Actress Amy Adams is expected to reprise one of her most iconic roles, Giselle, in an upcoming sequel to Enchanted . Disney has toyed with the idea of a sequel to the 2007 movie since 2010 with Anne Fletcher attached to direct the film, but today the Hollywood Reporter has revealed the plans are well underway , securing director Adam Shankman to helm Disenchanted with hopes of starting the filming of the project in summer of 2017.
Kevin Lima directed and Amy Adams starred in Enchanted , a tale about a princess who is tricked into falling into a portal that leads from the animated land of Andalasia to the underground sewer of real-life New York City. Adams became a household name with the bubbly role in the fish-out-of-water comedy. Enchanted also starred Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip, who played a divorce lawyer engaged to marry Nancy Tremaine (played by Idina Menzel) but finds out that she really isn’t his true love. While lost in New York City, Giselle’s Prince Edward (James Marsden) comes to the real world looking to save her. Meanwhile, Edward’s evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), does what she can to stop him.
‘Enchanted 2’ reportedly finds a director and is eyeing a summer start date! Details: https://t.co/f85vt8DdZQ pic.twitter.com/jBMrMOcp1R
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) October 6, 2016
The new Disenchanted would take place ten years after the first film with Amy’s character wondering if her “happily ever after” took a wrong turn somewhere. Giselle would then “accidentally trigger events that make everyone’s lives turn upside down in both the real world and in the animated kingdom of Andalasia.”
As the original, Disenchanted will also be a musical and Shankman knows a thing or two about musicals as he has directed the big screen versions of both Hairspray and Rock of Ages . He also has some ties with Disney directing three previous Disney films: Bringing Down the House (with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah), The Pacifier (with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and Bedtime Stories (with Adam Sandler).
#Hairspray director Adam Shankman will direct Enchanted 2 titled DisEnchanted. pic.twitter.com/EaYmHsvDJt
— Disney Film Facts (@disneyfilmfacts) October 6, 2016
Overall, Enchanted was both a tribute to previous Disney movies while poking fun at them at the same time with many references of older animated films and their music styles as well. Some of the references were quite blatant, but many were more subtle. Here are 20 facts that you may have missed while watching the original Enchanted movie as reported by IMDB .
- Alan Menken, who wrote music for many Disney movies including The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin and many others as well as the recent TV series Galavant , wrote the music for Enchanted as well.
- Julie Andrews, who played Mary Poppins, narrates the beginning and ending of Enchanted .
- Jodi Benson, the voice of The Little Mermaid , plays Patrick Dempsey’s secretary. His office has a tropical fish tank that Giselle is fascinated with while the song “Part of Your World” is playing in the background and Benson makes fun of Giselle’s princess voice.
- Two other Disney princess “voices” made brief appearances in the film as well: Paige O’ Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast ) appears in a soap opera playing on TV and Judi Kuhn ( Pocahontas ) answers the door to see the prince who says that he’s looking for a princess. Loaded down with children, she says that he’s too late. Ironically, six years after Enchanted , Idina Menzel became the Disney princess Elsa in Frozen .
- Many of the characters in Enchanted were named after Disney characters and Disney staff from previous films. Robert Philip is named after Sleeping Beauty’s Prince Philip. His clients are Mr. and Mrs. Banks (the parents in Mary Poppins ), his girlfriend’s last name is Tremaine (the stepmother in Cinderella ). One character is named Mary Ilene Caselotti as a tribute to Mary Costa (voice of Sleeping Beauty), Ilene Woods (voice of Cinderella) and Adriana Caselottie (voice of Snow White).
- Also, various locations and objects are named after Disney people as well. The Italian restaurant Robert and Giselle dine at is named Bella Notte (song title from Lady and the Tramp ), Robert’s law firm is called “Churchill, Harline and Smith” which were the last names of the songwriters for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , and a poster for the cookbook, Merryweather’s Guide to Baking, is shown. Merryweather is the name of one of the “good fairies” in Sleeping Beauty .
- Not known for their singing ability, Dempsey and Adams made their singing debut in Enchanted while Broadway legend Menzel doesn’t sing a note.
- The movie’s show-stopping number, “That’s How You Know,” was shot in Central Park. Though the scene is only five minutes long, it took 17 days to finish filming it since the weather kept changing. The crew had just seven sunny days to film and reportedly, there were many delays due to fans of Dempsey interrupting the shoots. Additionally, one of the senior citizen dancers originally appeared in the movie Mary Poppins as a chimney sweep.
- Ironically, the animation scenes were NOT created by Disney Animation Studios. Instead, they were created by James Baxter Animation.
- Over 300 hundred actresses auditioned for the role of Giselle. Amy Adams was No. 275. The wedding dress that Amy wears for the first half of the movie weighed 45 pounds.
[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]