The wish: Asha and the lucky starFeaturing characters voiced by Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine and Alan Tudyk, was created by the same team as to celebrate the legendary animation studio’s centennial Snow Queen. And if the story is decidedly modern, the picture is a sumptuous homage to Walt Disney classics.
On legendary Hollywood Boulevard, the frontispiece of the El Capitan Theater, a Disney cinema, is decorated in the colors of the film “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star.” A few kilometers away, behind the Hollywood Hills, in Burbank, the Disney Studios are preparing the release of the film, their 62nd “animated classic”, produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios founded by Disney himself.
The main wall of the building is decorated with the wizard’s hat from Fantasia, those working drawings of the productions that have become an integral part of popular culture, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from Encanto: The Fantastic Madrigal Family, but also. and of course the adventures of Mickey Mouse, the house’s emblem, and Sleeping Beauty, whose castle is now the studio’s logo.
The desires at the center of the film
“I had just been named president of the studios and I realized that in five years we would be celebrating our centennial. So I asked Chris [Buck, coréalisateur de La reine des neiges et du Souhait] what we could do. He then showed a photo of all of the studio’s films. From the beginning we knew we wanted to make The Wish a musical because it’s a tribute to our classics. We also wanted a new visual, detailed Jennifer Lee during an interview with QMI Agency.
Actress Ariana DeBose lends her voice to the characters of Asha in the musical “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star,” in theaters November 22nd. Photo provided by Disney
“We both believe in the power of fairy tales. This is how we came up with the idea of creating an original fairy tale. The story is structured around the concept of desire. If you think about it, a wish or wish is something simple but surprisingly complicated. Everything that has been achieved in human history began with a wish. Every desire has potential, but is also a sign of vulnerability. Wishes can be destroyed, new wishes expressed, etc. And that’s when I realized there was material here to write a script.”
In Disney history, wishing on a lucky star is generally one of the cornerstones of scenarios – the famous song “When we Prayer to the Lucky Star” from Pinocchio has also become the studios’ musical theme. So it was only natural that the wish and the star became the driving force around which The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star revolves.
Because Asha (voice, in the original version, by Ariana DeBose) has one wish: to become the apprentice of King Magnifico (voice of Chris Pine). The latter protects his kingdom of Rosas by asking all residents to entrust him with their wishes, which he jealously guards. Once a month he grants one of his wishes during a ceremony where everyone comes together. However, Asha is quick to believe that the wishes should be returned to the residents. In a moment of desperation, she makes this wish, which is then heard by Star, a star in the sky. And now it’s up to the teenager – aided by a talking goat (voice of Alan Tudyk) – to save Rosas.
Actor Chris Pine lends his voice to the character of King Magnifico in the musical “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star,” which will be in theaters November 22nd. Photo provided by Disney
Simple but deep and touching, the story is also humorous and the film contains many modern and, above all, irreverent moments, a rarity at Disney.
“We often think, and wrongly so, that we have to follow certain rules. Walt said from the beginning that we must continually evolve as storytellers. This is why we construct stories based on our truths, and we couldn’t do that if we had a wall made of a list of forbidden things. Because in such a context it is impossible to make creative discoveries,” emphasized Jennifer Lee.
Among these creative discoveries is the visual for The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star. Directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn (whose filmography includes, of course, “Frozen”, but also “Raya and the Last Dragon”) wanted to reproduce old animation techniques with current technologies and decided to create a visual universe reminiscent of watercolor and in doing so constantly includes, sometimes subtle, references, sometimes obvious, to all of the animation studios’ previous feature films.
Actress Ariana DeBose lends her voice to the character Asha and Chris Pine lends her voice to the King Magnifico in the musical comedy “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star”, which will be in cinemas from November 22nd. Photo provided by Disney
“The film is a love letter to Walt and all the animators before us,” co-director Chris Buck tells us. In The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star we put all the Disney love, all the magic, all the hope and all the inspiration possible.
“In terms of literary, technical or visual discoveries, each film builds on the last – that’s what I like about this one, the new technologies we’ve developed.” We want the next generation of directors and animators “The Wish” studies, looks, questions and creates something even greater from what we have made. And I would be curious to see what happens in 100 years,” said Fawn Veerasunthorn when we asked her what animation studios she sees in another 100 years.
“I hope that the essence of the feature films remains the same, everything that Walt created,” specifies Chris Buck. When we look at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs we see the heart, the magic and find inspiration. I firmly believe that we will never lose this true north.
Alan Tudyk provides the voice of Valentino, the goat in his pajamas, in the original version of the film “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star,” which will be in cinemas from November 22nd. Photo provided by Disney
When actors influence characters
Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine, who played Asha and King Magnifico, were completely immersed in their characters, as Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn told us.
“Ariana is constantly moving, she is so graceful! Because we were doing the dubbing, the animators not only studied his facial expressions, but also his movements and integrated them into the film,” explains Chris Buck.
“It was the same process for Chris. We involve the actors in the film’s creation process from the beginning. We give them the script, we let them play with the scenes and modify them. It’s a constant back and forth, Chris asked us terribly relevant questions that we sometimes didn’t have answers to!” stated the two co-directors.
Actress Ariana DeBose lends her voice to the character Asha in the musical “The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star,” in theaters November 22nd. Photo provided by Disney
Archives, real treasures
In Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, the Animation Research Library, the library that brings together all the archives of the animation studios, is located in a completely anonymous building whose address is carefully kept secret.
In this real cave of Ali Baba there are drawings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, watercolors or studies of Sleeping Beauty, the artistic masterpiece from the Disney Studios, animations of Pinocchio, gouaches and an impressive amount of documents from 1924 that are all Disney cover studio productions. Therefore, it was these approximately 65 million documents, stored in optimal temperature and humidity conditions, that served as inspiration for animators to create the visuals for The Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star.
The wish: Asha and the lucky star will light up cinema screens from November 22nd.