10 Years of 'Tangled': The Winding Road To A Modern Day Disney Classic

November 14th marks the tenth anniversary of the release of Tangled, Disney's take on the classic tale of Rapunzel. While the film now holds a place among the greatest of Disney classics, it's journey to the big screen was not an easy one.

Let's look at the long, tangled road it took to get the film made.

Disney first considered making a film based on Rapunzel in 1996

Glen Keane, a long-time Disney character animator, first considered the idea for a Rapunzel film in 1996. At the time, Keane was known for working on 2D traditionally animated classics such as Beauty & The Beast and Aladdin. Keane pitched the idea to CEO Michael Eisner in 2001, and while the pitch was accepted, Eisner asked for Rapunzel to be a computer animated feature rather than traditional.

Keane didn't believe the current technology could achieve the visual style he was looking for, so he held his idea back for a few years in the hope technology would catch up.

The film underwent a few different iterations before becoming the 'Tangled' we know and love.

When the film did eventually enter production, it was a little different than Glen Keane's original concept. After the success of the Dreamworks film Shrek, Disney wanted to cash in with a similar concept, and so Rapunzel became Rapunzel Unbraided. The film would have seen bickering modern day teenagers Claire and Vince transported to a fairytale world, where they would have had to help Rapunzel and her Prince defeat an evil witch. Unbraided was scheduled for release in 2007, but was delayed when Keane struggled with the story. While Unbraided would have been 'fun and witty', his heart was not really in the concept.

"In my heart of hearts I believed there was something much more sincere and genuine to get out of the story, so we set it aside and went back to the roots of the original fairy tale."-Glen Keane.

The Unbraided version of the film was cancelled in 2006. However, when Ed Catmull and John Lasseter took control of the studio soon after, one of their first decisions was to put Keane back to work on a version of the tale that was closer to his original vision. Originally simply titled Rapunzel, the film was eventually renamed Tangled in the belief that it would be easier to market to children of both genders.

Disney held a 'Hot Man' meeting to help design Flynn Rider

The design of Rapunzel was set quite early on, with her long golden hair being her most important feature. However, like much of the film, the role of Rapunzel's love interest went through a number of reimaginings. Starting off as a Prince named Beau, the character's name was later changed to Bastion. Bastion was a reluctant member of a group of thieves when he stumbles upon the tower and meets Rapunzel.

However, as the plot morphed, Bastion changed from a reluctant thief to lovable scoundrel Flynn Rider. Once they'd settled on Flynn's (Later Eugene's), characterisation, the film's decided they wanted him to be 'The most handsome, attractive lead Disney has ever had'. Thirty women from the studio were invited to a meeting to discuss what they found attractive in a man. The meeting included many magazine pictures of popular male celebrities, with the attendees choosing their favourite features. The findings from the meeting helped animators settle on a final design for Flynn/Eugene.

Many of the Bastion designs were later reworked to become Kristoff in Frozen.

New Programs were needed to create Rapunzel's hair

Even after the initial wait before starting production, the animation of Rapunzel's hair proved a difficult obstacle. Kelly Ward, a Senior Software Designer for Disney, took nearly six years building new programs for animating hair.

The biggest issue was making Rapunzel's hair move realistically in different environments, such as underwater. The film's saviour was an updated version of Dynamic Wires, a hair simulator originally developed for Bolt. The program drastically reduced the amount of time animators needed to spend on Rapunzel's hair.

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi had only met once when they recorded the romantic duet 'I See The Light'

Often, voice actors in animated films record their lines separately, with some never even crossing paths during the production process. This was the case with Tangled. Mandy Moore, who voiced Rapunzel, never met Donna Murphy, the voice of Mother Gothel, during production, and only met Flynn/Eugene's voice, Zachary Levi, once, when their recording sessions crossed over.

However, the Directors felt it was important for Moore and Levi to develop genuine chemistry for Tangled's big romantic number, 'I See The Light'. Before recording, the pair rehearsed together, performing the song while backed by a full orchestra. It must have worked, as they brought the same special chemistry when performing the song at the Oscars in 2011.

'Tangled' was originally supposed to have a sequel.

After Tangled proved a hit at the box office, Disney pushed the film's production team for a sequel. However, after some discussion, the team decided against it. Under John Lasseter's leadership, decisions on sequels were always made by the creative minds behind the film, rather than the company. While Tangled did not receive a theatrical sequel, the filmmakers did produce a short, Tangled Ever After, set at Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding.

As it turned out, this wasn't the end of the Tangled story. In 2015, Disney announced that a TV series based on the film was in development. After an accident with some mysterious rocks restores her magical hair, Rapunzel, Eugene, and their friends embark on a quest to discover the secrets behind the Sundrop flower and it's dark counterpart, the Moonstone. Tangled: The Series, also known as Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, ran for three seasons, from 2017 to early 2020, with both Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi reprising their roles from the film.

While the series wraps everything up nicely, Disney have not ruled out revisiting the world and characters again in the future.

Happy Tenth Anniversary, Tangled!