News Analysis India

Tag: Disney

  • Girl on fire: Telugu ammayi from LA Avantika Vandanapu hailed as breakout star of Disney’s ‘Spin’

    Express News Service

    Guess who’s trending on OTT today? Telugu ammayi (girl) Avantika Vandanapu. Perhaps it started with OTT star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s portrayal of Devi in Never Have I Ever on Netflix which got a new season in July. Now, all eyes are on Vandanapu from Los Angeles who is being hailed as the breakout star of Disney’s original movie, Spin. Used to being under the spotlight—she had debuted as a child artist—Vandanapu remains unfazed by the fame.

    Best remembered for her Tollywood debut in the 2016 Mahesh Babu-Samantha-Kajal Aggarwal starter Brahmotsavam, the young actor went on to work in Chandra Shekhar Yeleti’s film Manamantha and played the younger version of Madonna Sebastian in Premam (Telugu) the same year. Most recently she played the title role of an autistic girl in the Tamil film, Bhoomika.

    This 16-year-old is super excited about her full-fledged role now. The movie premiered on Disney Channel on August 13 and is now available on Disney+Hotstar. Spin follows Rhea (Vandanapu), an Indian American teen who learns she has a passion for creating DJ mixes that blend the textures of her Indian heritage and the world around her. Her life revolves around her friends, her after-school coding club, her family’s Indian restaurant and her tight-knit, multigenerational family, which has only grown closer since her mother’s death.

    The 11-grader who is being homeschooled in California has her calendar booked with exciting projects. She also appears on Disney+Hotstar in Diary of a Future President and voices ‘Kamala’ on Disney Channel’s Mira, the Royal Detective. Besides, she has just wrapped up shooting for a Netflix film, Senior Year, co-starring Rebel Wilson. As you wonder at her acting portfolio, she springs a surprise. “I have recently purchased the rights of a New York Times best-selling novel and will be turning it into a film. I can’t reveal more than this,” says the girl who finds actors Meryl Streep and Viola Davis inspiring.

    While it looks like Vandanapu has got it all sorted, she says that like Hollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, she also faced racism. She was called a Paki and asked to ‘go back to your country’ when she was barely 10. But she remained undeterred and decided to stick to her passion for dance and acting to prove she is made for the world stage.

    Vandanapu started learning the South Indian classical dance form, Kuchipudi, at the age of seven, and there was no looking back. She won several dance shows including the title winner of ATA Star Dancer in 2012 and runner-up in Dance India Dance Li’l Masters in 2014. It was the Hyderabad-based short film director Dr Anand Kumar Eslavath who saw her talent on stage and launched her with the award-winning short film Praja Hakku, which dealt with girl child education.

    Successfully straddling the two extreme worlds of Hollywood and Tollywood, what’s her first love? “I have a broader choice of roles in Hollywood, but the audition process is lengthy, tedious and often results in rejection. In India, the roles available for young, female actors are limited, but it’s much easier to find work once you have proven yourself in a movie or two. Also, I love the songs and dances with great costumes in Indian films which I miss in Hollywood films. For now, I’m happy to have the best of both worlds,” she says.

  • Kevin Feige addresses ‘Shang-Chi’ star Simu Liu’s response to Disney CEO’s ‘experiment’ comment

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: In an unusual set of circumstances for Marvel Studios, the premiere of ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ was recently held just 48 hours after its lead, Simu Liu, took aim at Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who had described the film’s release as an ‘experiment’ for the company.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, on Monday night, the stars of ‘Shang-Chi’ had gathered in Hollywood to celebrate the upcoming tentpole from the Disney-owned studio.

    Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, put out a tweet during the premiere, and talking about Liu, said, “He is not a shy man. I think in that particular tweet you can see and I think everyone does a misunderstanding. It was not the intention. The proof is in the movie and we swing for the fences as we always do. With the amount of creative energy we put in and the budget, there’s no expense spared to bring this origin story to the screen.”

    Disney CEO Bob Chapek, on August 12, fielded a question during an investor’s call about keeping ‘Shang-Chi’ and ‘Free Guy’ as theatrical exclusives rather than putting the day-and-date on Disney Premier Access, as the company had previously done with ‘Black Widow’, ‘Cruella’ and ‘Jungle Cruise’.

