Rapunzel is a fictional character in Disney Animation's Tangled (2010). Based on the title character from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, Rapunzel is a young princess kept unaware of her royal lineage by Mother Gothel, a vain woman who kidnaps her as a baby to hoard her hair's healing powers and remain young forever. A song is needed to activate the healing powers. Raised in a secluded tower, Rapunzel escapes with a wanted thief, Eugene "Flynn Rider" Fitzherbert, who promises to help her see the elusive floating lights in time for her 18th birthday, in exchange for a crown she has hidden from him. She is voiced by actress and singer Mandy Moore.
Created and animated by supervising animator Glen Keane, the character was adapted into a less passive heroine for the film by removing her from the confines of the tower. The character was originally to have been voiced by actresses Kristen Chenoweth and Reese Witherspoon, who eventually left the project and were replaced by Moore. Keane based her personality and interests on those of his own daughter, specifically painting. Special software was used to animate Rapunzel's 70 feet of long hair.
Critical reception of Rapunzel has been generally positive, with critics complimenting her spirited, lively personality and independence. The tenth Disney Princess, Rapunzel was officially inducted into the line-up on October 2, 2011, becoming the franchise's first CGI-animated member and the first European princess in 20 years, the last being Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991). Her appearance and personality have drawn much comparison between her and one of the preceding Disney Princesses, Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989), by whom she was inspired.
Development
Creation Veteran Disney animator Glen Keane had planned to adapt the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rapunzel" into a feature-length animated film as early as 1996. Keane was drawn to the idea of directing an animated adaptation of "Rapunzel" because he was especially intrigued by the concept of someone being "born with this gift inside of her and it had to come out", which he found similar to his experience working at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Keane eventually resigned from his position as director after suffering a heart attack in 2008, and he was replaced by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. Keane remained closely involved with the film, serving as both an executive producer and Rapunzel's supervising animator.
"The development of a character for me is a very personal journey. For me the joy of creating a character that I believe is real is at the heart of creating a memorable character. I use people I know as inspiration. It's a very intimate personal process and I will do hundreds, sometimes thousands, of drawings in finding that design. There is a great “aha" moment when I finally recognize the character on my paper as someone I know."— Keane, on the process of creating Rapunzel. Walt Disney himself had attempted to adapt "Rapunzel" shortly after the release of the studio's first feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but the project was shelved due to challenges developing its story, much of which is confined to a single tower. To overcome this dilemma, Tangled's writers were forced to conceive a plan to remove Rapunzel from her tower. Originally, the film was called Rapunzel Unbraided, which Keane described as "a Shrek-like version" that revolved around a remarkably different premise. According to actress Kristin Chenoweth, who was originally cast as this early version of Rapunzel, the character was intended to be a squirrel at some point during development. However, Keane ultimately decided the film would benefit from a more sincere, genuine retelling of the original story, and the film was completely retooled.
As directors, Greno and Howard found it essential that Rapunzel be less passive than her fairy tale depiction, explaining that they wanted their version to be a role model for the contemporary audience the film was intended for: "We wanted all this girl power and to really drive this story, so she doesn't wait around for anything ... she's a smart girl, she has these hopes and dreams and she's going to get what she wants out of life". At the time it was being made, Tangled's production was surrounded by rumors and speculation that it would be Disney's final "princess film", which would have effectively made Rapunzel their last Disney princess. The studio confirmed that Tangled was their last princess film for the "foreseeable future", which they attributed to audience's changing interests, big-budget franchises dominating the box office, the commercial underperformance of the previous year's The Princess and the Frog (2009), and wanting to expand beyond the fairy tale formula Disney had been known for decades.
Voice
In 2004, actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth was cast as the original voice of Rapunzel while the film was still called Rapunzel Unbraided under Keane's direction. At one point, Disney had been considering casting actress Reese Witherspoon. Some media outlets reported that Chenoweth and Witherspoon would actually be sharing the role, while The Guardian reported that Witherspoon would be voicing "a modern girl who gate-crashes Rapunzel's fairytale world". Additionally, Witherspoon was intended to be an executive producer on the film, a position the studio had offered her to convince the actress to accept the role. However, Witherspoon eventually exited the project due to alleged creative differences over the film's script, claiming the project is "no longer the film that Reese had originally signed on to do". Following Witherspoon's resignation, Rapunzel remained uncast for quite some time, further jeopardizing the film's already belabored production, a period during which the character's voice was temporarily provided by "friends around the studio" in lieu of actors.
