Mastidon’s a big fan of ENCHANTED, and I’m sure there are a lot of people who will agree with him. I’m glad to see him take the time to transcribe this for us, and I think it gives you a nice glimpse at what went into creating this affectionate nod to classic Disney animation:
Hi Guys!
Sorry its taken me a few days to get this done for you. Been totally buried with work. Anyway, I was lucky enough to be on the Red Carpet and got to briefly interview the cast and crew from Enchanted. FYI, you can read my original review to ENCHANTED right here. Below is a collection of questions from myself and other reporters. There was also a Q&A before the screening. Thanks to Merritcat for doing most of the transcription for me. I hope you enjoy it!
Mastidon: Do you work differently if you are composing music for animated versus live action?
Alan Menken: No, not really. Its a little more work for the animation.
Mastidon: Did James and Amy actually sing?
Alan: Absolutely. No doubles were used. It really is them singing.
Q: Do you have a favorite song from the film?
Alan: That;s a tough one. I would probably say "That's How You Know" which is the song Amy sings in Central Park.
Amy Adams:
Mastidon: Was it harder for you to do the live action versus the animation?
Amy: Actually, it was easy because I could get into the role before the live action because we recorded the animation first which helped me get into the character.
Patrick Dempsey:
Mastidon: Patrick, what's it like doing movies again after so many years of TV?
Patrick: Well, its a much slow pace. With TV we do 6 pages a day while with movies we do 2.
Q: Who is the better singer, James or Amy?
Patrick (laughs) James
James Marsden
Q: Who is the better singer, you or Amy?
James: You'll have to ask Patrick.
Mastidon: He says you are. Will you pursue singing further?
James: (Laughs) Well this is the second movie I have done with singing and I have enjoyed it but I don't think my career is going down that path.
Q. How does playing Price Charming compare to your other roles as a superhero?
James. Um - (laughs) - I think playing Prince Charming is probably the polar opposite from what I did in the X-men films, Although the one common denominator is that it almost seems like that I can't get a job unless having some sort of extreme costume, either black leather or, you know, puffy sleeves, so, but, they're very different. Cyclops is just very reserved, and the prince is not so reserved.
Q. So did you enjoy sort of prancing about in swashbuckling threads with the tights?
James. Come on, of course. You know, it was one of the fun things about playing the prince to put on the outfit and and hold the gold sword and leap off of buses and whatever and just act very, um -- wait 'till you see it, to be honest with you.
Q. And how are you with the sword nowadays?
James. Well, I've had fencing lessons, or I did, anyway, took fencing lessons, to learn from one of the from one of the stuntmen from "Pirates of the Caribbean", actually, Tranquis Thomson, taught me how to hold the sword and swing the sword itself - most importantly, so I looked like I knew what I was doing.
Q. And you did. And how did you enjoy the singing and dancing element of it?
James. it was great, When we were preparing for the movie it was like camp, you had, one day, you had to go and do dance lessons, the next it was singing lessons, the next, it was sword play, and, so, it was as if you were preparing for for a Broadway show almost. it was a lot of fun. I welcome that, it was very different experience compared to what I'm used to.
Q&A
Q: Kevin, you worked on the animated piece and the live action film at the same time. Can you tell us how that worked out for you?
Kevin Lima: It's really difficult to separate two totally different types of art forms. So, there's one that took me a year to pull together - the animated part of the movie and then it took probably four months to shoot the live action part of the movie, An interesting thing is that it's kind of the same in many ways as you're dealing with actors in both, animators are very much actors so you have got to get that performance, which is very difficult as you have 12 people animating one character where on the set, and you've got one actor doing their performance so much difference between dynamic and graphic.
Q: Barry, this project I believe has been around for quite a long time, At what point did you take on the project? How is it different then to now as to when you first conceived it?
Barry Josephson: It is a spec script written by a great writer, Billy Kelly, After a bit of time working on the script it seemed impossible to do without the help of the director, and Kevin took the script the rest of the way there, and completely turning the animated characters into live action, so,I've been involved in this for several years, but it always was a terrific script
Q: Amy, I will start with you first. Oscar-nominated for JUNEBUG. What was it that drew you to this project?
Amy Adams: This was the most unique project that I been in It gave me an opportunity to do something that I've never seen done before which is to do a live version of a classic Disney princess, and, yet give it a modern twist in bringing her into the modern world.
Q: Patrick, you've been very successful with Grey's Anatomy. James very successful with X-MEN, HAIRSPRAY, apart from the money, what was it that drew you to ENCHANTED?
Patrick Dempsey: (laughs) I think parents will understand you want to find something take them to. I've seen pretty much every Disney movie since the birth of my daughter, and this was a, a really good easy way in experiencing something for her, that's one of the reasons, and, it's a unique story, that I'm very proud to be a part of. And a great cast,
James Marsden: I have a six-year old boy and a two-year old daughter, and, for those parents out here we know that these are the only movies we get to see, so, I've become an expert on the classic Disney movies having grown up with them and even the more contemporary ones, but this particular concept to take these classic Disney characters and put a modern spin on them so, the company that we're in with this movie is phenomenal and I hope you guys enjoy it, it was a lot of fun to make. That's it - enjoy!
Q. Alan, at what point of the process did you come into the film? Is it the script stage, or they bring you in when the film is pretty much put together? There must be a difference in terms of animation music and live action music - how have you approached that?
Alan Menken: OK, well, good question. I'll answer very quickly. First of all, we come in early on in the process, because we wanted to set the songs into the story, and we want to find a way to tell the story through the songs and to put the songs in. So, Stephen Schwartz and I came in early into the effort and we found out that Kevin is the guy who is not only a film director but someone who loves musicals and has a really strong advantage. We got together, we all collaborated, and, came up with these song movements that were so unique and, so exciting and at first - we wanted to go back before Howard Ashley and myself, all the way back to the 1940s - the style of, of Snow White, and that was a great opportunity to write that kind of music and that kind of scoring, and then, as the film progresses and each of these characters come through and we see the music kind of grows up with them and that was a great challenge and a great opportunity to work on for me.
ENCHANTED opens Thanksgiving weekend. And it is all but guaranteed to be the biggest film of the season. I know I loved it.
Ciao,
-Mastidon
