Giselle (Enchanted)
Giselle is a fictional character from Disney's romantic comedy fantasy film Enchanted and its sequel, Disenchanted. She is both portrayed and voiced by actress Amy Adams. The character first appears in Enchanted as a cheerful maiden from the animated kingdom of Andalasia, whose plans to marry its prince are threatened when an evil queen banishes her to New York City. While trapped there, she meets and charms a cynical divorce lawyer, which complicates her feelings for the Andalasian prince to whom she is already engaged.
Created by screenwriter Bill Kelly and director Kevin Lima, Giselle is both a parody of and homage to classic Disney princess characters, specifically borrowing inspiration from Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel. Adams was selected out of approximately 300 actresses who auditioned for the role. Although Lima had always wanted to cast an unknown performer as Giselle, Disney executives were initially hesitant to hire Adams due to her relative obscurity at the time. Giselle's animated sequences were supervised by veteran Disney animator James Baxter, who referenced live-action footage of Adams to ensure the character was a cohesive combination of Adams and the classic Disney princess aesthetic.
Adams' performance was lauded by film critics, who praised her comedic timing, singing, and commitment to the character. Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, and the role is credited with establishing her as a leading lady in Hollywood. Some publications credit Giselle with reviving Disney's princess films following a period of decline. Due to disagreements over compensating Adams for using her likeness, Disney canceled its initial plans to induct Giselle into the Disney Princess franchise.
Role
Giselle, a young woman from the animated kingdom of Andalasia, has long fantasized about marrying her true love. She quickly becomes engaged to Prince Edward, but their marriage plans are jeopardized by Edward's stepmother, Queen Narissa. Viewing Giselle as a threat to her throne, Narissa pushes her down a wishing well, transporting her to contemporary Manhattan, New York City. Disoriented and homeless in an unfamiliar environment, Giselle meets Robert, a disillusioned divorce lawyer and single father to Morgan. Reluctantly, Robert allows Giselle to stay in their apartment, straining his relationship with his fiancé, Nancy. As Giselle explores New York, Edward pursues her, determined to bring her back to Andalasia. Meanwhile, Narissa's henchman, Nathaniel, plots to sabotage Edward's mission by poisoning Giselle.Despite her devotion to Edward, Giselle begins to develop feelings for Robert, and Robert is softened by Giselle's optimism in return. Meanwhile, the real world begins to transform Giselle into a complex human being. When Edward finally locates Giselle, she pleads to spend their last night in New York attending a costume ball, during which Giselle shares a romantic dance with Robert. Their moment is interrupted by Narissa who, disguised as an old woman, offers Giselle a magic apple promising that it will erase all memories of her time in New York so she can move on with Edward. However, the apple poisons her and Giselle falls into a deep sleep. Edward and Nathaniel intervene before Narissa can drag Giselle away. Robert deduces the spell can only be broken by true love's kiss. When Edward's kiss fails to awaken her, he quickly realizes Giselle's true love must be Robert instead. With Edward and Nancy's blessing, Robert kisses Giselle and she is revived. Enraged, Narissa transforms herself into a dragon and kidnaps Robert, dangling him from the top of the Woolworth Building. Giselle pursues them and catches Robert as Narissa falls to her death. In the end, Giselle chooses to stay in New York with Robert and Morgan, and launches her own princess-themed clothing line called "Andalasia Fashions", while Edward returns to Andalasia with Nancy, where they marry each other.
In the sequel Disenchanted, set 10 years later, Giselle moves with Robert, her now-teenage stepdaughter Morgan, and their newborn daughter, Sophia, to the seemingly idyllic suburban town of Monroeville. Giselle hopes to achieve a more ideal life than what she has been experiencing in New York City since marrying Robert, but still struggles to adapt to her new environment, finding herself at odds with Morgan and the town's "queen bee", Malvina Monroe. Desperate for change, Giselle uses Sophia's wishing wand to wish for a "fairytale life", but starts transforming into Morgan's wicked stepmother instead, essentially becoming the villain in her own fairy tale. Giselle discovers that her wish is draining all magic from Andalasia to turn Monroeville into a fairy tale. If not reversed by midnight, the transformation becomes permanent, resulting in the disappearance of Andalasia and its inhabitants, including Giselle. Using the last of her innocence before completely transforming, Giselle sends Morgan to Andalasia, where Nancy and Edward teach her to harness her memories of Giselle to restore her stepmother's true nature. Morgan's drawing breaks the spell's effects on Giselle, but Malvina captures Morgan and demands the wand in exchange for her release. Giselle complies, but as midnight approaches, she weakens and begins to disappear. However, Giselle reminds Morgan that she can use the wand's magic as the daughter of an Andalasian. Morgan wishes to be home with her mother, breaking the spell and bringing Giselle, Monroeville, and Andalasia back to life. Only Giselle and Morgan remember the events of the previous day, while everyone else believes it was just a dream.
