Disney weaves a tale full of magic realism in Encanto, premiering in theaters on November 24. The film, which marks the studio's 60th animated feature, centers on the Madrigal family and their spectacular home. Over the last few generations, their casita has bestowed gifts on every child in the household - except for Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz, In The Heights), who inexplicably remains the only ordinary one. But when the house and its magic are in danger, it is up to her to save them all.
Zootopia creators Byron Howard and Jared Bush directed the film alongside Charise Castro Smith (The Haunting of Hill House), who also co-wrote the script. The creative team behind this ambitious project had their work cut out for them, fleshing out a dozen family members and ensuring they each had distinct personalities and motivations.
The directors spoke to Screen Rant about the generational trauma that lies at the heart of Encanto's story, and the perfect blend of sisterhood achieved through excellent casting.
Screen Rant: When I previously interviewed you, I had seen just a sketch of the movie. Now that I have fully experienced the magic, I have so many more questions about Abuela Alma. Charise, can you take me through the original discussions about what she represents as the matriarch of this great family?
Charise Castro Smith: She was a character that I'd say, out of all of our characters, took the most amount of development and time to unfold. Because she was the foundation of this family and, in a lot of ways, this really difficult and traumatic experience that she has lived through has rippled through her family and informed a lot of the dynamics that are happening in the present day.
We spoke to a lot of experts - family psychology experts - and it was something they reinforced in us. And also, quite frankly, it's something that I took a little bit of from my own family with my grandparents coming to this country and having to start over, and really thinking about what that experience was like for them. We spoke a lot to our Colombian Cultural Trust, and they echoed that internal displacement was something that is an unfortunate reality for a lot of people in Colombia.
Starting from all of that groundwork, we really tried to think about the matriarch of this family, and in a lot of ways the mayor of this town; the caretaker, the powerhouse who is holding everything together. We asked ourselves: what's the cost of that? What has she lived through that makes it even more challenging to do everything that she has to do?
She was a character that Jared and Byron and I spent a lot of time thinking about. And then when we cast María Cecilia Botero, who is just amazing in this role, she was able to bring together the tenderness, the humor, the love, and the sternness - all of the components that really made this character so rounded and complex and human. She's a character that obviously is really central to this film, and that we're really proud of.
I loved how her dynamics with Mirabel and Bruno (John Leguizamo) almost parallel each other, in a sense. Jared, could you talk about how her responsibility and trauma manifest themselves in certain relationships?
Jared Bush: First off, I'll say that Charise is being very humble. She created that character from scratch; that's not someone we actually had in the movie until Charise joined and created this entire backstory. I remember the first time Byron and I read the opening prologue with that new story, we were like, "[surprised sounds]." That is all created by Charise, which is the foundation for everything, and really what the entire movie is based on.
In terms of this dynamic between Abuela Alma and Bruno, and the way that all those things happen, I think that what we found as we were talking to our own families is that you do have these moments in a family - certainly in a family where things are complex - where you don't know something that someone's going through. You don't really know all the struggles that they've been through, and you don't know why Abuela Alma has been so hard on her first three children, and that has rippled down to the generations beyond.
Bruno was the one that unfortunately got the brunt of that, as the person who could see the future. He's somebody who saw the future but only saw the negative things, and that wasn't as helpful to the family. For Abuela Alma, who wanted to protect her family, seeing negativity on the horizon was difficult for her. They had a tricky relationship and, without getting into spoilers, what he saw that pertained to Mirabel created an even more difficult moment for the two of them, and ultimately gave us the break between those characters.
And that trauma that trickled down generation to generation has also hit Mirabel. You're right that, very intentionally, Bruno was this outcast and Mirabel was on the same path to becoming that over the course of the movie. The only difference really is that Mirabel is a different type of character; someone who didn't grow up with the same kind of expectations, because the only thing that was expected of her as the non-magical one was nothing. She was expected to let people down in a way. The fact that she could subvert that, to really be the one who comes to save the family and ultimately allow Abuela to talk about her past and to help her heal, is something we're really proud of. And it's something only Mirabel can do.
Charise Castro Smith: Just adding to what Jared is saying, from very early on that moment of healing this passed down intergenerational trauma was something we were really interested in. And then Lin [Manuel Miranda] wrote the song "Dos Oruguitas," which is the most amazing, incredible song and just spectacularly performed by Sebastián Yatra. It really just all culminated in a beautiful way.
Diane Guerrero and Jessica Darrow are also fabulous as the sisters, and I love how they form this unit. Can you talk about what makes Diane and Jessica so right for their roles?
Byron Howard: Diane is incredible, as you said, and Isabela is a challenging role. She had to be funny and charming, and this perfect example of the perfect Madrigal, but she also had to be Mirabel's main adversary in the family. Because as we talked about, family is not family unless you have conflict - and that's true. I don't care how nice your family is; there's always head-butting that goes on. And we didn't want to miss out on that delicious conflicts, between sisters especially.
We thought it was a great way to showcase Mirabel as a more full character. She loves her sister, but she doesn't understand Isabela and Isabela doesn't understand Mirabel. And it causes a huge amount of fun friction that actually becomes very freeing for both of them as they go. But Diane's song is crazy. It's like this crazy Rock en español, rock concert [song] with flowers going everywhere. It's spectacular.
And then with Jess as Luisa, as soon as Jess came in, we knew. We knew that is Luisa; there cannot be anyone else. Because Jess' voice is so distinct. And then Luisa's song also is this huge standout. Lin wrote this amazing reggaeton song, which is just mind-blowing. We've never had a reggaeton song in a Disney film ever. That's what I love about what he did with the music; it spans all generations, all styles, but it weaves together so beautifully.
I think the distinct nature of their voices, how different and wonderful they are, mixes with that distinct difference in the music. We got so lucky with the sisters. Those sisters, when we first heard them all together in one scene, they felt like sisters. They felt distinct from each other, which was pretty incredible. Our cast, we can't say enough good things about them.
There are so many characters, both family members and those who married into this family, that I would love to know more about. If you had to pick a spinoff story, who would you want to do a story about?
Jared Bush: Like you're saying, you could do it about anybody. I would love to see Agustín [Wilmer Valderrama] and Félix [Mauro Castillo] hanging out on their own little show, because those guys - from the beginning don't have a whole lot of screen time, but they're so fun together.
I think Agustín is this guy that's kind of built off someone from Bogota. He's a little more buttoned-up; a little fish out of water. And Félix, who's a Casteño, is there to have a great time. Honestly, early on, they were actually based on Juan Rendón and Natalie Ozma, who helped us and are our consultants. Juan is from Cali and Natalie is from Bogota. And their dynamic is so hilarious, we were like, "That must be in the movie." I would watch the two of them together forever.
Encanto will be released in theaters on November 24th and on Disney+ on December 24th.
