Creating The 'Delicious Villain' In Disney's Wish Was Overwhelming For Writers - Exclusive
When it comes to reminiscing about the greatest animated Disney movies of all time, people are just as likely to remember the incredible villains as they are the princesses. From Scar (Jeremy Irons) in "The Lion King" to Ursula (Pat Carroll) in "The Little Mermaid," the best animated Disney villains have awesome musical numbers and such tenacity that some viewers can't help but love them. Some villains are so good that they've even gotten their own live-action spin-offs, like Maleficient (Angelina Jolie) in her self-titled movie.
However, recent Disney movies such as "Moana" and "Encanto" have focused more on internal conflicts. There are certainly antagonistic forces and characters, but it's hard to find an outright villain who has truly nefarious machinations at play. That changes with "Wish," where King Magnifico (Chris Pine) has a sinister outlook on which wishes to grant in the kingdom of Rosas. He even gets a villain song — which hasn't been around for a little bit — with "This Is the Thanks I Get?!"
In an exclusive interview with Looper, "Wish" writer Jennifer Lee discussed consciously wanting to create a new Disney villain and what a challenge it was. She brought up, "When we talked in the beginning about things we wanted to do, there were a lot of us going, 'Oh, it'd be great to do a delicious Disney villain' — and yet very daunting. Once you've found the villain, it's the most fun thing to write in the world." Even though King Magnifico allows Disney to return to its roots, the team also found a way to modernize him for the modern day.
The Wish team wanted to understand what made King Magnifico tick
Disney fans may love seeing a classic villain return to the big screen, but there's more to King Magnifico than meets the eye. "Wish" follows a trend of modern animated Disney movies exploring more mature themes, like how "Frozen II" explores colonialism and "Encanto" examines intergenerational familial trauma. "Wish" follows that trajectory, and with the creative team wanting to up the ante, King Magnifico has more depth than being evil for evil's sake.
Jennifer Lee explained how the "Wish" team knew early on that they wanted to learn more about King Magnifico: "What was so fun about Magnifico was when we'd hear a lot in our story room about people wanting to understand him more. I'm like, 'Okay, that's more modern.' The storytelling's [like], 'Don't just give me the arch-villain — I want to know why he is making his choices.'" In a warped way, Magnifico genuinely believes in what he's doing and why it's necessary not to grant every single wish. Asha (Ariana DeBose) explains the flaw in his thinking, but he can't get over himself; he believes he's so high, mighty, and above reproach that his way of doing things is the correct one.
As the protagonist, Asha has her journey, but Lee noted how King Magnifico gets an inverse arc. "We open the movie with [Magnifico's] face and him at his best. To get to draw that journey of, 'He could have made different choices along the way,' and to see the ones he made — once we locked in there, his scenes were the most fun to be a part of." And now, Magnifico is part of the Disney villain pantheon.
"Wish" premieres in theaters on November 22.