Development
Creation
In an original draft of the story, the film's heroine asks to be sent to the "real world" to escape unrequited advances from a Prince Charming-type character. When Disney acquired the original script for Enchanted, the film had been intended for a much older audience. Screenwriter Bill Kelly had written a scene in which Giselle is mistaken for a stripper upon arriving in New York's red-light district. She is hired for a bachelor party, whose attendees become angry with her once she refuses to strip, prompting Robert to cancel the party and rescue her. Executive producer Doug Short claims the bachelor party was not abandoned exclusively because of its mature tone, but rather the removal of Robert's friends naturally allowed the story to prioritize Giselle and Robert's relationship. By 2005, Disney commissioned Kelly to write a new draft that aligned with the studio's tradition of yearning heroines. Director Kevin Lima revised the script with Kelly to have Giselle arrive in Times Square, and the bachelor party was ultimately replaced with Giselle hanging from a castle-shaped billboard, where she meets Robert for the first time.Short said the hardest part of developing Giselle as a character was establishing a balance between her comedic antics and relatability, without simply making her a "fool" or evolving her at the expense of her happy personality. Because she is a parody of and homage to classic Disney princess tropes, the filmmakers borrowed inspiration from several Disney princesses, with Lima describing Giselle as "80% Snow White" with traits of Cinderella and Aurora, combined with Ariel's spunk. Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club observed that the original three lend themselves more easily to parody as "the least progressive Disney princess films", whereas Ariel represents a transition towards more empowered heroines. Lima noted Giselle's distinguishing trait is that while her predecessors are largely reactive, Enchanted
Producer Barry Josephson described Lima, a former Disney animator, as an expert on Disney's princess characters, which he credited with helping develop Giselle. Similarly, Short credits Lima with establishing the proper tone for Giselle's evolution, without resorting to simply making fun of Disney's princess culture. According to Adams, her character's journey is about discovering genuine human emotions and love: "She finds out that life is more complicated than it has appeared so far in her life and that it is not all about happy endings, but can be very exciting”. A significant moment in Giselle's character development is when she experiences the feeling of anger for the first time during an argument with Robert, while noticing his chest hair, a feature typically omitted from animated characters. Some of the creative team heavily debated whether the film warranted a final battle, but Short ultimately decided the moment was needed to complete Giselle's transformation into someone who no longer needs to be rescued. Lima explained that the ending provides a more "contemporarily responsible story" for Giselle, unlike traditional female characters who appear independent until they are rescued at the end of their films. Despite some objection from fans, Lima maintained that separating Giselle from Edward at the end was needed to finalize her growth.
Casting and portrayal
was one of the early directors attached to the film before Lima; Shankman had expressed interest in offering the lead role to Kate Hudson or Reese Witherspoon. Established actresses such as Cameron Diaz, Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Garner, and Christina Aguilera had also been considered, but Lima specifically wanted an unknown actress so audiences would not be distracted by her public image, in turn maintaining the illusion of the character's otherworldly innocence. Approximately 300 actresses auditioned, for which Adams answered a cattle call that required singing, acting, and dancing. By the time Adams auditioned in 2005, Lima had already interviewed 250 candidates, and had begun doubting he would find the right actress. However, Lima was immediately impressed by her audition, believing she looked like a Disney princess, and described her as the only auditionee capable of inhabiting the role sincerely without mocking the character. Although she was his only choice, Disney was initially hesitant to hire the relatively unknown Adams because they believed they needed an established star to attract audiences. Disney chairman Dick Cook relented upon seeing her screen test, while Josephson said Adams demonstrated the emotional range required for the role. Lima likened hiring Adams to Disney introducing the world to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. To appease the studio for casting a lesser-known, Lima offered to hire more established actors such as Patrick Dempsey in supporting roles.Giselle was Adams' first leading role, to which she was attracted because of the character's kindness and opportunity for her younger relatives to see her in a family-friendly film. She envisioned Giselle as a strong character despite her sweet nature, explaining that her innocence stems from inexperience as opposed to weakness, and strove to preserve her kindness as she becomes more worldly and mature. Since Enchanted was not filmed in chronological order, Adams paid particularly close attention to making sure her character's personality and physicality were accurate to each time period. She did not intentionally study Disney films to prepare for the role because she had watched them constantly growing up, and wanted to avoid imitating any specific princess in favor of creating her own. At age 19, Adams had unsuccessfully auditioned to play a princess at one of Disney's theme parks. Despite the character being a princess, Adams said she treated Giselle as seriously as she would have any other role, but felt an additional sense of responsibility to maintain a positive image as a potential role model for young girls.Since the film is a musical, Adams was determined to not have her singing dubbed by another performer and underwent intensive vocal coaching to perform all of her character's songs. She recorded three of the film's original songs for its soundtrack, and listened to earlier Disney princesses to achieve a soft, lilting tone. Despite her musical theatre background, she described the musical, romance, and action scenes as the most challenging to film because she relied on her imagination to interact with animated and CGI elements. Adams worked with some live rats and birds to film "Happy Working Song", but refused to film with cockroaches. She took ballroom dance lessons with Dempsey to prepare for the film's ballroom sequence, and found it difficult to learn to dance with a partner despite being a trained dancer herself.
Giselle's costumes were designed by Mona May. The character begins Enchanted wearing traditional Disney princess attire; her outfits gradually become more modern the longer she remains in New York, to mirror her evolution from an animated princess into a "real woman". Her most elaborate costume, the wedding dress, proved challenging for Adams to move or sit down in due to its material and 45-pound weight. May designed the gown based on Lima's instructions to deliver a distinct contrast to the film's hand-drawn scenes, sewing several layers of petticoats into the dress to make it appear as large as possible. Adams fell under its weight several times, but credits it with helping inform how Giselle would move on camera. Her first costume change in New York is a dress made from blue curtains with an empire waist and cap sleeves, which May said allows her to move much more freely in New York City, despite still being "very much of a princess look". Giselle's transformation into a modern woman and decision to remain human towards the film's climax culminates in a form-fitting gray-lavender evening gown devoid of "poofiness and silliness", the design of which May intentionally kept secret from the audience. She designed the gown to appear as though she could have purchased it from a department store, and based it on dresses worn by actress Ginger Rogers during the 1930s and concept art of different Disney princesses.