The directors continued to audition hundreds of young actresses to find Rapunzel's voice, among them Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell (who both were eventually cast as Disney Princesses Elsa and Anna in the Frozen franchise respectively), but none sounded quite right until they discovered Mandy Moore. A long-time Disney fan, Moore nearly deterred herself from auditioning because the role was heavily coveted at the time. Once she decided to audition, Moore pursued the role heavily, auditioning twice. Because the film is a musical, all auditonees were asked to perform a singer-songwriter style of their choice; Moore auditioned with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Help Me". According to Howard, her voice possesses a soul and "down-to-earth, girl-next-door quality that makes her everything you could hope for in a Disney heroine". Moore barely worked with co-stars Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy, who voiced Flynn Rider and Mother Gothel respectively, never meeting Murphy and having met Levi only once to record their duet "I See the Light". Moore was surprised to learn that she would be working alone against initial expectations that "we're all going to be chummy, hanging out at the studio laughing and going out to dinner together". She had little idea what her character looked like because, in terms of visual aid, she was only shown rough, incomplete sketches and storyboards, relying on her imagination and the directors' input for "everything else".
Moore was often required to re-record a single line at least four times, from which the directors would select the best version. After watching the completed film for the first time, Moore was disappointed with her own performance, feeling she sounded "shrill". According to composer Alan Menken, Moore's musical background made her "a delight to work with". Moore found singing in character challenging compared to recording her own music, explaining, "I can't just be like Mandy and sing something the way that I want to necessarily, because you know, you sort of have to stick to certain guidelines". She found recording "When Will My Life Begin" particularly difficult due to its speed, and cites both Menken and discovering Rapunzel as a character with guiding her through the process. Child actress Delaney Rose Stein was eventually cast as a young version Rapunzel.
Personality and design "With Rapunzel I did an enormous amount of drawings and I wanted to keep a sense of asymmetry in her. I read a book about feminine beauty and it said the key to beauty is strangeness in a woman's face. There needs to be something slightly off, some element; it might be her nose, her lip, her tooth, or one eye higher than the other, but something. Even in Rapunzel's teeth, the way she talks, there's something a little bit wonky in the placement of her teeth, and things like that were designed so that she was more real, true and appealing."— Keane, on designing Rapunzel and the concept of "feminine beauty". Executive producer John Lasseter explained that one of the main challenges encountered when developing Rapunzel's personality was making her "feel like a smart, clever, educated, healthy, fun human being", despite the fact that the character had not left her tower for 18 years. According to Brooks Barnes of The New York Times, Rapunzel's personality marked a significant departure from traditional Disney heroines. Moore believes Rapunzel is an atypical Disney princess because she is an independent character who "can take care of herself", in addition to being oblivious to the fact that she is a princess. Moore also said: "I like to think of her as the bohemian Disney princess. She's barefoot and living in a tower. She paints and reads… She's a Renaissance woman".
Keane designed Rapunzel under the tutelage of veteran Disney animator Ollie Johnston, one of Disney's Nine Old Men. Johnston advised Keane to capture what Rapunzel is thinking as opposed to simply animating what the character is doing after reviewing one of his early pencil tests. Keane compared hearing this advice to receiving a "slap that I never forgot, so when I was drawing over people's work, I really tried to get into the head of the thinking of the character". Howard was inspired by Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989), a character who was also animated by Keane. The director elaborated that "Ariel was the first character that I ever thought there was a soul behind her eyes", which they wanted to replicate with Rapunzel "to find some sort of soul and depth that people could relate to". Meanwhile, Keane observed that Ariel and Rapunzel also share "irrepressible" spirits while encountering barriers that prevent them from pursuing their dreams. Keane was inspired by a book he read about the idea of feminine beauty; the book cited "strangeness" as "the key to beauty ... in a woman's face." Taking this into consideration, Keane maintained a sense of asymmetry while drawing Rapunzel, incorporating into her face several subtle imperfections, specifically her bucked teeth. The character was also drawn with freckles, making her the first Disney princess to have this feature. Keane designed Rapunzel with large eyes to convey her "irrepressible quality", a trait he also discovered in Moore's voice. Rapunzel is depicted as a barefooter, and Moore was barefoot herself while recording her lines. Although Moore has observed some physical similarities between the character and herself, she maintains that Rapunzel's appearance was developed long before she became involved with the project, dismissing any similarities as "coincidental".
Keane is known for basing his characters on members of his family; Rapunzel's passion for art and painting was inspired by his daughter, Claire. Several of Claire's original drawings and paintings are used to decorate Rapunzel's tower. While Keane was working on Tangled, Claire gave birth to his first grandchild, Matisse, whose appearance served as the animator's inspiration for the infant Rapunzel.
Hair