just started cutting dialogue to it. And we needed some attitude beyond just the drawings. So I just started recording some scratch dialogue. It just so happened that everybody thought it was funny, and they liked it… so it stuck.”