September 29th, 2021 
Jackson Murphy 
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 60th feature film is Encanto, from Oscar winning Zootopia directors Byron Howard & Jared Bush and co-director Charise Castro Smith. Encanto is about a young woman named Mirabel, who’s part of a large, diverse family that lives in a magical house. Each family member has a special gift, except Mirabel. She doesn’t have hers… just yet. After screening 30 minutes of footage, I spoke with Howard, Bush and Smith about the film’s central themes and end-of-year release strategy.
Jackson Murphy: Byron, this movie is about knowing you have a gift. When did you know you had the gift of storytelling?
Byron Howard: Oh my gosh! I question this day, whether I have the gift of storytelling or not. (laughs) People around me also ask me that question. No, I think it’s a learning experience. The good part about my job… I have not stopped learning ever since I started this job. It’s crazy. I have the weirdest job of anyone in my family. And when I tell people what I do, they just look at me and I think they think I’m very lucky to do this. But I’m surrounded by brilliant people I’m learning [with], and the fact that the movies are always so different. This one’s very different from Zootopia and Tangled or anything I’ve ever worked on before. The teams are always different. But the best part is we have these cores of people we love, like Jared and Charise… they’re key relationships you get to follow these movies through. I really do have the best of both worlds, but I’ll keep trying! (laughs)
Jared Bush: Yeah one day! (laughs)
JM: I’m sure your family members ask you tons of questions all the time and you also have NDAs so you can’t say a bunch of stuff, I’m sure!
BH: That’s right. I’m like, “Don’t you talk, Grandma! Just keep your mouth shut!”
JM: (laughs) Love Tangled and Zootopia. When I saw Zootopia I came out of the theater and I went, “They snuck an adult movie into an animated feature. How did they do it? They did it so well.” Jared, I love in the Encanto footage the “Pressure” song. I don’t have any siblings but yet I got it and understood it clearly. How was it crafting that scene of the movie?
JB: We spend so long with these characters and really try to get into their heads. Louisa’s been a standout for us for so long. We knew we had this character who was super strong and the rock of the family and was carrying all these responsibilities. Charise and I spent a lot of time getting into that frame of mind. But to be honest, when we talked to Lin [Manuel Miranda] about that, he was like, “I definitely know what that needs to be. It’s gotta be reggaeton.” And we’re like, “Okay. Great!” And then he disappeared. And then he came back with that song, and the first time we heard that beat come in, we were super excited. But then getting into the lyrics where you get all this fire and this strength – and then it gives way to these really emotional moments and this vulnerable secret side. It was really exciting to us. Lin has this amazing ability to deliver songs that are really exciting and you’ve never heard before but speak to something so relatable to so many of us and really distill it down to something that is super catchy. That song gets stuck in your head but also makes you feel it and you feel you’re a part of that song as well.
JM: Definitely. Charise, I can really feel Beauty and the Beast in the moving floorboard moments. Talk to me about making the floorboards come alive just right and also the tiles and the sound effects you have involved with the tiles.
Charise Castro Smith: It was a huge collaborative process figuring out how this house moved – how this house expressed itself… figuring out our ideas about what it did and didn’t do. Early on we knew that we wanted to have truth in materials. Things wouldn’t feel plasticy – that they would move in a realistic way. It really started out with the storyboard artists. We did a ton of iteration on how the house could move and express itself. The animators took that on and really made it their own. The riggers… we asked this team to make the house be able to do things that they had never done before in animation. They delivered in so many amazing ways: the way the house moves and all of its personality is gonna be an incredible piece of this film. One of my favorite moments in the film, actually, is Mirabel in the courtyard with these tiles. You’ll have to wait and see that.
JM: Good. This is the 60th Walt Disney Animation Studios film, which is quite an achievement. I love the video package that was at the beginning of the presentation the other day. Byron, with this being film No. 60, what do you think is new and what do you think stays consistent to going all the way back to Snow White in 1937?
BH: Oh, that’s a good question. Jared, here, usually makes a joke about my age and how I was in the theater when Snow White came out. (laughs)
JB: How dare you! (laughs)
BH: No, it’s amazing. And seeing that package you’re talking about… when we saw all those titles lined-up next to each other. The last 98 years. It’s insane. The fact that this studio, in two years, will be celebrating its centennial. The quality of storytelling, compelling characters, amazing worlds, a lot of heart, amazing music. All of us at Disney love that pressure to deliver every time we get in line with these other amazing films that inspired us to get into the industry, like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pinocchio… all the way back decades. The fact that these movies are shared with families and generations over and over again is so key. We want these things to be timeless and watchable forever.
To be able to step into that and have the moniker on the film that it’s the 60th: we’re very proud of that. The fact that quality of storytelling always stays the same but now pushing it to new places we’ve never been before with the movie. Huge family. 12 main characters. Incredible new music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, with reggaeton songs in a Disney movie, which is crazy and incredible, amazing choreography. And I think the technology now where we can be beautifully subtle and at the same time joyously full of movement. With simulation and the beautiful new eyes these characters have, which are nothing like you’ve ever seen. It is really an exciting time and I’m very happy to have been a part of the history of this place.
JM: Nice. The fact that this movie is going to be in theaters for 30 days [starting Nov. 24] and then go to Disney+ just before Christmas. There have been a lot of strategies and things going on with Disney movies. Jared, how do you feel about this?
JB: I feel over the moon. I think it’s such a win-win for this movie. First off, having it go to theaters is huge for us. This is a gorgeous, huge, epic movie. Honestly, during quarantine we could only watch bits and pieces on our laptops. So when we came back to our studio for the first time on the big screen, we were all in tears because it’s gorgeous. Being able to see it huge, people have to see it. I think people are gonna be truly, truly blown away by the beauty of this movie. It is off the charts. But then to get the benefit of: as a Christmas present, everyone gets to watch it at home with their families. Unbelievable. Who could’ve predicted it would end-up like this but I’d say that all of us are so, so, so excited that we get to release in theaters on Thanksgiving and then at home on Christmas.
JM: That’s great. Charise, what about you?
CCS: This is a movie that’s gonna be a visual treat to see on the big screen. I would encourage you [to] please go see it on the big screen because it’s meant to be seen large. Also… then for Christmas people get to share it with their families in their own homes. We made this movie with our families in our own homes!
JM: A movie about a home at home!
CCS: Exactly. So it’s two wonderful opportunities for this film.
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