    Chapek called Shang-Chi “an interesting experiment for us” as the film only has a 45-day theatrical window. He added, “the prospect of being able to take a Marvel title to the service after going theatrical with 45 days will be yet another data point to inform our actions going forward on our titles.”

    Responding to the comment from Chapek, Liu via a statement on Twitter, said, “We are not an experiment,” adding, “We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US.”

    We are not an experiment.We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year.We are the surprise.I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US. pic.twitter.com/IcyFzh0KIb
    — Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) August 14, 2021
    Feige further also noted that the film’s premiere had a similarly impactful feel to that of the celebrations of ‘Black Panther’. “When you have the opportunity to showcase a hero that looks like a huge segment of the globe that feels like they haven’t been showcased, the magic can happen if you deliver. I think Destin (Daniel Cretton) and Simu have delivered for this movie,” he said.

    The Marvel Studio’s boss even added that he noticed a superhero quality in Liu after “a lot of reads, a lot of auditions” adding “there’s no magic formula” in finding the right person for a Marvel hero.

    He explained, “It’s a feeling. It’s a sense of both the ability to be relatable and grounded and, at the same time, take your place in that pantheon of heroes should everything go so well in an origin story they will end up with the other pandemic heroes.”

    As for what could potentially be next for Liu’s ‘Shang-Chi’, Feige noted “there is a direct line of where he heads to next.”

    This movie marks Disney’s second live-action tentpole featuring Asian leads, which was released amid the pandemic. The first was ‘Mulan’, which was released on September 4, 2020. That film was available on Disney Plus Premier Access the same day.

    Apart from Liu, ‘Shang-Chi’ also stars Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng. The movie will arrive on Disney Plus 45 days after its September 3 release.

    Liu’s comments came as another Disney star has been at odds with the company, which is in the midst of a bombshell lawsuit with ‘Black Widow’ star Scarlett Johansson, who sued Disney over its decision to release the Marvel title simultaneously in theatres and on Disney+ Premier Access.

    Johansson claimed the move hurt the box office in favour of juicing Disney’s streaming service. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Feige addressed the lawsuit at the premiere, noting he is “all for amicable solutions.”

  • Simu Liu criticises Disney CEO Bob Chapek over calling ‘Shang-Chi’ an ‘interesting experiment’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor Simu Liu, who headlines “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, has hit out at Disney CEO Bob Chapek for terming the upcoming Marvel superhero film an “experiment” for the studio.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chapek made the comment during an earnings call on Thursday while discussing the company’s future plans for theatrical releases, calling Shang-Chi “an interesting experiment for us” as the film only has a 45-day theatrical window.

    Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, “Shang-Chi” will be released theatrically on September 3.

    Also starring Awkwafina, Ronny Chieng, Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh, the film will arrive on the company’s streamer Disney Plus 45 days after its release in cinema halls.

    Liu, who plays the titular martial arts superhero Shang-Chi, dismissed Chapek’s remarks on Twitter Saturday saying the film is “not an experiment” but a “celebration of culture and joy” in these testing times.

    We are not an experiment.We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year.We are the surprise.I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US. pic.twitter.com/IcyFzh0KIb
    — Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) August 14, 2021
    “We are not an experiment. We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise,” the Chinese-Canadian actor said.

    “I’m fired the f*** up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US,” Liu, 32, added in his tweet.

    “Shang-Chi” marks Disney’s second live-action tentpole featuring Asian leads released amid the pandemic.

    The first was “Mulan”, which was released on September 4, 2020 and was made available on Disney Plus Premier Access the same day.

  • Scarlett Johansson’s talent agency, advocacy organisations condemn Disney’s response on ‘Black Widow’ contract breach lawsuit

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Amid the ongoing legal and public relations battle between Disney and Scarlett Johansson, Women in Film, Los Angeles, ReFrame and Time’s Up, along with her talent agency CAA have come out in support of the ‘Black Widow’ actor.

    The USD 319.8 billion entertainment media conglomerate had called Johansson’s ‘Black Widow’ breach of contract lawsuit a “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

    Disney also disclosed her base salary of USD 20M for the Marvel Cinematic Universe film exclaiming that the Disney Plus with Premier Access will compensate her well enough.

