Chris Pine’s latest role has the actor portraying Disney’s latest animated villain in Wish. While the upcoming Disney movie marks the first time Pine has worked with Walt Disney Animation, the actor actually has deep roots with the House of Mouse. Nearly 20 years ago, the first movie he ever starred in happened to be The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, where he played the unexpected love interest to Anne Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis. With that in mind, we asked the actor to reflect on his first experience on a movie set ahead of Wish’s release.
On behalf of CinemaBlend, while speaking to Chris Pine at Walt Disney Animation, I asked the actor if he could speak to how his first Disney movie experience reverberates into his experiences as an actor today. Here’s how he responded:
Really, for that set, I was so terrified basically the whole time that I was gonna screw up. I think the first time you're on set, at least for me, every single pore of your body is open to the experience because it is so new. The movement of it, the timing of it, the people on it, how people talk to you, how it works, it's a giant like PhD fast course in how to be an actor or how to be someone on set. So yeah, I guess marking 20 years later, so like even this whole experience of doing [Wish], which was once very odd, is now like you just have done it so many times. There's a facility with it. So, it's the ease now that I really enjoy most, more than anything. Just like knowing what it looks like and feels like.
When the actor walked on the set of his first movie two decades ago, he was in his early 20s. He grew up as the son of two actors, CHiPs’ Robert Pine and Gwynne Gilford, so he must have had more of a grasp of the atmosphere than most newcomers, but as he shared with us, he was “terrified” on the set of Princess Diaries 2.
Pine’s anecdote is certainly relatable to the feeling many of us have gone through when one does something for the first time. The actor was honest that being on the set meant that “every single pore” of his body was taking in the experience, and it sounds like everyday he was learning something new about how a movie set operates and how to be an actor. He likened it to a “PhD fast course” on his profession.
Despite the actor’s own personal fears, you’d never known it given his impressive first performance. In the movie, Pine brought his trademark charms to the screen in an enemies-to-lovers romance between Nicholas Devereaux and Mia Thermopolis as Hathaway’s character navigates the world of dating ahead of becoming queen of Genovia.
Last time Chris Pine was asked about Princess Diaries 2, he shared he was down to return to the role for a third movie. While we don’t know if a third film will happen, especially considering Julie Andrews said last year she thought it was “too late to do it now,” it’s great to see Pine continue his relationship with Disney with his latest role.
You can check out my thoughts when I rewatched Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement earlier this year, and check out the movie itself with a Disney+ subscription. Wish hits theaters on November 22.
