Wish: Frozen Director Jennifer Lee Explains Why She Didn’t Direct Disney’s 100th Anniversary Film

In honor of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 100th anniversary, the studio behind so many animated classics is releasing Wish in November. The film follows Asha (Ariana DeBose) as she learns a dark secret about her kingdom’s ruler, Magnifico (Chris Pine), who has the power to grant wishes. The new movie was helmed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Chris Buck, the latter of which is best known for co-directing Frozen and Frozen II alongside Jennifer Lee. In addition to being the Chief Creative Officer for Walt Disney Studios Animation, Lee is credited on Wish as a writer and executive producer. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Lee, and we asked if there were any discussions about her directing Wish alongside Buck. 

“No, actually what’s interesting is, I was a part of the concept originally in a lot of conversations, and the way I work as an executive producer is I’m in for big milestone moments, or I’m there to brainstorm,” Lee explained. “We’ll have sessions and we’ll connect, and I do that for everything we work on. And then this one just became unique, because Chris was already working on it. We knew he’d direct, Fawn was with us, and what happened was, as we were building it, I could see things very vividly. I would start talking – Chris knows me so well – and I start speaking dialogue when I see a scene or they’ll say an idea and I’m imitating a character. And then they just asked if I would write a draft, at the beginning when we had the idea, but not the story.”

Lee continued, “Also, I think because I knew us very well, having written Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia – that range. So the first idea was that I’d do a first draft. And that was fun for me. I hadn’t written since Frozen and to do something new as an artist is important to me. So I thought that’s all I was going to get to do. And then we found a way to make it work and Allison [Moore] came on, and did an extraordinary job of really helping us. So I had that bridge to the story team. I had a collaborator, so I wasn’t carrying all the work, but I still felt so much a part of the team. So for me, I feel grateful.”

Jennifer Lee Reveals Advice She Gave Wish Director Fawn Veerasunthorn:

Wish marks Fawn Veerasunthorn’s first time directing for Disney, so we asked Jennifer Lee if she had any advice for Veerasunthorn when it came to co-directing with Chris Buck. 

“The one thing I did say is just to keep encouraging her that don’t be shy with your ideas,” Lee shared when asked if she had any advice for the first-time director. “And Chris and I, we used to joke, we’ve never had a fight, and that was true. But what we were able to do, I think, is the minute one of us was not comfortable with an idea, we wouldn’t just argue and see who won. We would find a better way that we both could agree on. So it was really just encouraging her.”

She continued. “He can take it, push, push hard. And so watching that collaboration, and what’s so great about Chris is he’s a true partner. He’s had a lot more experience but doesn’t try to dominate with that experience. So I think for Fawn, it was really just the only advice was more just saying, don’t be shy, go for it. Bring yourself as much as you can to this. And she has been extraordinary.”

Stay tuned for more from our interviews with the producers and directors of Wish, which opens only in theaters on November 22nd.