Disenchanted director reveals Disney was ‘challenged’ by sequel’s two villains and ‘genre flip’-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Disenchanted director Adam Shankman has shared his thoughts on why the much-anticipated sequel to 2007 Oscar-nominated hit Enchanted took so long to become a reality, saying Disney was ‘challenged’ by some of the aspects of the story.

An Enchanted sequel had first been in the works at the company as early as 2010 before original director Anne Fletcher was attached in 2015 and Shankman then replaced her (a close personal friend) in 2016, as she left to helm another long-gestating fan favourite sequel – Hocus Pocus 2.

Musing on what took time, alongside the inevitable queue of productions, he pointed to the fact the sequel ‘flips genre’ away from romantic comedy and comes with two villains attached (including Saturday Night Live veteran Maya Rudolph).

The producer and choreographer told Metro.co.uk: ‘There were some elements I think for Disney, writ large, to get used to. I think there were just some underlying questions about the viability of certain things that they just wanted to make sure we got right.’ 

‘I think they were challenged by the idea that they were two villains. I think they were challenged by the fact that the genre was flipping, that it wasn’t a romantic comedy,’ he added.

‘There were just some things that were really important to the creative team – to Amy [Adams] and Barry [Josephson, producer] and myself. It was really advancing the story in a significant way. We definitely did not just go back to the same formula for that, and so I think everybody just wanted to feel really secure about it – and then it just was in a queue! It was like, when is its time ready?’

Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey finding out That’s How You Know in 2007’s Enchanted (Picture: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock)

The sequel is set 10 years later, and sees Giselle meet Maya Rudolph’s Malvina Munroe (Picture: Disney)

Fans have been waiting 15 years to see a return for Amy Adams as the ever-optimistic Giselle, Patrick Dempsey as Robert, James Marsden as the flamboyant Prince Edward and Idina Menzel as Nancy, after Giselle swapped her storybook life in Andalasia for New York City.

Disenchanted kicks off 10 years later, as Giselle and family move to the suburban community of Monroeville after becoming disillusioned with life in the city.

After Giselle struggles to acclimatise to their new surroundings, she turns to the magic of Andalasia for help, accidentally placing her family and home in fairy tale jeopardy.

Hairspray director Shankman also opened up on the deeply personal reason he decided to sign on for the movie, linking it back to his decision to enter rehab in 2013.

After a spot of singing, Giselle leaves New York City behind in Disenchanted (Picture: Disney)

‘I am going to be perfectly honest about this. I’ve been in recovery for nine years, and I wanted to tell a story that, for me, was about accepting reality and not having to run away from it,’ he revealed.

‘This just opened that up for me and I wanted to pursue this. It’s like life is not turning out how you want it to, no matter how hard you work at it and are trying to force it to be a certain way – and life does not work that way.’

Touching on the lighter aspects of the film, he continued: ‘I just wanted to tell a really fun, bright, musical, funny story that reflected how I felt about that journey for myself. And then on top of it, I just wanted to make a movie for Amy – Amy’s a friend of mine – so it was like nothing would be more fun for us than to be our old musical geeky selves and to really just dive into this.’

Director Adam Shankman saw his own journey reflected in the story of Disenchanted (Picture: Getty)

He admitted that it was still ‘a hard movie to make’ owing to going into production during Covid, and the surrounding restrictions that brought, but said it was also ‘a true joy’. 

Shankman is excited for fans to get their eyes on the sequel and shared a tip-off for the scene he thinks will please audiences the most, as well as his personal favourite.

‘The scene that I know that the fans really go crazy for is [duet] Badder: I know that that is like a thing. But the scene that I really love, which I don’t know if anybody’s going to be into it, is there’s this very quiet scene where Giselle is questioning – after Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino) has run away to New York – and she’s just trying to sort through everything, like, “What happened? Who am I now?”

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‘There’s something that is so sweet about Amy and Patrick [Dempsey] in that scene, sitting there and looking at their life, their imperfect life, and going, “What’s happening here?”, that I find really dear and very precious.’

There’s also time for one final tease: ‘And Amy singing to Morgan at the end… that’s a big scene.’

Disenchanted releases on Disney Plus on Friday November 18.

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