Walt Disney Animation Studios is so synonymous with magic that the phrase "Disney Magic" has long been cemented in our lexicon. Hexed, its latest foray into the gorgeous world of animated features, demonstrates the best of Disney magic in more ways than one.
Directed by Moana 2 co-director Jason Hand and Wish co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn, Hexed brings together a world-class cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld ("Billie Doe"), Rashida Jones ("Alice Doe"), Jodie Foster ("Queen Celeste"), Walton Goggins ("Beef Roger Crumbchuck"), Tracey Ullman ("Ms. Quill"), and Stephen Fry ("Elias Quire"), among a host of yet-unannounced vocal talents.
The Direct's Jeff Ewing went to Walt Disney Animation Studios for a preview of the gorgeous new film. We previewed Hexed, as well as the entirety of the new animated short Lilo & Scratch, dug into the design process behind the film's characters and the magical town of Hexe, took turns drawing Beef Roger, and interviewed the film's directors, Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, alongside producers Roy Conli and Yvett Merino.
Creating An Original Magical World
“We Wanted To Differentiate It From Anything Else Out There.”
- The Direct: "Disney history is so full of magic and iconic properties. How did you draw from that history for this film, and how did you set Hexed apart?"
Fawn Veerasunthorn: We start with the characters first, because we know that that's something that will be specific to this story only, right? And from there, people who work here have been here for a long time. They've done it all, so we put on a challenge for them: what have you not done? What do you wish to do that will be new, and satisfy your artistic endeavor? Do that.
Jason Hand added that Hexed added "a heavy dollop of weird uniqueness."
Jason Hand: You pointed out that 'Disney magic' is something that permeates so many of our films, and so I was definitely inspired by that. But I think the other aspect of this is delving into the stranger, weirder things. Characters like Beef Roger, where you get to stretch out a three-eyed cat, and make extra limbs pop out because he's a lazy dude who just wants to use magic to get his snack or his drinks from up on the shelf. So I think a heavy dollop of weird uniqueness was the other element to this.
- The Direct: I loved Lilo & Stitch. It was a blast. It's interesting to see the very different needle drops in Lilo & Stitch and Hexed in key moments. How do you choose the right song for the right project?
Veerasunthorn: Well, for Lilo and Stitch, that choice come up organically. Really, we want some song that would turn head, that will jolt our senses. You know, it's a comedy beat, and we have joked around about that song choice forever, and it has stayed in.
Carefully chosen needle drops bring the contemporary world into the world of Hexed, and the team has "several more" surprises in store:
Hand: I think the needle drop in Hexed is so fun because it just brings a freshness to a magic movie, and a movie about witches, that we wanted to differentiate it from anything else out there. I think by infusing personality from the modern world into it, it really just was a fun choice. And there are several more of them that I'm really excited about.
Veerasunthorn: Because Billie's from the contemporary world, it feels fitting. She brings a sense of self into this world.
The Direct: I was also impressed with the design of the city/realm, Hexe. It felt so old yet contemporary. What went into its creation/ construction, and did you draw on any particular influences?
Veerasunthorn: When you think about the world where witches will live, there are certain things that we like. You will have an image of the fall season, the dark roofline, the Victorian era. So all that was in the ingredients, but the art team gets credit for building it from the ground up. That people have gone [to Hexe] from a certain time period, and from that point on it doesn't have influence from the outside world. They had lived this 500 years building up their own technologies and using magic to their own convenience. What would you do if you have magic? So, if you look at the world of Hexe, everything in the background speaks to that. So many details.
The team made an effort to create a world with texture, where "everything in it has an incredible amount of detail that is heightened."
Hand: And I think the other element, and it even goes into the magic system, is this idea of texture and the sense you can reach out into the screen and touch all of these things. So the roads, the roof lines. The cauldrons, everything in it has an incredible amount of detail that is heightened and even scaled up, so it feels even larger than life. There's a caricature to it that [production designer] Lorelay Bove and her entire team absolutely just made so beautiful to look at that I think you're gonna want to go see it over and over again. There's a lot of great detail.
'Hexed' Producers Talk about Drawing From Decades of Magic
“Here at Disney Animation, We’re Film Fans, and We’re Magic Fans...”
- The Direct: "There's so much magic in Disney history and in so many iconic films, and this pays homage to that. How did you draw from that tradition when you're designing this world's magic, and how do you make it stand apart?"
Yvett Merino: It's all about team and collaboration. And Lorelay Bove, our production designer, started early on, designing the world. But here at Disney Animation, we're film fans, and we're magic fans, and we're fortunate to have this rich history to draw from. We have an amazing department here called the Artist Research Library and they're here to talk about how the magic was in certain films of the past, so we use it as inspiration. But we always want to create something new that we want to see, and so I think that's the building blocks of building the magic in this world.
Producer Roy Conli details how every department comes together to "enhance the magic."
Roy Conli: Yeah, and everybody in this building has some sort of connection to the DNA of Disney. And starting in story and visual development, moving into animation for that matter, effects animation and lighting, all those departments enhance the magic. When an idea comes up and someone says, 'I love that idea,' boom! It all of a sudden comes to life and starts moving.
- The Direct: "The realm of Hexed looks very fluid, very magical. What were your references in the process of finding exactly the right look for that iconic location?"
Conli: I would say the references were Lorelay Bove and Tory Polska, our Production Designer and Art Director. Both of them just came up with so many incredible ideas. We have this incredible array of visual development artists who contributed to that, and it was something that we'd never seen before. There were times when I looked at it and said, 'Are we going to be able to do it? Is this going to work?' And literally, I talked to Lorelay the other day, telling her how it blew me away when I saw the first image in color, because I realized any doubt that I had had just been washed away. It's such a stunning-looking environment.
Roy Conli was blown away after seeing "the first image in color, because I realized any doubt that I had had just been washed away."
The Direct: "I also love the creature design with the eyeball monster. I'm sure there's so much more in store. What was your process of ideating these really interesting, unique-looking creatures?"
Conli: I think the story team brought the idea of all the eyes, which was amazing. We looked at the idea of familiars. We wanted to make sure that the animal population was something different than you'd seen before. And thanks to the magic of this building. Literally, you walk in every day, you're walking into a place of magic, and it just it just is reflected in the film.
Hexed hits theaters November 25, 2026.
