Wish: the power of wishes: how the film with which Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary was made

Asha, Magnifico, Valentino and Estrella are the central characters of Desire: the power of desiresthe film with which Disney chose to celebrate its 100 years.

An animated musical comedy full of nods to the studio’s historyentertaining, with special effects that make audiences vibrate and an aesthetic that combines the art of classic watercolor drawings with the latest technology in computer animation.

Since this was a special job for the company, Disney opened the doors of its studios in Burbank, Los Angeles, and Clarion was able to learn in detail what the film-making process was like, which in our country it was debuts January 4th and talk to those who made it.

The story is set in the kingdom of Rosas, on the Iberian Peninsula, where the inhabitants entrust their wishes to the magnificent king to preserve them and with the hope that one day he will grant them to you. A problem that occurs bit by bit.

Asha, a young witch’s apprentice, stumbles upon the truth about what Magnificent does to people’s desires and decides to face it. A key piece will be Stara truly unique character who descends from the sky and accompanies Asha throughout the plot.

Directors Chris Buck (director of Frozen), Fawn Veerasunthorn (director of Raya and the Last Dragon), screenwriter Jennifer Lee (creative director of Disney and screenwriter of Frozen) and producers Peter del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes talked about Clarion details on how it was made Desire: the power of desires.

Those 100 years are nothing

-Disney celebrates its centenary with Wish, what does it feel like to be part of it?

Pietro del Vecho: Being here in this particular moment We consider it a privilege and also a responsibility.. Even though we wanted to make a film like that and we succeeded. It is an original fairy tale with original characters and songs. We also wanted to pay homage to the legacy that came before us. But I also hope it’s a film that inspires people 100 years from now when they celebrate their next milestone.

-When did you know that this film would be chosen for the 100th anniversary?

Juan Pablo Reyes: Well, the origin dates back to 2018, when Jennifer Lee became creative director. She realized that 2023 was approaching and she wanted to make this original film to celebrate the anniversary. So she brought him into the studio and everyone got excited and we started having conversations about what Disney means to each of us.

It was then that words such as hope, wish and joy appeared and requests for good wishes to the stars. And that was more or less the origin of everything. That was the guiding light.

Chris Buck: When we knew we were going to make a centennial film, we knew we wanted to do something original and make an original story, original songs, original characters. So, in a sense, we went back to the drawing board.

We said we wanted to see all the movies that had been made in the past, so we took a frame of each of them, put them on a billboard, and there we could see the complete hundred-year-old movie. But we could also see a common thread in all these films where a character wishes on a star.

Del Vecho: The film is truly a love letter to Disney and Disney animation.

A good wish in my heart

-What is the main message that the story conveys?

Jennifer Lee: The main message for me is that there is no greater power than that of a person with a desire in their heart. The best things we’ve done as people begin with this desire in someone’s heart to actually do something, to give something to the world. And I think sometimes we think we wish on a star and that means things just happen.

Desire, to me, is actually a statement of the need for an impulse. And it’s a beautiful part of ourselves.

-What was it like working with part of the same team behind the success of Frozen?

Light: The best thing about working with a lot of the team Frozen is where we grew up together Frozen and we understand each other very well. We have a very organic approach to the way we work. And for me, most importantly, because my role as CCO comes from being the writer on that team.

I knew how to be a writer in that room and not the CEO. I knew how to collaborate as fully and deeply and creatively and openly as the writers here, and then give them the freedom to explore and then come back to my role as executive producer. And that was something that with a team that I trust so much and that trusts me, it made everything go very smoothly.

-Wish is full of references to Disney classics. Was it difficult to include them in the story?

Fawn Veerasunthorn: They came out pretty much after we had figured out the story and character to make sure this movie could stand on its own. Then once it all started to happen, it was fun to find opportunities and ideas that came to mind that we wanted to include as characters or objects in places that were very special to them. Because we all grew up and were inspired by Disney movies.

He gave us so much and made many of us dream of working here, so we couldn’t refuse. So we said to ourselves: ok, if the idea comes to us and it’s not a distraction to the plot we’ll include it. And that’s how it is there are more than 100 references.

King: We do a lot of research in our film library and on the film itself. Walt Disney, asking who he was, what inspired him, what kind of leader he had been. We also investigated his childhood on Marceline’s farm in Missouri. Some stories talk about baby animals dressed in clothes, which were the inspiration for our goat Valentino, who is dressed in pajamas.

-How did you choose Wish’s very particular aesthetic, which combines hand drawing with computer animation?

Veerasunthorn: wish It was originally created rather to celebrate 100 years of Disney. We wanted to celebrate our heritage, which is watching, so we looked at Snow White and Pinocchio and those beautiful watercolor illustrations that, in a way, set the scene like the opening of a storybook.

But today the medium is CG (Computer generated), so how do you combine the two? This was our goal. And that’s how we got this beautiful watercolor look where you can also play with the camera, move around in that world. It’s like entering a storybook. We were amazed when we saw the final result. You watch it on a big screen and it’s like watching a storybook illustration but animated. That’s why it’s very exciting.

-What was the most challenging thing about Wish?

bucket: The most difficult thing was ensuring that we could achieve this look in a feature film. In the past we have made short films such as paperman AND Away from the tree to explore this technology. But we’ve never achieved this in a feature film before. Therefore, each scenario was new territory for our team, who rose to the challenge beautifully.