The film also marked Anne’s first time doing extensive scenes acting with a bluescreen – a blank background that would later be filled in with CGI-created giants and snakes. “The blue screen is daunting,” she admits, “but luckily I have a pretty out-there imagination – almost as out-there as ELLA ENCHANTED.”
Comments Jane Startz: “Ella is a character who has a great sense of humor and refuses to buckle under in her fight for justice. She’s always thinking her way out of tough situations – all qualities which make Anne exactly the right person to play her.”
With Hathaway cast, the filmmakers set out to find her true love, the quintessential gallant young knight in need of a better half, Prince Charmont. In the modernesque medieval world of ELLA ENCHANTED, Prince Char is also akin to a pop-idol poster-boy – pursued everywhere by teenaged Charmaniacs. Extensive auditions were held in London to find a Prince worthy of rabid young fans across the Kingdom. Jane Startz explains: “If you’re looking for someone princely and charming, where else do you go but London? We saw a lot of amazing young British actors but when Hugh Dancy arrived, he just stood out – he was drop-dead gorgeous and a compelling actor to boot. When he and Anne read together, it was pure chemistry.”
Tommy O’Haver was also impressed with Dancy’s royal qualities. “He not only had the charisma, looks and intelligence to be the believable heir to a kingdom, he had a wonderfully silly sense of humor,” notes the director. “He and Anne were just so funny together.”
Dancy, who previously appeared in “Black Hawk Down,” was intrigued by the Prince’s unusual situation. “Prince Charmont in some ways appears to be a typical fairy tale prince,” he says. “But he’s also much more than that. I guess you could say he starts out being a bit of a pin-up boy, but as the film progresses and he falls in love with Ella, he discovers the real meaning of charm which involves taking on the responsibilities of the kingdom and doing the right thing.”
It wasn’t Prince Char’s dashing derring-do that most intrigued Dancy, however. “Actually, I most liked that in the beginning of the story he’s a bit of a buffoon,” he admits. “He’s a comic character who has all the qualities of a perfect prince, but has to discover them. It’s what makes him so interesting. He isn’t just a cartoon cut-out character, he’s a real young man who makes mistakes, takes crazy risks and has to learn to face up to his future.”
“The love story is also very real to me,” he says. “It might take place in a fairy tale world, but it’s really about when it comes to me and Anne, it’s about two normal people getting to know each other and making a difference to one another. It’s just that they have to do so surrounded by ogres, elves and talking books!”
With the leading couple brought together, the filmmaking team now turned to finding the host of colorful characters who nearly prevent them from fulfilling their romantic dreams. At the top of list was Ella’s new stepmother, Dame Olga, who had to be every bit as funny as she is fiendish. Tommy O’Haver only ever had one actress in mind: “I have loved Joanna Lumley for so long for her work in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and I knew she would be the ultimate wicked stepmother,” he says. Adds Jane Startz: “Joanna completely made the role her own, just radiating ‘Olganess.’ Everything she did was spot on and hilarious.” Lumley describes Dame Olga as “completely vain, materialistic, ambitious and stupid. Stupid, yet cunning, like a lot of dumb but greedy people!” She continues: “I love her ambitions for her daughters who are really so repellent and unpleasant. We are just the awful threesome!”
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