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Disney's 'Tangled' creators held a 'hot man meeting' for women to help design Flynn Rider

Let's just say it was an eye-opening experience for them.

Walt Disney Animation Studios/YouTube

Flynn Rider is a Disney fan favorite.

Disney princesses have become such an ingrained part of our collective conscious that most of us can rattle off the names Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Tiana, Ariel, Moana, Mulan, Rapunzel and so on without having to think too hard about it. Disney princes, however, are another story. There's the classic Prince Charming, of course. Aladdin is hard to forget, since the story is literally named after him. Beast doesn't have a name, and beyond that, most Disney princes just don't stick in people's minds.

Flynn Rider from "Tangled," however, might be the exception.

There's something about Flynn Rider that has made him a Disney fan favorite, and a behind-the-scenes video explains one possible reason why: He was designed by a room full of women.

First, here's a reminder of Flynn's character for those who haven't seen "Tangled" in a while:

"Tangled" directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno shared in a Q & A what they were thinking in the process of creating Flynn.

“Flynn’s character, from the get-go, had to be a charmer,” Howard said. “He had to be this charming kind of swashbuckling, amazing action guy who you had to love from square one…We always kind of compare him to characters like Indiana Jones, who have confidence about them but they’re human at the same time. Because you have to relate to these guys. They can’t just be Superman.”

Greno added that Flynn is one of the funniest characters Disney has created. “He’s this really smart, witty guy. He’s an action hero, he’s also very handsome."

Flynn's handsomeness ended up being highly curated. Howard and Greno shared that after the animators had come up with hundreds of mockups of potential Flynns, they invited the women from around the animation studios to come and weigh in on the sketches, as well as images of leading Hollywood men over the years, to determine what features would make Flynn the most attractive.

This "hot man meeting" yielded a lot of strong opinions, which Howard said was "tough."

"The hot man meeting was hard to go to, for us," said Greno, "because everyone had opinions on what works and what doesn't work. And occasionally things would come up that don't work, and those were things that, you know, we have."

Watch the women in action:

@ashley_tropea

Never forget The Hot Man Meeting #disney #tangled #flynnrider #animation #menwrittenbywomen #disneytangled #disneytiktok

Designing a male hero based on what women actually find attractive vs. what men think women find attractive turned out to be a solid approach. It may be worth imagining what would happen if the idea were reversed—a group of men in a "hot woman meeting" to piece together the ideal woman would likely be received a bit differently—but the consensus in the comments was that the meeting achieved its intended goal.

"This makes so much sense. Flynn Rider is elite."

"And in the end, they nailed it."

"My girls KNEW what they were talkin about."

"And they did a FANTASTIC job."

"Those women did amazing bc that man is FINEEEE."

"THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! I always felt like he was such a female gaze character I was surprised they nailed it…now I get why."

Several commenters also wondered if that meeting was the genesis of the WANTED posters and Flynn's "They just can't get my nose right!" line in the film.

Of course, as much love as Flynn got in the comments, some people disagreed that he was for sure the most attractive prince. There was a lot of appreciation for Prince Naveen from "The Princess and the Frog" (that voice), Li Shang from "Mulan" and Eric from "The Little Mermaid" in the comments.

Thousands agreed, however, that Disney should have used an approach like this to create Beast when he turns into human form because that reveal left a lot to be desired.

Ultimately, asking women what they actually find attractive instead of assuming or guessing led to the creation of one of the most beloved princes in the Disney lineup. If the goal is to have the female audience swooning over a character, it's definitely something for creators to consider when designing a leading man.

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Pop Culture

Artist paints characters as described in books, then shares side-by-side with film versions

He doesn't know who he's painting, and it's fascinating to see who is close and who is way off.

Jazza/YouTube

Jazza tries to guess who he's painting based only on written descriptions.

Anyone who's watched a film based on a book has experienced the disappointment of a movie character not matching their imagined version of what a character looks like. Book authors offer descriptions of characters with varying levels of detail, usually just enough to help us form a mental picture or give us necessary information about them, so we may not all imagine them the same way.

Some characters' physical features are crucial to their story, such as Harry Potter's lightning-shaped forehead scar, but some are just an author's attempt to share whatever they themselves imagine a character to look like. There's often a lot that's open to interpretation, though, so it's a bit of a crapshoot whether a film depiction of a book character will match a writer's description of them—or a reader's vision based on that description.

One artist is exploring this phenomenon with a video series in which he paints characters based solely on their written descriptions. Jazza, who has made a name for himself on social media with his creative art videos, is given the features of a character as described by a writer without being told who the character is or where they're from. Then we see how his depiction compares to the character as shown on screen.

