From Pauper to Princess

Once upon a time, there was a young princess named Anastasia Nicholaevna whose family, the Romanovs, had ruled Imperial Russia for three hundred years.

In 1918, Anastasia’s perfect world was destroyed when her family was killed by revolutionaries. For years afterward, however, it was rumored that Anastasia alone had survived.

Last year’s animated Fox epic Anastasia asks the historical question, “What if Anastasia had survived?” Though the legend was proven untrue in recent years, Anastasia isn’t really a documentary. The cartoon, obviously geared toward children, is more along the lines of the Oscar-winning 1956 drama of the same name starring Ingrid Bergman.

Coproducer and codirector Gary Goldman contends that he and partner Don Bluth made a valid choice when they downplayed the historical accuracy in order to emphasize the fairy-tale aspects of Anastasia’s story. “We took the myth that this young girl lived and built a fairy tale around that with a fairy-tale ending,” he explains.

The story unfolds in war-ravaged St. Petersburg with a young Anastasia (voiced by Kirsten Dunst of Jumanji) and her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie, escaping the evil sorcerer Rasputin (voiced by Christopher Lloyd), who has cursed the Romanov family. Marie and Anastasia are separated when they try to elude the mob which has taken over the capital. Marie finds herself on a train to Paris, but Anastasia is knocked unconscious – without any memory of who she is.

Years pass by and a young woman named “Anya” (voiced by Meg Ryan), leaves the orphanage where she has lived since the revolution. Anya runs into two charming con artists – the handsome young Dimitri (voiced by John Cusack) and his friend, the former aristocrat Vladimir (voiced by Kelsey Grammer of “Frasier”). Dimitri has been searching for the perfect girl to pretend to be Anastasia so that he can fool the Dowager Empress and claim a reward. Dimitri’s seemingly foolproof get-rich-quick scheme is threatened by his growing love for Anya – and the return of an angry Rasputin.

For Meg Ryan, who made her cartoon voice-over debut with Anastasia, her character’s strong personality and courage made for an acting opportunity that the actress could not pass up. “What I liked about her was that she was sassy and fiery, an independent spirit,” Ryan says. “She took a great risk and went towards the things she was afraid of. She had a dream of belonging and of being loved…and this is just an animated character! I also loved that through her journey she discovers not only her family, but the best within herself.”

Bluth explains that after hearing what Ryan did with the character, he re-drew her. “I roughed Anya up a bit,” Bluth recalls. “She still had a beautiful face but not overtly made-up. Her hair was disheveled and deliberately messy; even her clothes seemed not to fit her very well.”

John Cusack relished the challenge of lending his voice to animated film, but was happy to leave at least one part of his performance to somebody else. “Gratefully, I did very little singing,” he laughs. “If I sang, people would be running for the exits.”

Since Cusack left Dimitri’s singing voice to the pros, the music of Anastasia is Broadway-caliber. Combined with an all-star cast of vocal talents and the artistry of over 300 top animators, Anastasia is destined to be a success with kids of all ages.