    According to Deadline, responding to this, the advocacy organizations, issued a joint statement calling Disney’s characterization of Scarlett Johansson a “gendered character attack.”

    The statement read, “While we take no position on the business issues in the litigation between Scarlett Johansson and The Walt Disney Company, we stand firmly against Disney’s recent statement which attempts to characterize Johansson as insensitive or selfish for defending her contractual business rights.”

    Calling out Disney, the statement further continued, “This gendered character attack has no place in a business dispute and contributes to an environment in which women and girls are perceived as less able than men to protect their own interests without facing ad hominem criticism.”

    The two-time Oscar nominee’s agency, CAA’s co-chairman Bryan Lourd also blasted Disney earlier in a statement for shaming her publicly and “deliberately” moving “the revenue stream and profits” of ‘Black Widow’ “to the Disney Plus side of the company leaving artistic and financial partners out of their new equation.” He also slammed the media conglomerate for leaking her salary in “an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman.”

    The agent, who is one of the foremost power brokers in the film industry, was incensed that Disney implied the actor was disregarding the impact of a global pandemic on the entertainment business.

    “They have shamelessly and falsely accused Ms Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her appear to be someone they and I know she isn’t,” Lourd said.

    Lourd went on to note that Johansson has appeared in nine Disney and Marvel movies, which he said have earned the company billions of dollars in ticket sales.

    “Disney’s direct attack on her character and all else they implied is beneath the company that many of us in the creative community have worked with successfully for decades,” Lourd added.

    In addition to this, Johansson got support from other celebrities, who pounced on media conglomerate for making an issue of her pay when its own executives are so highly compensated. Alec Baldwin tweeted, “Remarkable to read Disney execs bashing SJ over large salaries…”

    Those profiting off ‘Black Widow’ the most, per the lawsuit, are Disney titans CEO Bob Chapek and executive chairman Bob Iger, who reaped big money tied to the success of Disney Plus.

    Johansson had filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Marvel owner Disney, claiming that putting the film on Disney Plus caused her to lose out on considerable bonuses.

    Disney struck back, saying the lawsuit showed her “callous disregard” for the pandemic,” and also stated that the star has already been paid USD 20 million for her work on the film.

    “There is no merit whatsoever to this filing,” Disney said. The company also claimed that the release of ‘Black Widow’ on Disney Plus with Premier Access “significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation.”

    The actor’s contract with Disney called for a worldwide theatrical release, much like other MCU movies. Reports claim that Johansson lost more than USD 50M in Disney’s dynamic window experiment, which yielded a first-weekend global PVOD and theatrical weekend for ‘Black Widow’ of USD 218M, which is a low gross for an MCU title, that typically churns out of late over USD 1 billion.

    Johansson holds starring credits in seven MCU movies that have amassed USD 10.3 billion at the global box office. Separately she had a voice-over role in Disney’s live-action version of ‘The Jungle Book’ which grossed USD 966.6M worldwide.

  • Disney sets Rachel Zegler as lead for ‘Snow White’ live-action remake

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Newcomer Rachel Zegler is set to play the lead role in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of animated classic “Snow White”.

    The 20-year-old actor will be making her film debut with veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake of “West Side Story”.

    She will also feature in Warner Bros/DC Films’ “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”, co-starring Zachary Levi.

    Described as a fresh take on the 1937 classic, the new movie will be directed by Marc Webb, the filmmaker behind 2009 hit “500 Days of Summer” and two “Amazing Spider-Man” films, reported Variety.

    “Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts.

    Her strength, intelligence and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in this classic Disney fairytale,” Webb said in a statement.

    The original movie, titled “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”, was based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale and released in 1937.

    It was Disney’s first animated feature film.

    It presented the story of a princess who is fed a poisoned apple by her stepmother, the queen and then falls into a deep sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince.

    Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo behind “La La Land”, “The Greatest Showman” and “Dear Evan Hansen”, will write new music for the film.

    Songs such as “Heigh-Ho”, “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Whistle While You Work” will be included in the soundtrack list.

    The film is expected to go in to production in 2022.

    Besides “Snow White”, Disney is also working on live-action remakes of “The Little Mermaid”, “Pinocchio”, and “Lilo and Stitch” as well as a prequel to its 2019 reimagining of “The Lion King”.