Sometimes his paintings are surprisingly close to the film character and he is able to guess who the character is based on what he drew. Some are more mysterious and he doesn't know who he's painted until it's revealed. And occasionally, it's not a character that's being described but a real person, which is the case with the last painting in this video, and it's extra hilarious. But it's always fascinating to see someone paint a picture of what they're visualizing in their mind, since most of us aren't able to do that.

Watch:

If you enjoyed those attempts, check out Part 2:

The series has more parts and he also has a series where he sculpts monsters based on their descriptions. So fun to watch!

Here's to the human imaginations that create characters on the page and those who bring them to life on screen. Different creative skills, but both so valuable to the storytelling that help us tap into our humanity.

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Michelle Yeoh gave a perfect response to being rushed through her Golden Globes speech

Her reaction to the music cue was immediate, authoritative and hilarious.

Georges Biard/Wikimedia Commons

Michelle Yeoh has been acting in films for 40 years.

Michelle Yeoh won the award for Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2023 Golden Globes for her leading role as Evelyn Wang in the acclaimed film "Everything Everywhere All at Once." It was a moment the actress had been waiting 40 years to have, and she wasn't about to let anyone rush her through it.

Yeoh, 60, has been acting in action films in Hong Kong since the 1980s and in the U.S. since the late '90s, kicking martial arts butt alongside the likes of Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan's 007. With major roles in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Crazy Rich Asians," among other films, she's become a well-recognized face to any regular filmgoer. But until "Everything Everywhere All at Once," she had never played the lead role in a Hollywood film.

Winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy was Yeoh's moment to revel in her success after decades of uphill battles as an Asian actress in an industry filled with underrepresentation and misrepresentation. So when the music cue indicated she needed to wrap up her acceptance speech at the two-minute mark, she simply wasn't having it.

It's a common annoyance in award shows for winners to be interrupted by the music during their speeches, which must be kept short so the event doesn't drag on for too long, but Yeoh could have won an award for how quickly and decisively she reacted as soon as the piano music started up.

"Shut up, please," she said, mid-sentence. "I can beat you up, OK? And that's serious."

Watch:

As if this woman wasn't legendary enough already. Congratulations on your Best Actress win, Michelle Yeoh. You deserve it, and you have most certainly earned your full moment in the spotlight.

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Steven Spielberg went the extra mile to keep E.T. 'alive' on set for Drew Barrymore

7-year-old Barrymore thought E.T. was real, so Spielberg kept the illusion going even when they weren't filming.

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Drew Barrymore believed E.T. was real.

It's understandable that a young child seeing a movie like "E.T." might think the wide-eyed creature from another planet is real. After all, it's an award-winning film with still-impressive animatronics that bring E.T. to life. One would probably assume, however, that a child who acted in the movie and saw the behind-the-scenes filmmaking process firsthand would know he wasn't real.

However, that wasn't the case for actress Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore played the main character's younger sister, Gertie, in the film. After an initial scare, Gertie adored E.T.—and as it turns out, so did 7-year-old Barrymore.

Barrymore recently had some of the cast members on her daytime talk show for the film's 40th anniversary and they described how she would interact with the E.T. character, even in-between takes. Henry Thomas, who played the main character Elliott, shared that it had been cold on the set one day and Barrymore asked the wardrobe lady for a scarf to put on E.T. so he wouldn't get cold.

"I really, really loved him, in such a profound way," said Barrymore, adding that she would take lunch to the adorable alien on set.

Dee Wallace Stone, who played Elliott and Gertie's mother in the film, said "We found you over there just talking away to E.T., and so we let Steven [Spielberg] know. And so Steven, from that time on, appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him, he could react to you."

How incredibly sweet is that?

For young children, the line between reality and fantasy can be quite fuzzy. Kids' imaginations allow them to believe in everything from fairies to Santa Claus to monsters in their closets, and the fact that Barrymore believed E.T. to be real is such a pure example of childhood innocence.

That Spielberg took care to honor that innocence and nurture Barrymore's imagination even when they weren't filming is so touching. It's particularly moving in this case, considering how key adults in Barrymore's life were famously not protective of her childhood.

Barrymore has shared that Spielberg has been "a big father figure" in her life and that he refers to her as his first kid. The two have been close since E.T. was filmed four decades ago and she credits Spielberg and the entire E.T. cast with showing her the true meaning of family.

The full reunion episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show" with the "E.T." cast is set to air on Monday, Oct. 31.

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