Walt Disney Animation Studios is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and it’s all culminating in the studio’s newest animated musical, Wish, which was helmed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. Wish follows Asha (Ariana DeBose) as she learns a dark secret about her kingdom’s ruler, Magnifico (Chris Pine), who has the magical ability to grant wishes. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with the film’s directors as well as producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones, and they talked about bringing a new Disney villain to life and listening to the fans who were clamoring for a specific kind of bad guy.
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“First of all, we are fans ourselves, even though we’re working for Disney Animation, we all love it,” Del Vecho explained. “And Disney villains have evolved over time and some villains are revealed, but there’s something delicious about knowing that someone’s the villain from the beginning. What makes this one unique is he’s also charming and charismatic and you actually watch him evolve as more pressure is put on him. And I believe you may not like what he does, but you’ll understand the ‘why’ because we can all relate to it, the pressure that he must feel.”
“Well, Magnifico was born out of the want to do a villain that hearkens back to some of our older villains, and it’s a villain that is the villain from very early on, and that it’s a villain that you love to hate,” Buck shared. “They come on the screen and you’re like, ‘Yes, yes. This scene’s going to get real now.’ So that was our desire. We are big Disney fans ourselves, and we had also heard from many fans about wanting another villain.”
“And thank you for acknowledging that he’s a good-looking character,” Veerasunthorn added when we predicted the Internet would be thirsting over Magnifico. “People work really hard on that. You want to walk the line of when we say ‘love to hate,’ the love part has to be just an intriguing, charming character who is also sinister and scary. I think the duality of that is what made this character really fun for us to work on.”
What Is Wish About?
You can read the official synopsis for Wish below:
In Wish, Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force—a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe—the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico—to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen. Featuring the voices of Academy Award®-winning actor Ariana DeBose as Asha, Chris Pine as Magnifico, and Alan Tudyk as Asha’s favorite goat, Valentino, the film is helmed by Oscar®-winning director Chris Buck (Frozen, Frozen 2) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (Raya and the Last Dragon), produced by Peter Del Vecho (Frozen, Frozen 2) and co-produced by Juan Pablo Reyes (Encanto).
Jennifer Lee (Frozen, Frozen 2) executive produces — Lee and Allison Moore (Night Sky, Manhunt) are writers on the project. With original songs by Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/musician Benjamin Rice, plus a score by composer Dave Metzger.
Stay tuned for more from our interviews with the producers and directors of Wish, which opens only in theaters on November 22nd.