  • ‘Cruella’ sequel in the works at Disney

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Almost two weeks after the release of Emma Stone-led “Cruella”, Disney Studios has already started working on a sequel, with director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Tony McNamara both expected to return.

    According to Variety, it is still unclear if the Oscar-winning actor would reprise the lead role in the proposed sequel.

    “Cruella”, which stars Stone as fan-favorite “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” villainess Cruella de Vil, debuted in theatres in the US in May and was simultaneously released on streaming platform Disney Plus.

    It opened to positive reviews and has till now minted USD 32.4 million domestically and USD 48.5 million worldwide.

    “We are very pleased with ‘Cruella’s’ box office success, in conjunction with its strong Disney Plus Premier Access performance to date. We look forward to a long run as audiences continue to enjoy this fantastic film,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement.

  • Emma Stone says Disney villain Ursula should get origin movie like ‘Cruella’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Oscar-winning actor Emma Stone, who portrayed iconic villain Cruella de Vil in Disney’s new film’ Cruella’, shared that she would be interested in watching a big-screen origin movie on Disney villain Ursula soon.

    In an interview with Variety, ‘Cruella’ star cast shared which Disney Villain character they would love to see in a big-screen origin movie.

    During the interview, Emma shared that it would be interesting for her to see Ursula, who will be played by Melissa McCarthy in the upcoming live-action adaptation of ‘The Little Mermaid’, headline her own film.

    The ‘Cruella’ star further said, “She is an octopus and the world you would get to live in, like Ursula’s parents and what happened there. You have never really seen a non-human Disney villain be explored in that way.”

    Emma Thompson who played ‘Baroness von Hellman’- Estella’s mother (Emma’s character who later transforms as Cruella) and the head of a prestigious London fashion house also joined the conversation with Variety.

    She joked that Ursula’s trauma could come from having to continuously experience an octopus’ worst nightmare saying, “The parents keep giving her a shirt that only has four arms. They really mess her up with that from a very early age, so she’s constantly trying to fit two arms into each hole. That would really mess you up, wouldn’t it?”

    Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who played Anita “Tattletale” Darling’, Estella’s childhood friend, and a gossip columnist, also agreed that Ursula needs her own movie.

    “I gotta know how Ursula came to be. Like, why is she so damn mean? But also I know that she’s misunderstood,” Kirby shared.

    She also revealed that her second choice for the same would be ‘Scar’ from ‘The Lion King’.

    Chiwetel Ejiofor voiced the Disney villain Scar in Jon Favreau’s photorealistic remake of ‘The Lion King’ in 2019. Barry Jenkins would don the director’s hat for the sequel of the film, but given the financial success of Favreau’s film, Variety quoted that there is has been no official statements given on not exploring Scar and Mufasa’s past in a prequel.

    “I think Scar has some deep-seated issues, and obviously his brother was clearly the favourite. He’s not wrong on some things,” Kirby further said.

    On the other hand, Joel Fry, who played ‘Jasper Badun’- a thief who grew up with Estella after her adoptive mother’s death shared that Jafar from ‘Aladdin’ would be a good choice for a solo origin story.

    Meanwhile, Paul Walter Hauser who played ‘Horace Badun’- Jasper’s brother and a thief showed his interest in seeing Daron Aronofsky’s take on ‘Lilo and Stitch’.

    Being bad seems to be turning good for Academy winner Emma in Disney’s ‘Cruella’ as the critics have been heaping praises on her performance in this movie after it got a theatrical release on May 28, 2021.

    ‘Cruella’ is directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, and the story is scripted by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel and Steve Zissis.

    The film is produced by Andrew Gunn, Marc Platt and Kristin Burr with Emma, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff and Glenn Close serving as executive producers.

    Two-time Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan created dazzling and imaginative costumes, which take on a life of their own.

  • 93rd Academy Awards: Pixar’s ‘Soul’ wins Best Animated Feature award

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: The 2021 Oscar for the ‘Best Animated Feature Film’ was taken home by Pixar’s ‘Soul’, becoming the only film ever to win that award without playing in the US movie theatres.

    Last October, with the COVID pandemic having closed most of the nation’s cinemas, Disney announced that it would release ‘Soul’ as a Christmas release exclusively on its streaming service Disney+. The movie centered around a jazz musician who’s trying to reunite his accidentally separated soul and body.

