Jack has gone up the beanstalk in countless stories and movies, but now Disney is aiming to tell the “definitive” version of the story, with songs written by Oscar-winning Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
“You have to look at the original story, the iconic imagery, and then you have to mix in some twists and turns,” said director Nathan Greno (Tangled) at Disney’s D23 fan expo in Anaheim, California on Friday. “When John Lasseter asked us where are we going to set this film, we started looking around the world at different areas and countries, and we landed on Spain.”
The reason: Spain’s age of discovery in the 15th century. “This age of exploration was where people were going off finding new lands. That’s what happens when Jack goes up the beanstalk and finds this whole new world,” Greno said.
Jack will discover not just “one big castle and one big giant walking around,” Greno added. “He finds a whole new world up in the sky.”
The first giant Jack meets up in the sky will be an 11-year-old gigantic little girl named Ima, who is 60 feet tall. Greno said the feisty character was inspired by an actual young girl they met while visiting Spain, who tossed a soccer ball over their heads, raced their rental car, and declared that “she was the princess of her people.”
“She gets her hands on a grown man Jack, and she thinks he’s a toy,” says Greno. Team Frozen debuted the giant little girl’s song about her fragile plaything.
Huge news! John Lasseter announces new project, #Gigantic, inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk. #D23EXPO pic.twitter.com/9ZmIh2m45v
— Disney (@Disney) August 14, 2015
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