What do you think about all the references to Disney films?
It’s a love letter to all things Disney, and I think that the fact that Disney makes fun of itself is great to see.  I think it also changes the myth of the princess story.  If you look at it strictly from the male and female energy, the female saves the masculine energy, which I think is a great thing.  It’s nice to see movies working on that level.

What do you mean?
Well she goes off with his sword and saves him and catches him.  The heart saves the masculine.  A woman’s identity used to be that she got married, she settled down and she had kids.  That’s no longer true in modern society.  You have a career, you get married and then you have kids.  How do you find the balance between being a good mother, a good businesswoman and a good wife?  I mean, it’s much more complicated now.  That was what was most interesting to me. And certainly, having a daughter.  It changes the whole dynamic of what a princess is anymore.

What are some of your favorite Disney fairy tales?
It’s funny.  My daughter went through a period of nothing but Peter Pan—every night. Then it was Beauty and the Beast.  You go through all of them and you watch them all.  And you know, I’m amazed at how dark these movies really are.  I mean, they’re violent!  You have to fast-forward or talk her through it.  So I make sure I’m with her.  I experience the movie with her in order to give her a sense of what the story is about and why it’s there.  It’s interesting.  I like them all.  I like Thumper in Bambi, although Bambi is tragic beyond belief.  Wasn’t it voted one of the top ten saddest movies of all time?  So you kind of have to be careful with the Disney movies!

Did your daughter want to be in this movie?
No, no, no.  And I wouldn’t.  No!  I hope that doesn’t happen.  You can start to see it, though.  I look and my wife and I go, “Oh, God.  Here we go.”  No.  I don’t really like children in movies.  I think it’s a bad place to grow up.  So I had my issues with that.

Do you think that there’s something about the time that we’re in right now that will make people more receptive to the movie?
I think so. I don’t want to go see a dark movie right now.  I don’t think I’d go and see any of the movies that were released this weekend.  I think we’re too close to be talking about Iraq.  Those scars have not been healed, and I don’t think people are going to really listen. We’re not going to change anything right now.  I think we can through a comedy.  I think we’re going to reach more people that way, at the moment.  It’s almost like the Depression is upon us, or it’s the 1930s or the middle of the war.  You want to see screwball comedies or musical numbers.  You want to see things that are going to make you escape reality for an hour and a half. 

This movie is about a contrast between this dark cynicism that is reality and innocence.  From your own life, where do you think this balance is?
That’s the interesting conversation that Robert has with Giselle in the park, right before she breaks into the song, “How Will You Know?”  He’s like, “You’re crazy!  You don’t fall in love with somebody overnight.” I think that’s interesting.  That’s where we are right now.  We’re not going to change the world by going at it violently. We’re going to have to find love and we’re going to have to find acceptance.  The essence of all these religions, with everyone getting in the corner and fighting, is being lost. Isn’t it about love?  It’s that simple—and it’s that complex. We’ve lost touch with magic and you need it—before we just kill ourselves.

Starring Patrick Dempsey, Amy Adams, James Marsden and Susan Sarandon, Enchanted is rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo.  It opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday, November 21, 2007.