Video:Tangled Interviews - Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Grace Potter

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Transcript:Tangled Interviews - Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Grace Potter

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' Tangled.

Tangled Composer/Songwriter Alan Menken and Lyricist Glenn Slater

Congratulations on the star which I understand is right behind Rapunzel.

Alan Menken: "My star! Where's my star?"

Glenn Slater: "Where's my star?"

Alan Menken: "Patience, patience."

Tell me about Tangled.

Alan Menken: "It was great. First of all, working on animated musical for me is the highlight of my life."

Really?

Alan Menken: "Yeah, it is."

With everything that you've done?

Alan Menken: "I mean, I don't care if they hear this in New York. I love working on Disney animated musicals. It's a great process. But what was it like? First of all you have to figure out how to tell this classic fairy tale in a fresh and original way."

Glenn Slater: "The directors and the writer had such a clear take on what this story was meant to be and they wanted something that felt classic but still had a fresher, more contemporary feel. We looked at the story and we saw a girl sitting in her tower with the long hair and the bare feet strumming her guitar, and we said, 'That feels like '60s folk rock to us. That feels like Joni Mitchell and that whole school of music.' And we sort of used that as the basis for the score and went to town."

How collaborative is the process when you're working with a director on an animated movie?

Alan Menken: "Extremely collaborative."

Glenn Slater: "We shared pants."

Alan Menken: "It was, yeah, we had a lot of back and forth, a lot of rough and tumble. We had disagreements."

People still disagree with you at this point in your career. I can't imagine that.

Alan Menken: "I know it's hard to imagine."

Glenn Slater: "But that's going back to the earlier question. That's why it's so wonderful to work on the animated films. You have all of these artists and directors and writers who are all at the top of their game, all brilliant and smart. Everybody has their ideas and sort of the jostling between the ideas creates such an amazing up-flow of creativity that you feel like every minute you're spending with them you're on fire. It's a great process."

Alan Menken: "You know also, to be honest, at this point I bet every young director who thinks about whether he's going to work with me thinks, 'Oh god is Alan going to be like the 800 pound gorilla in the room and is it going to be impossible?' If I actually am that way... Well, I am kind of that way... No, if I am actually that way no one's going to want to work with me because I don't care how many Oscars I have. So they really have a huge impact on what I do."

So you are going to guest star on Glee next?

Alan Menken: "You're the third person to say that."

Why do people misquote you? You didn't say you don't like Glee.

Alan Menken: "No. Thank you. All I said was I like watching baseball. I would love to watch Glee. I'm going to watch Glee - I promise I'm going to. And I did watch it once and I liked it a lot. And I'm going to watch more of it. America, I promise."

Tangled Soundtrack Artist Grace Potter

So tell me about being part of the 50th animated movie from Disney.

Grace Potter: "You know I wasn't keeping count until I realized that the video - we made a little viral video that may or may not see the light of day - but the 50th, it's really not just an accomplishment for the viewers who've gone through all this time loving these movies, but the Disney animators that have been a part of this from the beginning. Some of these people have held a serious piece of history. We're talking decades and decades and decades int he animation world, and they've seen more change over time. The technology of the 3D and the digital computerized everything, I mean it's just wild. So a lot of change. A lot of amazing things have happened."

Talk to me about your song for this.

Grace Potter: "I wrote the song based on the idea that this movie's about discovery. This movie's about finding yourself on a crazy path. I can relate to that. And just seeing the storyboards and hearing about the story, and having the directors explain to me pieces of what meant the most to them about the movie, I could piece it together and make it into a little patchwork quilt for this."

Which was more important, seeing the visuals or hearing what the directors had to say?

Grace Potter: "I think it's all about the visual because I'm very much a visual learner. That's how I figured out what's going on. I took my time and I really absorbed the visual aspect of everything. My dad's an artist - he's right over there with the wooden bow tie - and being that I came from an artistic family, the visual is really what it's all about."

Is this something you'd do again, more soundtrack songs? You like this?

Grace Potter: "A million times over. Seriously. This is my favorite. I can't believe I get to do this. This is what I've dreamt of doing my whole life. I would sit there as a little girl and tinkle along on the piano along to the Ghostbusters or Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in the background. And now that I get to actually be a part of it, it's really thrilling."

Everything you thought it would be?

Grace Potter: "It is. I can't complain, you know?"

More on Tangled:

Tangled Photos

Tangled Trailer, Clips, Poster, Interviews and Cast List