    This marked the first time a full-length Pixar feature had been released for home viewing without first playing in movie theaters.

    Before its win at the Oscars, ‘Soul’ had already made history on other fronts. It was the first Pixar feature to have a Black protagonist, voiced by Jamie Foxx, the first with a predominantly Black cast and the first with a Black co-director Kemp Powers.

    The movie had also swept up Best Animated Feature awards from several critics groups and film societies, including the Golden Globes, BAFTA, the AFI, the Art Directors Guild, among others.

    ‘Soul’ directed by filmmaker Pete Docter, besides Foxx, features the vocal talents of Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Questlove, Angela Bassett and Daveed Diggs. It also features original jazz music by Jon Batiste, and a score composed by Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

    The 93rd Academy Awards are being held at both the Dolby Theatre and Union Station. The ceremony is taking place two months later than originally planned, due to the impact left by the COVID-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry.

    The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced on March 15 this year. This is only the fourth time in history that the Academy Awards were postponed.

    ‘Mank’ leads the nominations this year after being nominated for 10 accolades while ‘The Father’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’, ‘Minari’, ‘Nomadland’, ‘Sound of Metal’ and ‘The Trial of Chicago 7’ have been nominated in six categories.

  • INTERVIEW | ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ was made mostly from home due to pandemic

    Express News Service
    Much happens in the creation of an animated film. Apart from the usual filmmaking processes like scripting, storyboarding, lighting, and editing, here, there is also concept art, pre-visualisation, texturing, animation, rigging, rendering and compositing. Such intensive work naturally demands much manpower—which is why animated films are made through the collaboration between many, many divisions. With Disney’s latest film, Raya and the Norman Joseph and Archana Senthilkumar from Disney, who let us into the making of this film and talk to us about what it took to complete this film during the pandemic:Last Dragon that has come out to great reviews, this entire process had to be improvised. Here’s

    Excerpts. Could you expand upon your responsibilitiles?Norman Joseph: As a General Technical Director, I support production and develop the tools used by artists in production. Among those we partner with, include artists, production and technology leadership, technical directors, and software engineers. The tools we develop help facilitate the computer graphics animation process.

    Archana Senthilkumar: I work as the bridge between the software development teams and the artist production teams. At the beginning of a project, we spend time developing software that the artists will use after the production goes into full swing. At the end, we switch fully into support mode to help them with all the little tweaks. 

    NJ: I also develop the workflow that gets used by artists from multiple departments to contribute towards making the film. I also help with the workflow to create all the vegetation you see in the film; I also create a workflow for the crowd department artists to be able to share their character data with animation and technical animation department artists, so that each department is able to access character performance with tools they are familiar with. What does a regular day at work entail for you? AS: We use scripting languages like Python and C++ as well as 3D software packages like Maya, Houdini, and Nuke. A regular day at work involves development tasks and handling a queue of support tickets from artists who are currently working in production. Sometimes, it’s a small issue that can be fixed in five minutes. Some others take us down a rabbit hole that take weeks and need the help of a dozen other people.

    We begin an animation film as a regular film: we ideate, get feedback from the crew, research consultants and experts. If a particular scene may resonate well with the audience, we can start working on it even if the scenes surrounding it are not in the final stage yet. We can come up with different versions of the same scene and make changes at various stages, so there’s a lot of flexibility when it comes to animation. And then, there’s also a production management department that makes sure that we are not continuously making changes till the deadline.  At which stage of production do you join the team? NJ: Technical directors work with all the departments through the production. We start working from the start of production and as more departments come in line, more technical directors join the production. I joined the production when the ‘crowd and effects’ departments were starting to get busy on production shots. 

    AS: People with supervisory roles roll on at a much earlier stage so that we can talk to the director and ideate with the script along with what is technically achievable. Once that is fleshed out, I team up with the rest of artist production.  How different is Raya and the Last Dragon, say, from a Frozen 2, in terms of technical challenges?NJ: The biggest difference between the two films is that Raya and the Last Dragon was made mostly from home, due to the pandemic. We are lucky to have so many amazing people working with us and it’s amazing how we all came together to create this film from home. We built multiple new tools and workflows to support our amazing artists, so we all could have what we needed to make this film. Much like the theme of this film, we trusted each other and came together to bring our best to our work even when we all had to do it from home. All we had was video conferencing to connect with each other. 

