In Wish, 17-year-old Asha lives in the Kingdom of Rosas, off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. She makes a passionate wish upon a star but is shocked when one answers her plea. A star named Star falls to Earth and has the power to grant wishes. The two work together to defeat the darkness infecting the kingdom, tied to the powerful King Magnifico, and help the people of Rosas find a brighter future.
Wish includes a star-studded cast with Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Angelique Cabral, and Disney veteran Alan Tudyk. The movie is written by Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation CCO, and Allison Moore, and directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. Taking inspiration from Disney’s legacy, both in animation style and the idea of wishing upon a star, Wish is the perfect celebration of Disney Animation Studios’ centennial.
Producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes spoke with Screen Rant about their new Disney animated movie Wish. Del Vecho explained why the “wish” concept is perfect for Disney Animation’s hundredth anniversary and the animators they honor with this movie, while Reyes discussed the music of Wish and the young heroine Asha.
Producers Peter Del Vecho & Juan Pablo Reyes Talk Wish
Screen Rant:There’s something about Disney animation and the magic that combines, and I’m here for it. I’ve been here for it ever since The Little Mermaid. So I love this. The theme of Wish is littered throughout Disney animation history, but this is a whole new take on it. Why was a wish the idea that you guys wanted to tap into for the culmination of a hundred years of Disney magic?
Peter Del Vecho: Well, as you start to look back at Disney, there were so many times where the characters look up to the stars and dream or wish upon a star, and the idea of wishing is universal, I think, to all of us, no matter how old you are, no matter where you’re from. It seemed a very fitting theme for celebrating the hundredth anniversary.
Juan Pablo Reyes: I would say, obviously Jen and Chris started to talk about these ideas, but what was really special is that we brought people from all over the studio to start to talk about what Disney means to them because we’re also fans of Disney here. So it was a very collaborative effort of finding the concept from the beginning.
I kind of want to talk about that a little bit because it all started with Walt’s imagination, which is carried on through generations. Who were some of the Disney heroes or mentors that you wanted to honor with Wish?
Peter Del Vecho: Well, you mentioned Walt Disney and certainly Walt had a big dream and a big hope. He wanted to bring hope to the world. It wasn’t always easy for him. He had to really work hard to make his dream come true. And I think that’s something we’re celebrating in this movie. You can’t just simply make a wish. You actually have to work the wish. You have to make it known what your wish is so that others can help you, but really it’s you have to work hard to make it come true yourself.
Juan Pablo Reyes: I would say from the visual perspective, obviously we were inspired by some of the greats of the early days, like Kay Nielsen and Gustav Tangram and Eyvind Earle. And so visually, Mike Giaimo and his team really dug into the visual style of the early Disney legends.
That’s awesome. That is so awesome. I love the character of Asha already. She’s incredible. Can you talk to me about Asha, how she kind of reflects, or looking back, talk about the evolution of the Disney heroine from Snow White to Maribel?
Juan Pablo Reyes: Well, what I’ll say about Asha is that I think she represents something truly special because she’s someone that we can relate to because she is someone that has, she has the courage to say her dream out loud, her wish out loud, and then go and fight for it. So what I love about her is that she’s someone like you and I or friends that we know. And Ariana’s a big part of that too, obviously, because that is her personality. She’s someone that’s super relatable, someone super open and quirky and funny and talented. So I think that’s what I love about Asha.
Disney has had over had a hundred years of animation, which is absolutely incredible for those hardcore Disney fans that really want to get into the spirit of Wish, what are three Disney films that help best set up an audience for Wish?
Peter Del Vecho: Wow, I’m not sure I know how to answer that question.
Juan Pablo Reyes: I think you have to start with Snow White, right? Like the original one, the one that was Wall Street. So starting with Snow White. Sleeping Beauty is another big one just because we went back to Cinemascope and that is something that also, I think we invite people to go watch it in theaters because you can only enjoy that in the big screen. And I would say Peter, I think Pinocchio is another very big one just because of the wishing star and what it represents. But you-
Peter Del Vecho: I’m sure you could add Princess and The Frog in there too, because there’s a big wishing dream in that as well. So there are so many of our movies, that’s why it’s hard to say which three, because so many of the movies… This movie is supposed to encompass that same sort of nostalgic feeling we all have for the great Disney classic movies.
I’m glad you mentioned that because one thing that I was watching when I was checking out the animation is that it feels nostalgic yet contemporary at the exact same time. Can you actually talk about the usage of going back to Disney’s archives? I was checking out some of the old watercolors and stuff like that. How that was implemented into this film?
Juan Pablo Reyes: Well, I’ll say if you had the opportunity to see the ARL original art yesterday. So I think we obviously did a lot of research and development with the style and the look. One of my favorite tests is you saw that Pinocchio image. We actually put Asha in that image to see how the character could blend with the background, and we did a ton of those tests.
I’m a sucker for Disney villains. How did King Magnifico stand out from past Disney villains while still celebrating what people love about Disney villains and why was Chris Pine the right choice to play a villain? That’s not a role that we’re used to seeing him in.
Peter Del Vecho: It was important to us. We had to believe that this king creates a kingdom where people literally come and willingly give them their most precious wish for him to protect. So he clearly had to be charming and charismatic, and Chris Pine embodies that. But we also knew this is going to be a classic villain. He’s going to go to a very dark side. We wrote it so that you may not agree with what he does, but you understand how he gets there. And Chris Pine can also play that very strong villainis character as well. So he was perfect casting for this [and] can sing incredibly well.
Yeah, absolutely. Juan Pablo, Disney music, the songs in Disney music have always been contemporary for the time that each film has taken place in. And this feels no different. It feels contemporary, yet classic at the same time. What made Julia Michaels the right person for such a milestone movie while still honoring what came before her?
Juan Pablo Reyes: Well, I think what Julia has is, and every time we meet with her, she geeks out about doing this because she is a huge Disney fan and she will tear up in the room and she keeps saying she cannot believe that she’s doing this. And at the same time, obviously as we said, she’s written songs for so many contemporary artists and she’s just a great lyricist and she’s a great storyteller. So I think the combination of that and just her talent and also her being so young herself and relating to Asha in the lyrics of songs like “This Wish” it just came naturally for her to write for a character like her.
Incredible. Peter, last question for you is, we’ve talked about Wish capping a hundred years of Disney Magic. How does it set up the next 100 years?
Peter Del Vecho: What we’re hoping is that obviously we always try to create a film that’s timely and yet also timeless. So we hope it sets a new bar for the next a hundred years and that when we get to the 200-year anniversary, they look back to films like Wish that inspired them to create the new films.
About Wish
Wish will follow a young girl named Asha who wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making star comes down from the sky to join her. Asha is a 17-year-old driven optimist, and leader in the making.
Check out our other Wish interviews here:
- Writer Jennifer Lee
- Directors Chris Buck & Fawn Veerasunthorn
Key Release Date
Wish
Release Date:2023-11-22
