Disney's “Hexed” Filmmakers on Magic, Motherhood, and Becoming More Like Your Parents

The most powerful magic in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 65th animated feature might not be a spell, but a bond. At an early press day for Disney's Hexed, the filmmakers behind the November 25th release screened roughly 30 minutes of footage, held a press conference, led hands-on breakout sessions, and sat down for one-on-one interviews. Nearly every conversation circled back to the strained relationship between a teenager discovering her powers and the overprotective mom who has been keeping them hidden.

In the film, Billie Doe (Hailee Steinfeld), an impulsive 16-year-old, learns that her magical abilities have been restrained since childhood and is swept out of suburbia into Hexe, a vast realm of witches. Her cautious mother, Alice (Rashida Jones), ends up along for the ride. For director Fawn Veerasunthorn, Billie's magic stands in for the potential every teenager feels. "As all teenagers are, me included, we have all this feeling bubbling inside. We just want to burst it out," she told me. "We use magic as a metaphor for our hidden potential."

As a parent, she sees the other side of that equation. "Me as a mom, I want my daughter to do all the things that she wants to do. But this morning she was like, 'Can I walk to school by myself?' She's 10, and I was like, 'Yes, but no,'" Veerasunthorn joked. "So all this dilemma of how do we navigate letting a person find their full potential while making sure that they are safe is something we talk about a lot."

Director Jason Hand related from the other end of adolescence. "Giving the keys to my son when he's going to go drive by himself after he has his license is a terrifying moment, because of what I did as a teenager when I had my license," he admitted. "You remember what it's like to be that age, and you remember the struggles that you had. I can also put myself back in as a teenager and remember when I didn't have it all figured out, but I thought I did. I think that's really juicy territory for us to make a film about."

Writer Dana Ledoux Miller drew on her own history for the script. "I brought a lot of myself to this movie," she revealed. "I grew up feeling like I don't fit in this very tight-knit group that I was born into, like I want something more, but I didn't know how to articulate that, and I didn't even really know how to ask for that."

Motherhood added another layer. "Now, as a mom, I understand that instinct to want to protect. And sometimes, when we don't have the tools as parents to really have confidence in our choices, we can sometimes overdo it," she shared. "Both of these people have potential to be something more and something bigger. They love each other so much, but they don't realize that they're kind of holding each other back from becoming the best versions of themselves. I thought that was a really fun place to explore."

Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer and Hexed's other writer, Jared Bush, previously teamed up with Ledoux Miller on the live-action Moana. "She is someone who is constantly trying to figure out the emotional truth of a scene,” Bush said of why their writing styles work well together. He added that Disney Animation is "an incredibly collaborative and iterative space. You have to be sort of wired that that's something that brings you joy. Not only like, 'Yes, I can do that,' but like, 'Man, I love that.' No one has been able to do that like Dana has."

"I've come from TV, and I've worked with a lot of writers, but it's not always a match," Ledoux Miller admitted. "We're a bit of an arranged match, and it just works. It's not always a foregone conclusion that you'll trust the other person, and I think we're able to trust each other. But also, I know Jared's not going to let me get away with a cheap line of dialogue, just like I'm not going to let him get away with something. To not have the ego get in the way of that is something that's so rare and really fun to work with."

That trust extended to the cast. Jodie Foster, who has been part of the Disney family since childhood, voices the calculating Queen Celeste in her first animated role. "Having her come in and understand the character, and jump right in and give voice to Celeste, truly took the character to a whole new place," producer Yvett Merino shared. "She obviously is an amazing actress, but just a true, genuine, great person."

"I think this is a fun ride in the world of magic," Veerasunthorn concluded about what families can expect when they see Hexed in theaters. "You go to the movie theater, you want to be surrounded by the magical wonders that this movie will give. But at the heart of it is a story about a mother and daughter who come to learn more about each other and lift up their potential. And that is something I feel like, for the holiday season, is perfect."

"We have a really fun, funny, strange world of magic that sneaks up on you and actually goes to some really deep places about what it's like to discover things about yourself," Hand added, "and to realize that you're much more like your parents than you ever possibly could have imagined. And I think we do it in a really fun and weird way, which I love."

Disney's Hexed opens exclusively in theaters on November 25th.