    AS: From a technical standpoint, this film has a lot of action. A lot of action choreography went into the character’s animation. For example, in a sword fight, you want the character’s actions, motions and expressions to be smooth even though they are moving fast. There are also a lot of different environments in this film. Kumandra (the fictional world in which the film is based) is made up of different type of lands—right from desserts to port cities and icy mountains. Dealing with different kind of terrains for the same film was technically challenging.  Tell us a little about your next project.NJ: I am currently working with the workflow group at the studio to build the next generation of tools to be used for our future projects. The work involves experimenting with new software and tools, and trying things that we have not tried before, so we can learn to see what’s possible in the future.AS: The next film we are working on is Encanto. I have just started working on that film and it is a totally different setting that speaks of a different culture. I’m very excited to work on it.

  • ‘Raya is the most badass Disney Princess’

    Express News Service
    Disney’s push for Asian representation caused a stir with the controversial release of Mulan last year. So it’s only natural to wonder if their next, the sprawling animation epic Raya and the Last Dragon, will deliver on its word. Set in the fantasy world of Kumandra, it’s the first Disney adventure inspired by Southeast Asian culture. It follows Raya, a fallen princess questing to find the last dragon and prevent the apocalypse. The fantastical world is rooted in cultural specificity, highlighting the mythology, art, cuisine and architecture of countries like Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and others.

    “We let the story guide our research and inspirations,” says co-director Carlos López Estrada. “We didn’t want the film to just tick off boxes. We didn’t want it to say, ‘Here’s us showing diversity or representation or strong female leads.’ It really comes from a core — which I hope comes across in the movie.”

    For the film, Carlos has teamed up with Don Hall, co-director on past Disney films like Winnie The Pooh, Big Hero Six, and Moana. Like the Polynesian protagonist of the last, Raya too is a Disney Princess — and the first of Southeast Asian origin. Hall, for his part, places her quite high in the pantheon. “Raya is probably the most badass of all the princesses,” Hall says. “Being a warrior, she identifies more as a guardian of the dragon than a princess. But she has a lot of other traits — vulnerability, humour, love of family —- that connects her to other princesses.”

    A major through-line in Raya’s journey is her relationship with trust. Having lost her kingdom to feuding factions, Raya has lost faith in humanity. She has every reason to: her best friend, Namaari, is now her nemesis, and she encounters thieves and tricksters every step of the way. “The world is too messed up to trust anyone,” she tells Sisu — the goofy titular dragon — when they meet. Yet Sisu (who can take human form) reverses that logic. “Maybe it’s messed up because you don’t have trust?”

    “That scene hit me hard,” says Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker), who voices Raya. “I think what makes it powerful is that they are both kind of right. It’s really about them trying to understand where the other person comes from.”

    Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell), who voices Sisu, adds, “That line for me summed up the entire movie. It holds such weight when you apply that thinking to the world we live in.”The actors weigh in on the representation debate surrounding the movie. “I never want to play a character who reiterates any sort of stereotype about a group of people,” assures Kelly Marie Tran, whose parents are Vietnamese but who grew up in the US. “Even if it’s not an Asian-centric cast,” ventures Awkwafina, “it’s important for me that my character is not one-dimensional. More than anything, I look for the heart of a story and what’s it trying to tell.”

    The makers of Raya and The Last Dragon enlisted a team of anthropologists to flesh out the world of Kumandra. Given the Southeast Asian setting, the influence of India and China inevitably spilled into the film. “There’s Sanskrit that’s shared among some of these countries,” details producer Osnat Shurer. “Also, many of our crew members were Indian. So when we were working on the wraps of the clothing, for example, we were referring to the dhoti as well as other styles.”

    Indeed, much of the film’s look crosses the traditional with the modern. Hall says he wanted to push the technology in terms of lighting and performance, yet retain the signature Disney look. “This is a particular look we felt suited Raya really well,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean other films down the line need to look the same.” López Estrada points to the film’s colourful prologue as a nod to past styles. “It gave us an opportunity to create something that’s reminiscent of flat or 2-d animation. So yes, you can expect a lot of different visual styles filtering through the film.”