To date, Disney’s live-action remakes of its beloved animated back-catalogue have proven a mixed bag: for every Cinderella or Pete’s Dragon there’s also been a Snow White or The Lion King. But in the case of The Greatest Showman and Better Man director Michael Gracey’s recently revived Tangled remake, the omens are looking promising. Per THR‘s reporting, the Disney Princess movie has seen the light, finding its Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the shape of rising Aussie star Teagan Croft and Zombies heartthrob Milo Maheim. What’s more, none other than Kathryn Hahn is now in talks to head back down a witchy road and play the movie’s Mother Gothel.
Rocking a script from Do Revenge director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson — no stranger to a tongue-in-cheek, winking genre deconstruction — preparations for Gracey’s live-action Tangled had already been ramping up in recent weeks. Back in October, we shared word that Scarlett Johansson had been in talks to play Rapunzel’s villainous ‘mother’ Gothel, while THR reports that Disney screen-tested pairings to take on Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi’s roles from the original 2010 animation over Christmas before settling on relative unknowns Croft and Manheim. Thus far, Croft’s biggest role arguably has been as supernaturally gifted teen Raven in DC’s Titans TV series, while Manheim has led all four instalments of Disney Channel movie franchise Zombies as undead hero Zed. It almost goes without saying however that carrying a live-action remake of one of Disney’s most popular animated offerings will be a huge step up for both blossoming stars’ careers. As for Hahn, should she slip into Mother Gothel’s cloak then her casting will doubtless prove wildly popular: Disney and/or Agatha All Along stans have been fan-casting her as Gothel for years now.
As the billion dollar-plus grossing box office success of Dean Fleischer Camp’s Lilo & Stitch taught us last year, the potency of a live-action Disney retooling cannot be underestimated. And now, with two buzzy young stars set to play his Rapunzel and Flynn, and a Kathryn Hahn seemingly waiting in the wings, Michael Gracey’s surely got a dream that his Tangled may yet make like Rapunzel’s lanterns and light up multiplexes the world over. Whether or not any human characters will be given a simian reimagining very much remains to be seen, though — watch this space!
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THR
