Chris Pine wasn’t thrilled about picking up the mic for his new Disney movie musical Wish.
“Every time you think, ‘They hired me?! Oh my God, no,” Pine, 43, said Entertainment weekly in an interview on Monday, November 20 about his singing skills. “It’s not my strong point, it’s not my background.”
Although he was quite apprehensive, Pine liked the style of the songs he wrote Julia Michaels And Benjamin Rice for the film, which celebrates 100 years of storytelling at Disney.
“There is a dominant melody line and [Michaels] consciously plays against it,” he explained to the outlet. “I think that way you really hear the story of the text. It is [Stephen] Sondheim-esque because his work is very similarly atonal. It’s always plot-driven and emotionally driven, as opposed to just something in a pretty song. I loved the challenge of it, but I was definitely a nervous singer.
This isn’t the first time Pine has showcased his vocals. In 2014 he performed in the film musical In the woods – which caused him just as much stress.
“Stephen Sondheim came into the recording session with the full orchestra. When I came out, he asked, “What was that note in the second verse?” I said, ‘Oh! B.’ He says, ‘It’s an A-flat,'” Star Trek actor shared. “The thing is, he heard I messed up. So that’s a long way of saying: yes, I was terrified.
Disneys Wishwhich hits theaters on November 22, stars Ariana DeBose as Asha, a 17-year-old girl who makes a wish on the stars after believing there is darkness in the magical kingdom of Rosas, a land led by the wizard Magnifico (Pine).
The film – which was announced during the D23 Expo – is intended to celebrate Disney Animation Studios’ 100th anniversary.
“’When You Wish Upon A Star’ was one of the first songs I knew,” says Wish’s screenwriter Jennifer Lee told Entertainment weekly in October. “I don’t even know when I first heard it. It was just always there. You can say that a wish is passive because you wish and hope for it to happen, but in reality it is a statement of what drives your heart, and pursuing it is important. How can we deconstruct that in a more sophisticated way, but at the same time celebrate the 100th a lot?”
Chris Buckthe co-director of Wish next door Fawn Veerasunthornrevealed that during early test screenings it was a challenge for “people to understand the power of a wish” or how “emotional” it could be.
“That was crucial. We knew we had to keep working to make it feel powerful,” Buck, 65, explained to the outlet.