Tangled’ Live-Action Movie Finds Its Leads: Teagan Croft, Milo Manheim (Exclusive)

‏Tangled’ Live-Action Movie Finds Its Leads: Teagan Croft, Milo Manheim (Exclusive)

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‏Tangled’ Live-Action Movie Finds Its Leads: Teagan Croft, Milo Manheim (Exclusive)

‏Walt Disney Pictures has let down its hair and has found the starring leads for Tangled, the live-action adaptation of its 2010 animated movie.

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‏The studio has chosen rising Australian actress Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim, star of Disney Channel’s musical Zombies franchise, for the respective parts of Rapunzel, the curious and plucky would-be princess with magical hair, and Flynn Rider, the cocky outlaw thief who helps her escape her tower prison.

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‏Michael Gracey, who counts the musical biopics Better Man and The Greatest Showman among his credits, is directing the feature, which, like the original, will have big musical elements. Kristin Burr, who has long-standing ties to the studio and was a producer on last summer’s Freakier Friday as well as 2021’s live-action Cruella, is producing. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge, Thor: Love and Thunder) wrote the script

‏The decision comes after Disney sent up lanterns into the sky in the U.S. and the U.K. to find the feature project’s leads, with finalists screen testing in London in December before the winter holidays

‏Now, Croft and Manheim step under the locks previously worn by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, who respectively voiced the parts in the original movie, now regarded as a modern classic and part of Disney Animation’s second renaissance.

‏The roles could have massive implications on the actors’ careers. A Disney live-action feature has the potential to become a billion-dollar worldwide hit — the live-action Lilo & Stitch was the year’s only billion-dollar hit until Disney’s animated Zootopia 2 came along. And it can cannonball a relative unknown into instant fame and open plenty of doors. But there is also the scrutiny that comes with playing beloved characters, especially from those who grew up watching Tangled on repeat, singing “I’ve Got a Dream” over and over in their living rooms. (The original movie grossed $591 million worldwide and spawned a successful Disney Channel series.)