Disney World

The film, a contemporary twist on the traditional Disney fairytale, changes between traditional 2D Disney animation and live action.Instead of being banished to a dungeon, Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) is sent to the present day where she emerges in the centre of New York’s Times Square.In the city the Princess meets a divorced divorce lawyer (played by Patrick Dempsey, on hiatus from his hit show Grey’s Anatomy).Producer Barry Josephson, in Auckland for a few days working on his upcoming film They Came From Upstairs, says his biggest challenge was figuring how to best take animation and carry it through to live action.”Kids know the Disney classics so well. We had to work out how to bring forward a Disney princess into the real world.”Josephson praised director Kevin Lima for the realistic portrayal of characters.”He did a great job of bringing them into the action.”As in every good Disney movie, Enchanted has music and dancing.Composed by Allan Menken with words by Stephen Schwartz, music is an integral part of the film.Giselle repeatedly bursts into song in the middle of bustling New York City.Josephson has huge praise for the main star, Amy Adams, who he says is the “insanely rewarding” thing in the movie.”We would all marvel at Amy who take after take would blow us away by her dancing and her performance.”He says Adams’ portrayal of Giselle is “very emotional, very satisfying”.

Dempsey, on the other hand, was more reluctant with his dancing, and he does not sing in the movie.
“Patrick was a little bit afraid of doing the ballroom dance scene, and Amy would say: ‘don’t worry Patrick, I’ll catch you if you stumble’.”According to Josephson one of the hardest act to film was the Happy Working Song.”It was one of the most complex filming scenes. We’ve got real life rats, mice and pigeons as well as a CGI animated character, and with the music the timing had to be specific.”What will surprise the audience, says Josephson, is the comedy in Enchanted, much of which comes from a little computer-generated chipmunk called Pip.”Patrick (Dempsey) would get really jealous of him because he thought he stole the show.”He would say to Amy: ‘You think we’re the stars of the show, but no – it’s the Chipmunk!’”Dempsey, who Josephson calls “wonderful” and “the most humble person”, would have people on the streets chanting “McDreamy” in the middle of a scene.He was amazed by the amount of ardent adulation Dempsey received, and how he dealt with it.”Patrick would put his finger up to us and say ‘one minute’ and would always go and talk to his fans.”Enchanted is already a hit in the US, and Josephson is confident this “homage” to Disney films will please audiences.”There are so many serious movies around so this stands out as a feel-good movie.”Josephson describes Enchanted’s originality as a “fish out of water”, but makes it clear that is not a spoof – which it has been called by some media.”I don’t buy that – we take it really seriously and have drawn on classic elements.”

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