Patrick Dempsey says 'no one could agree on the script' for delayed 'Enchanted' sequel

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 4/28/21

Fans have been waiting about a decade for the Enchanted sequel, and Patrick Dempsey hinted at what has taken Disenchanted so long to come together.

"Every year they were like, 'We’re going to do this. It’s going to get done,' but then no one could agree on the script," Dempsey, who played Robert Philip in the 2007 film, said in a new Variety interview. "It’s such an important film for them, and it’s a satire. It’s not a typical Disney movie. It’s kind of off-brand a little bit. Yet we give honor to all of those Disney movies that have come before, and they finally now have figured it out. And we’re old enough, so it’s like a midlife crisis movie."

Enchanted hit theaters around Thanksgiving 2007. It was a hybrid animated/live-action fairytale starring Amy Adams as Princess Giselle, who is banished to Manhattan. Prince Edward (James Marden) seeks out to save her, but along the way, she meets divorce lawyer Robert and his daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey). Giselle and Robert fall in love, flipping what a fairytale romance looks like on its head.

Adams was officially attached to Disenchanted last December. "Announced at the Disney Investor Day by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ President of Production Sean Bailey, the presentation was short on details, but there was one clue," Variety relayed then. "The sequel is titled 'Disenchanted,' a play on the original title. What that means is anyone’s guess, but perhaps things haven’t been all singing birds in the real world for Giselle."

At the time, there was uncertainty over which other original cast members would join Adams, but it was revealed in late March that Marsden and Idina Menzel were also returning. Even more recently, Deadline exclusively reported Monday that Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown and Jayma Mays have been added to the cast with Rudolph expected to portray a villainess.

Dempsey shed more light: "I’ve been talking to director [Adam Shankman]. The story is getting better and better. There’s a great cast coming together. And the musical numbers, I get to sing and dance. To work with everybody again after 14 years is just really exciting. We need some escapism right now. We need those romantic comedies and those musicals to get people out of the doldrums that we’re in."

Once finally finished, Disenchanted will stream only on Disney Plus.

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