When you hear someone asking “Rapunzel” to let down her hair in Disney’s upcoming animated digital 3-D movie, fans of NBC’s “Chuck” will hear a familiar voice.
Zachary Levi has been cast to lend his voice to the prince according to the Hollywood Reporter. Actress Mandy Moore will be the voice of the title princess the trade magazine also reports.
Levi’s voice will help bring to life a dashing bandit who finds himself on the road with the rebellious, teenage hair apparent.
Byron Howard and Nathan Greno will direct, and Roy Conli is producing. Regular Disney collaborator and multiple Oscar winner Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin”) will compose the film’s music.
The film is scheduled for a holiday 2010 release.
Disney has long been trying to make a film about the character and years ago developed a project titled “Rapunzel Unbraided” with a number of writers. That project eventually faded, but when Disney/Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter came aboard in 2006, he started from scratch.
Disney’s new “Rapunzel” picks up with the princess, famous for her 70 feet of golden hair, after she’s been stolen from her parents’ castle as an infant and imprisoned. Now a teenager, Rapunzel escapes and goes on the run with a bandit as her captor pursues them.
Rapunzel eventually could become a contributor to the Disney Princess merchandising line launched in 2000. (The character also made a brief appearance in DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek the Third” in 2007.)
For 2010, Disney also has scheduled a 3D rendering of “Beauty and the Beast,” Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” and “Toy Story 3.”
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