In the upcoming Walt Disney Animation Studios film,Wish,starChris Pinevoices Magnifico, a king with the power to grant wishes. Of course, the character’s villainous nature is eventually revealed and the movie’s heroine, Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), discovers that Magnifico has no intention of making people’s wishes come true.
While chatting withComicBook.com, theWonder Womanactor opened up about voicing Magnifico and reacted to being called “Disney’s hottest villain.” Pine said:
“I mean, I don’t know if I’m up there [with Scar and Ursula], but I certainly gave my best, my best effort. Credit’s really due to Ben [Rice] and Julia [Michaels] who wrote incredible music and gave me the shot to try to pull it off. I just had great fun doing it. I thought the guy had great eyebrows.”
Per itssynopsis, inDisney’sWish"Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force - a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe - the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico - to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen."
ComicBook.com also recently spoke withWish’sdirectors, Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn as well as producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones. While talking to the outlet, they opened up about creating Magnifico and hearing fans who were eager for a specific type of Disney villain.
Wish Producer Explains the Disney Easter Eggs Hidden Throughout the Film
Producers Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones and Peter Del Vecho discuss the Disney legacy portrayed in Wish/
Disney Villains Have Evolved Over Time.
With every Disney reboot, there are many factors that have to be changed in order to fit with current standards. One thing that is certain though, is that a Disney villain will always be a Disney villain, even if their role has evolved over the last nine decades. Del Vecho explained:
“First of all, we are fans ourselves, even though we’re working for Disney Animation, we all love it.And Disney villains have evolved over time and some villains are revealed, but there’s something delicious about knowing that someone’s the villain from the beginning. What makes this one unique is he’s also charming and charismatic and you actually watch him evolve as more pressure is put on him. And I believe you may not like what he does, but you’ll understand the ‘why’ because we can all relate to it, the pressure that he must feel.”
Buck added, “Well, Magnifico was born out of the want to do a villain that hearkens back to some of our older villains, and it’s a villain that is the villain from very early on, and that it’s a villain that you love to hate. They come on the screen and you’re like, ‘Yes, yes. This scene’s going to get real now.’ So that was our desire. We are big Disney fans ourselves, and we had also heard from many fans about wanting another villain.”
In addition to Pine and DeBose,Wishalso features Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber,Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, Niko Vargas, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky, Della Saba, Keone Young, Lucas Sigler, Holland Watkins, Woody Buck, and Efé.
