It’s almost too easy, but there’s no better way to put it: Disney’s newest princess is living out her own fairy tale.
“In some ways,” said Castle Rock native Amy Adams. “I do get dressed up a lot.”
Let’s count off with the magic wand:
There was the Oscar nomination for “Junebug.” The two upcoming films starring Meryl Streep, including the Pulitzer-winning “Doubt.” The Mike Nichols drama “Charlie Wilson’s War,” with her “Catch Me If You Can” co-star, Tom Hanks. And two other films in the can.
Adams has a nice boyfriend, nice friends and a nice, poofy-faced dog who’s now recovering (nicely) from a bee sting.
And, oh yeah, there’s the certain box-office juggernaut “Enchanted,” opening Wednesday, in which Adams joins the storied pantheon of Disney princesses as Giselle, the animated heroine who transforms from flesh-toned celluloid to fully fleshed woman.
For that one, she sure did get to dress up: In a 45-pound princess gown. “It’s not quite as frothy as it looks,” said Adams, who graduated from Douglas County High School and performed at Heritage Square Music Hall, Country Dinner Playhouse and Boulder’s Dinner Theatre before hitting the big time.
Surreal? “Absolutely,” said Adams, 33. “I definitely believe that dreams come true. This is bigger than I ever dreamed though, really. I was happy to be a performer on a stage in the musical theater. And I’ve been happy every step of the way. It just keeps kind of expanding.”
“Enchanted” opens as an animated spoof of the classic Disney genre. Giselle is the prototypically guileless animated Princess of Andalasia who falls in love at first sight with a shallow prince just before being thrust into a well by her evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon). Only this time, Giselle emerges through a manhole into Times Square as a three- dimensional young woman with her naiveté, positivity and complete lack of irony intact.
Giselle not only morphs in a literal sense, Adams said, but in an emotional and figurative sense as well.
Here worlds – and worldviews – collide. To jaded New Yorkers, Giselle appears to be the looniest of the loons. Yet when she sings in Central Park, as she once did in Andalasia, the birds sing with her. Not to mention clean for her on command.
Yet the big, bad city has its charms, too: Giselle is taken in by a single father and learns the deeper joys of falling into a more real and human love than she ever had with her cartoon prince.
“We are not saying one world is bad and one is good,” Adams said. “Different places are right for different people, and ultimately the real world is where Giselle belongs.”
But if Adams had to choose? No-brainer. “If birds can clean my house,” she said, “that’s a world I want to live in. If anybody would clean my house. The readers in Denver who know me, know exactly what I am talking about.”
Adams was hired for “Enchanted” two years ago, before director Kevin Lima had even seen “Junebug,” in which she played a pregnant, Giselle-like North Carolinian who’s “enchanted” with her sophisticated new sister-in-law. “When I auditioned, no one knew any of the awards stuff was coming,” said Adams, “so they were kind of along for the ride with me.”
Well, they bet on the right horse.
“They did bet on a good horse,” she said. Wait, I didn’t really just call Princess Giselle a horse, did I?
“Oh, that’s OK,” she said with a laugh. “I love that saying.”
Still a Broadway baby
At one time, Adams’ goal was Broadway, and that “absolutely hasn’t changed,” she said, just because she’s an A-list movie star now.
“I still audition,” said Adams, who sings three songs in “Enchanted.” “The problem is, I always want the roles I’m not suited for, like Aldonza in ‘Man of La Mancha.’ It’s one of my favorite roles, but I just don’t see it happening.”
If Hollywood has any say, Adams will be unavailable to Broadway for years to come. Next up for release is a small role in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” based on a Texas congressman who assists Afghan rebels against the Soviets. It stars Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, for whom, she said, “I developed the most massive talent crush.”
Last week, they reunited to start rehearsals for the highly anticipated “Doubt,” which focuses on a nun (Streep) who suspects a priest of abusing a black student. Adams plays an enthusiastic young nun and indirect witness.
“When I read the script I just went, ‘I have to do this,”‘ she said. “I can’t explain it. I have never pursued a role that hard. But I just had to unabashedly let my desires be known.”
But first the world will meet Giselle, whom Adams believes continues a trend of positive contemporary Disney princesses who solve some of the stereotypical problems her forbears may have unintentionally perpetuated.
“I like the idea that the woman can pick up the sword and save the prince, rather than the other way around,” she said, “and that we have it in us to be feminine, kind and strong. I do feel Disney princesses have been getting stronger.”
Giselle will likely soon take her place in pop-culture history next to Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel and Belle.
“Only time will tell,” Adams said. “I do hope it stands the test of time, and that it can mark people’s childhood in a positive way, and be a film they can bring into adulthood as well. That would be lovely.
“Hopefully the younger kids will just have fun. They probably won’t even pick up on the themes that are more adult. I remember watching ‘Grease’ growing up, and I had no idea there were sexual undertones. I think this is a movie that will mature as they mature, and hopefully they will come away with a sense of hope and love and strength, with the message that they can be themselves and fight for the good.
“In that way, I think princesses are good role models in their current incarnations and not just in a pretty-pretty princess kind of way. There is also something deeper with them.”
Second Disney princess
Adams has been preparing for her role as a Disney princess since she was a kid. There must be something magic in the water here. Next month, Denver’s Sierra Boggess opens on Broadway as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.”
“I love Ariel, and I’m sure there’s a part of her (in my performance) because that was a big part of my early teens,” she said. “I was that girl in high school torturing people with my personal rendition of ‘Part of Your World.’ Actually, I still am torturing people with my rendition of ‘Part of Your World.”‘
“Torture” may be a little strong. Adams got her professional start based on the strength of her singing voice.
“It’s gotten better as the years have gone by, but now that I am actually able to sort of sing that song, I can appreciate that I couldn’t at the time,” she said with a laugh.
But if you ask Adams her favorite princess growing up, she’ll tell you Cinderella.
“She had a good work ethic,” she said.
Just like Adams.
“She helped me further believe that a dream really is a wish your heart makes.”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
Watch the “Enchanted” trailer
Go to the film’s official website
