Rumor has it that there’s a live-action adaptation of Disney’s Tangled coming up … and fans are already throwing fits over the actor rumored to be playing Rapunzel.
Tangled, which came out in 2010, continued Disney’s tradition of adapting fairy tales by putting a new spin on “Rapunzel,” first recorded by the Brothers Grimm. In the original story, Rapunzel is locked away in a tower by a witch after her father steals from the witch’s garden to feed her pregnant mother. When she grows to adolescence, Rapunzel falls in love with a prince who climbs her long hair to visit her in the tower.
Disney’s adaptation injects a bit more adventure into the story. In the film, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is kidnapped and raised by a sorceress named Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) after Rapunzel’s hair becomes infused with magic that keeps Mother Gothel young. However, Rapunzel longs to escape the tower and explore the world around her, and she finds a way out when the thief Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) finds her. Rapunzel is transformed from the passive girl of the original fairy tale to a spunky, adventurous heroine.
Of course, Disney never passes up an opportunity to mine old IP for new cash, and the studio has spent the past several years busily making live-action versions of its classic films. Some films that have gotten the live-action treatment include The Lion King, Mulan, and most recently, The Little Mermaid.
So what’s going on with Tangled? Who’s playing Rapunzel? Here’s what we kow.
Hold your horses! There’s no Tangled remake announced yet
As of this writing, Disney hasn’t announced any plans to make a live-action version of Tangled. As far as we know, there’s no Tangled remake in development at this time. That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from going wild, though!
Recently, rumors emerged that the actress Avantika (Mean Girls, Tarot) is in talks to play Rapunzel, opposite Milo Manheim (Zombies, School Spirits) as Flynn. Predictably, some people on the internet are getting pretty upset at the idea of a woman of color playing Rapunzel.
However, there has been no official casting announcement—because, again, there’s no official announcement of a Tangled remake at all! So any reaction at this point, whether it’s reasonable or racist, is premature.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
