"The film promises to have more dimension than the original tale - and a lot more fun. This Rapunzel, in fact, is out of the tower and heading for adventure by the end of Act One. "The story is more about what happens when she leaves the tower," Byron Howard says. "The moral of the story really, is that you can't live your life in a tower. It's about experienceing the world and living your life. Even though our heroine is physically out of the tower, mentally it's difficult for her to leave the tower. She's like an indoor cat that gets out of the house; it's really hard getting the cat back in. It's great to have a character who is co innocent and so smart. And it's even better to see her wake up."
Since the film is still in the midst of production, they're not exactly revealing all the details. But there are some things they let twenty-three in on.
The directors are styling the CG film with a fresh twist on a 1950s retro vibe. "Byron and I are such huge fans of Disneyland, and of Fantasyland in particular," Nathan Greno says. "The architecture of Fantasyland is nostaglic '50s Disney. There's a real appeal and style that are used in films like Cinderella, so we've been doing research on that style. John Lasseter is a stickler for that stuff. He will really take you to task if he doesn't think you've done your homework. We have to show our research for everything from houses to vehicles, horses, characters, everything."
They're also taking lessons from past projects to "plus" this production. "One thing we learned on Bolt is that there's a line that you can cross with CG where the characters can start looking creepy, too real, and it takes you out of the fantasy," Nathan says. "You have to be careful that it doesn't look too live-action or too cartoony. It's all about finding a balance."
Byron continues, "It's strange that in a move, they use a real soft focus because you want to get rid of the lines or blemishes on an actress' face, for instance. And there's this tendency in CG to show all of those imperfections, because they think that by adding them, the characters will look more real. But why would you do that? There's a really sweet place where these characters can live." And for Rapunzel, that sweet spot is in a wold nfluenced by the 1950s.
And what would a Disney fairy tale be wtihout a memorable score? "We knew when we first came on that this was going to be a musical," Byron reveals. For that they enlisted the help of Disney composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. "Alan is great," Nathan says. " He delivered this lullaby that Rapunzel and Mother Gothel sing to each other that activates the magic in Rapunzel's hair. The song's lyrics say, 'You are my forever,' which - depending on who sings it and when - takes on entirely different meanings. Sometimes it's a love song between our prince, Flynn, and Rapunzel; other times it's a terrifying, possessive theme used by Gothel. But it's great, because it's a very heartrending, beautiful song, and he really nailed it."
From now until the film's holiday 2010 release, the two young directors are eating, breathing, and living in the magical world created for this developing fairy tale. During the week of our interview, they were working on nailing down the look of Flynn. "We had a couple of versions of him, and John Lasseter came in and went, "Well this guy is okay, but I don't know. Is he drop-dead gorgeous? I think women will want him to be drop-dead gorgeous." So he said, "What you guys have to do is get all the women in the Studio to send you the names of their favorite hot men. Put photos of all these hunky guys in the room, take the best features from each of them, and make one amazing, dynamic character." So that's the process that's going on right now. This place has turned into junior high. It's like working in the offices of Tiger Beat!"
Not a bad task for something that might, if done well, endure the test of time. "The thing about these movies is they will live on forever," Nathan says. "That's one thing that Lasseter really instills in us."
He also encourages them to drema big. "Our not-so-secret dream is that one day we will go to Disneyland - into Fantasyland - and see this tower," Byron says. "Oh yeah," Nathan agrees, his gaze suddenly skyward, with a wry smile. "The same goes for the music," Byron says. "We want people to walk into the park, and when the music comes on, they'll say, "That's from Rapunzel!" We talk to John Lasseter about our theme park dreams, and he smiles and says, "Let's just focus on the movie, guys," Nathan laughs. "So we are."
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