2007’s Enchanted mesmerised audiences. According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Kevin Lima was angry that he wasn’t considered for the sequel.
Lima says he was “surprised” not to be invited to participate in Disenchanted, which has a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating compared to Enchanted’s 93%.
A shift in executives’ and Hollywood’s politics led to his exclusion from Disenchanted. “It was sad.” I haven’t seen or read the movie or script. So I’ll watch as the characters I created grow and live on.
Lima stated that he is still proud of the film and that it is a Disney-Princess fan favorite.Lima believes this is because “we paid great tribute to those movies.”
The original script for Enchanted was written by Bill Kelly in the late 1990s. Rob Marshall, Jon Turteltaub, and Adam Shankman were in talks to direct before Kevin Lima.
Lima told THR that his pitch for Enchanted billed the picture as a “love letter to Disney.” Lima advocated for Amy Adams over a famous actress. Without Amy’s performance, Enchanted wouldn’t be as good, said the director.
Lima remembered that Disney was “very concerned” about the picture, with some worried it would only appeal to girls.
“The marketing department didn’t believe in the film,” Lima said. The marketing department tried to shut down the film several times during pre-production because they didn’t think boys would see it. Nina Jacobson and Dick Cook kept pushing us forward because they believed in the picture.