Long before even one frame of footage had been animated, Tangled had been set aside as something special for the Walt Disney Company – as the movie marks the studio’s 50th animated motion picture. As such, the filmmakers set out to craft a film that would honor the rich tradition of Disney’s animation legacy and also take advantage of the many animation breakthroughs over the past several years.
As John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and Pixar, explains in the film’s production notes, “We wanted to create a unique world and story that evoke the rich, dramatic feeling that is classically Disney, but is also fresh and humorous, and that gives the audience something it has never seen before in computer animation. The filmmakers have created a world that builds on Disney’s heritage but transports us to a land that is completely new.”
The first step was to find a timeless story that the studio could put their own distinctive spin on. The idea of bringing Rapunzel to life had actually been kicking around Disney’s hallowed halls since the 1940s, when Walt Disney himself first looked into adapting the Brothers Grimm story for the silver screen. Says co-director Nathan Greno, “Audiences may think they know what to expect from a film featuring Rapunzel, but we flipped it on its head to make a movie that’s relevant, fresh, and different.” The storyline follows Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) as she embarks on her first trip into the outside world with a charismatic rogue named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), although the two characters inevitably find themselves pursued by Rapunzel’s evil caregiver (Donna Murphy’s Mother Gothel).
In updating the character of Rapunzel for the 21st century, the filmmakers decided to make her a much more bold and self-sufficient figure than she was in the original fairy tale. As head of story Mark Kennedy says, “John [Lasseter] really wanted the film to capture audiences. It was always important to him that Rapunzel be a very strong character and that her life in the tower was not unpleasant or terrifying. He explained to us that she is the daughter of a king and queen, and it would be in her nature to be bold despite her circumstances.”
The biggest challenge for the filmmakers was to convincingly animate Rapunzel’s yards and yards of hair. Explains animation supervisor Clay Kaytis, “No studio has ever had to do 70 feet of hair before. You’ve seen computer-animated hair, and most of the time, it’s pretty passive. Characters don’t usually interact with it; they don’t throw it around or whip it into chairs. This is the first time anyone’s ever done this kind of work.” It eventually took the creation of a whole new piece of software and the assistance of a computer-science expert specializing in hair to convincingly bring Rapunzel and her golden locks to life.
Next up for directors Greno and Byron Howard was finding the right performer to voice the central character. After considering Tony-award winner Kristin Chenoweth, the filmmakers settled on singer-turned-actress Mandy Moore. “Mandy has this great soul to her voice,” says Howard, “along with an amazing clarity and purity. She also has this down-to-earth, girl-next-door quality that makes her everything you could hope for in a Disney heroine. Not only is she a fine actress who could deliver the dialogue, but she’s a great singer as well.”
Moving on, Greno and Howard set out to find an actor who could best balance Flynn’s rebellious attitude with his extremely charismatic personality. Best known for his role on NBC’s Chuck, Zachary Levi won the filmmakers over with his loose, thoroughly appealing take on the character. Says Greno, “He was so effortlessly funny and clever, and it was exactly what we needed for Flynn. The character is kind of a bad boy, and yet you feel like you want to hang out with him. We were a little bit nervous when it came time to ask if he could sing, but he blew us away with his singing performance.”
Oscar-winner Alan Menken, who won Oscars for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, returns to the Disney fold with a score that includes five original songs. “It’s always fun to go to the source material and find some hip, contemporary way to tackle that story and yet keep a timeless quality,” says Menken. “One of the first things I did was to read the story of Rapunzel and try to figure out what’s going to be fresh about it. What’s the new color? Something about the hair and wanting to be free from that tower made me think about folk rock and artists like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Jackson Browne. It gave me a jumping-off point for doing something new.”
Despite the emphasis on hair-raising action, tear-jerking dramatics, and toe-tapping musical numbers, Tangled is, at the end of the day, a story about friendship and breaking free of other peoples’ expectations. Says producer Roy Conli, “Flynn is a guy who’s been there, done that, and seen it all. Rapunzel is a sheltered, naïve-but-smart girl who hasn’t been there, hasn’t done that, and hasn’t seen anything. He helps bring her to a place where she can see herself more clearly, and she helps bring him to a place where he can change some of the mistakes he’s made in life. Together, they fill in what’s missing in each other.”