It all starts with a classic “ wish upon a star ” in Disney ’s centenary animated releaseWish .
io9 latterly sat down with Jennifer Lee , Walt Disney Animation ’s Chief Creative Officer — she ’s also the author and co - director of the Frozen flick — to talk about her penning on Wish and her upheaval forWorld of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland . As Disney fairytale fans , we were especially excited to dig into a movie that ’s set to define the origins ofDisney lore , concentrate around Asha ( Ariana DeBose ) , a young charwoman who hopes to become the apprentice to Magnifico ( Chris Pine ) , the wish - award swayer of her kingdom . As she gets unaired to discovering the malevolent truth about the king ’s magic , she makes a wish that bring magical help in the form of a sentient superstar , setting in movement the mythology of Disney ’s first 100 years in animation .
Sabina Graves , io9 : I ’m already obsess with Star and Asha . I ca n’t waitress to see more of their conjuring trick . What inspire the idea for Wish as you were get confining to Disney ’s centenary , and how did the stem of Bob Hope take word form in Star and Asha ?
Image: Walt Disney Animation
Jennifer Lee : It ’s interesting because we call up about what Disney means to a lot of us . When we would ask , “ just say what words come to take care , ” [ the responses are thing like ] hope , possibility , joy , playfulness wonder — you recognize , all of those ideas [ that ] help you get through operose times . I think part of why we turn tail into Disney is because it reconnects with those paper but it does so through storytelling that does n’t disregard challenge . It ’s storytelling that looks at how life can promote on you when you do n’t find that powerful and how it gives you clues for how to make out . When we think of those concepts , they ’re resonant to us .
But the idea with Asha is when you think about what a wish is — the hopes and wishes and dreams , they ’re really about find a purpose in the world and finding that thing that drive you . And to have a new woman watch her journey as she attempt to figure out who she wants to be in this world , connecting to that minute in your life where you look at the world and all of the rose - colored field glass fall away , what we see is incredible generosity — not selfishness . “ I want to do better things for this world , for the people of this world , for my family , for my champion . ” It ’s a bit with incredible opportunity , so when we look at that and created and got down to that specificity , I knew there was a story . Obviously Star represents that hope and wonder and possibility , but Asha represents the truth of of how we persevere in the world .
io9 : I screw that dynamic . and how Magnifico get into the position as a enhancer . We have a go at it a complex Disney villain , and it seems he has a complicated relationship with Asha . As both are sort of opt by magic , are there ways in which they align that might surprise audiences ?
Image: Walt Disney Animation
Lee : In many way , the villains in the past times , what they really informed is that there ’s a selfishness or an exploitation of an idea commonly for a means to a greater end for them . And those qualities that we babble about in fairy tale you ’re learn to to triumph over — even in yourself . You know , I mean that we talk about those abstractly . But when it got to Magnifico , we also acknowledged that as innovative audiences [ have ] evolved , they require more complex character . The number one thing we felt keep on being necessitate of us as we talked to folk music about the story , even in the studio , was “ Why does he do what he does ? What propel him ? ” They must desire to see the human inside the character reference to navigate it in [ a ] not so smutty and white [ way ] , but something more dimensional . And so we go on this journey with Magnifico , where we say , yes , there ’s a moment where the protagonist and the baddie align , like philosophically people can align , we can happen our common ground , but it ’s in our activity that we reveal our eccentric . So it ’s in our choices we make . When he ’s tested and challenged , he makes very unlike selection from the poof , from Asha , from her friend . And that ’s the thing that it was so fun to to reckon at , but to do in a different way than we ’d done before when it come to a villain .
io9 : Yes . And I just love the chemistry that Ariana and Chris have . What made them support out for these roles ?
Lee : With Ariana , she ’s so warm and inviting , she ’s very compassionate . As a dancer she ’s very kinetic and expressive with her whole body and I think stealing that for Asha was great . But also , she said she represents the vulnerability of experience a very regular life story and then being sort of throw off into a big glare . I call back that wreak a lot to how Asha [ is ] suddenly going [ from ] a living that ’s on her terms and easy , to a life full of making enceinte choices and [ her ] activeness affect others . Not to name , her telling phonation is unbelievable and she can do anything . With Chris — I had the opportunity to [ co - write the script for 2018 ’s ] A Wrinkle in Time that he did . I knew he work such profoundness to every theatrical role he works on . And so for Magnifico , who needed to be complex , who you require to conceive his charm , you needed to believe what he believes at certain moments , and that only make out from the sort of cryptic study [ Pine ] does . He ’s also charming and funny and so fresh and that come through with Magnifico . He ’s very smart and then also can babble . So it ’s like , whoa . Another win ?
World of Frozen, Hong Kong DisneylandImage: Disney Parks
io9 : I want to shut things out with a jump into the theme park world . I ’m so aroused for World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland . Arendelle Kingdom has come in to life so rapidly — I ca n’t await to experience it someday . What has it been like to see this land you imagine in the Frozen films arrive to spirit , and what do you hope fans take forth from visiting Anna and Elsa ’s land ?
downwind : Well , I ’m heading to Hong Kong in a couplet of calendar month for the opening of World of Frozen . I think everywhere and all the parks that have embrace Frozen has been blowing me away . I connect to that part of me as a small fry [ at ticker ] to get to finger like you ’re walking in Arendelle , that you ’re feeling connected to these characters and viscerally . The more we can create for the consultation and any fan of of Frozen or Disney , this splanchnic , personal connexion to the human race — not just the characters , it ’s beyond a dreaming come unfeigned . You ’ll have to ask me again because I do n’t know how I ’m going to see anything cause I ’ll be crying , but I ’ll do my best .
io9 : Will do ! And congrats on Wish , I ca n’t hold off to see the whole flick .
bid open up November 22 .
need more io9 word ? chequer out when to expect the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the next ofDoctor Who .
AnimationElsaFilmsFrozenSabina GravesWalt Disney
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