Rachel Zegler to voice lead role in Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s upcoming feature film musical ‘Spellbound’

Apple today announced that Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, the upcoming Snow White) will provide the voice of “Princess Ellian,” the lead role in Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s new animated musical feature, Spellbound. Ellian is the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters and threatens to cover Lumbria in darkness forever.

Spellbound is directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek) and written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin and Linda Woolverton. The original score for the film hails from Academy Award-winner Alan Menken, with lyrics by Glenn Slater. Chris Montan serves as executive music producer. John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and David Lipman are producing for Skydance Animation.

At only 17 years old, Rachel Zegler earned the role of María Vasquez for Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of West Side Story out of 30,000 auditions. The film earned her a National Board of Review Award for Best Actress along with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Rachel is currently in production on Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White, and will next be seen alongside Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, and Lucy Liu in D.C. Comics’ Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Spellbound joins an expanding lineup of the Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation projects, alongside upcoming titles such as the highly anticipated feature Luck, and the animated series Wondla. The studio’s inaugural Apple Original short film, Blush, had its world premiere as part of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival’s animated shorts program and is now streaming globally on Apple TV+. Later this year, Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation will also premiere their first animated feature Luck on Apple TV+ on August 5, 2022.

Photo Credit: Nathan Johnson

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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