Wish Interviw: Jennifer Lee Reveals How This Wish Was The Movies North Star & Magnifico’s Motivation

Wish is set in a magical place called Rosas with King Magnifico, who collects and grants wishes. However, Asha, a quick-witted and brave young resident of Rosas, learns a dark secret about her king. Determined to fight back and help her people, Asha makes a wish to the stars. Surprisingly, they answered with a star coming down to answer her wish. With the help of Star and her now-talking pet goat, Valentino, Asha will do everything she can to help the people of Rosas and expose King Magnifico’s lies.

The movie was co-written by Jeennifer Lee and Allison Moore and directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. Wish celebrates 100 years of Walt Disney Animation Studios with an original story as well as 100 references to past Disney Animation projects. Wish stars a powerhouse cast led by Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, and Evan Peters.

Screen Rant interviewed Wish writer and Walt Disney Animation Studio CCO Jennifer Lee. She explained Magnifico’s origins and his motivation, which, if executed differently, could have painted him in a new light. Lee also discussed how “This Wish” was written before the script and how Asha is a relatable heroine for audiences today.

Jennifer Lee Talks Wish

Screen Rant: This movie is incredible.

Jennifer Lee: Oh, thank you.

I think it’s the perfect celebration for Disney’s 100-year anniversary.

Jennifer Lee: Oh, thank you so much. That means a lot.

Can you talk to me a little bit about the detail of people forgetting their wishes once they give them away?

Jennifer Lee: Sure.

And what inspired that decision, and how it ties into Disney’s legacy with wishes?

Jennifer Lee: Yeah. I think the simple thing was the idea of, we kept saying, as we would talk about the sadness of how you stopped pursuing your wishes, you’d say it’s like you have this wish and then you forget. They would just say, and then you forget. But we were saying this as we were having conversations, and we’re just saying that really should just be part of this, that, boy, it’s convenient for the king that when you give your wish to him, you forget it. And there’s the joke, forget without regret.

But really, it’s symbolically about that idea that life becomes so distracting that you do, or become so challenging in fairness, that you do forget that wish or forget to consider it. And so it was a way to acknowledge that. But then yes, also how convenient for Magnifico that you don’t remember. So you don’t know what you’re missing. So he can control, he always looks like the hero because you never know what else is there. So it did work out in that it worked in his favor as well.

I love that. And then speaking of Magnifico, I was so intrigued by his origin because it felt really, really rich, but we didn’t really get to dig into it because it almost felt like this was a character that started as good and lost his way. Can you talk to me a little bit about developing his origin story? And would you have liked to touch on it more in the movie?

Jennifer Lee: Well, it’s funny because it’s always hard with a character like Magnifico to know when to stop because he could become the protagonist in some weird way. And so it was really important for us to know it. But we really said, we can only share as much as we have to. Or it is something where he has to be accountable to his actions. And we didn’t want to say he’s not accountable because the poor kid.

So it felt like, let’s make it clear what he understood, the idea that when he was young, he saw his wishes destroyed, it drove him. And you can understand that. And I wanted us to feel like we could understand philosophically, no one should have to suffer like that. I am going to make that never happen. So it fills the nobility. To me, the more exciting heroes are where you understand his philosophy, whether you agree with it or not, it’s different.

But then, I think as he grew, that need to never feel that again can become problematic, that need to control everything so you never feel pain again. It’s not possible. But he tried. So what we really hoped with Magnifico, frankly, is if this is a film that you can return to anytime you want to think about wishing that each time you do see a bit more of that, what drove him, but also every choice he makes in this, he could have made other choices.

Every time he’s challenged, he could go a different way. That was really what was most important to track. But he had to fundamentally understand. But I could write a whole book about it if I was allowed to because it was so, I mean, you could just get seduced by that character. And I guess, in a way we go, well, that’s what makes him a fun villain.

Definitely. And then I also loved the Easter Eggs and references to all the other Disney movies throughout. Without necessarily spoiling what they are. Did you have a favorite movie that you were able to bring in for an Easter egg?

Jennifer Lee: Wow. Well, I know there are, my favorite Disney film is Cinderella, and I know in many different ways there are nods to Cinderella. And so all of them, all of those I love, I’ll say.

I love that. And then did you have a particular song that stood out to you as your favorite and why?

Jennifer Lee: The hardest thing for me is that I don’t have a favorite in that I am personally blown away by them. And I mean that sincerely. I have to give credit to “This Wish,” though, because she wrote it before I’d even written the script. And it was off of an understanding of what we wanted for the story, but also who Asha was and where she was in that moment in her life.

And she wrote “This Wish”, and became sort of a true north for me, but all the way to “A Wish Worth Making” in the credits that Julia herself sings. That profound understanding of the beauty and pain of wishing simultaneously in a beautiful song. I think that was one that, even though it wasn’t a part of the film itself, it feels very much a part of the whole film to me.

I completely agree. And I feel your pain. I could not pick a favorite.

Jennifer Lee: Yay!

And then what does it mean to you to write the Disney animated movie that is celebrating 100 years of Disney animation magic?

Jennifer Lee: I mean, when Chris and I first started talking about this in some fun way, I was just very free because I wasn’t on the film except as the EP. So I was there to help. I was there to, Have you thought about this? Why not that? Or how’s this going this way? I’m a little concerned it’s going that way. But Chris knows me well. So as I started just doing that role, which was very freeing, I didn’t carry, it wasn’t daunting to me to be a part of that. It was just exciting.

He’s like, “Come on. You’re getting up out of the seat, and you’re acting out. Can you just take a stab at it?” And they made the space for me to do that. And then I was hooked on it completely. But I think because I felt the whole studio put so much into it, I felt that we were supported all the time, that I really just feel like a part of it. I feel like I’m one of the many, many, many people that made this possible.

And then one of the things I really appreciate about Asha, because all the Disney heroines fight for a bigger cause, but she feels like the first activist Disney heroine that we get to see. Can you talk about incorporating that into the script and why you wanted it in this movie?

Jennifer Lee: Yeah. I love that a couple of people have brought that up about her. And I love what folks see in her. The thing that I think it is focusing in that critical moment in your life. You’re a teenager, you got your friends, maybe you’re going to get the apprenticeship. It’s all very comfortable. The philosophy of the world feels okay. And then you uncover a really hard truth about the world.

And I think we all go through that, this awakening to the greatest challenges in our world. And it usually is a far more generous time in people’s lives than they get credit for. And it’s a time where they really go, I want more for the world. And that’s that spirit, that activist spirit. I always like to say the helpers of the world that look and say, I’m going to wish for more for others, and I’m going to do everything I can to help make that possible.

And I’m going to be there for folks. And I think Asha starts off with that goal, and gets a lot of help, helpers, along the way, and then becomes that helper herself, and that’s code for what she becomes at the end that we won’t say. But it’s just, I think to me, that beautiful spirit of that time where almost like that wish in your heart is its most generous. It can drive you to change the world.

About Wish

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.

Check back for our other Wish interviews:

• Ariana DeBose
• Chris Pine
• Chris Buck & Fawn Veerasunthorn
• Peter Del Vecho & Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones