by: Sean Lechowicz

“Tangled” star Mandy Moore recently let down her hair for The Chronicle. She chatted about acting without the luxury of being seen, collaborating with composer Alan Menken and working with Disney animators.

The Chronicle: How challenging is it to convey emotions without actually having your facial expressions?

Mandy Moore: In that sense, everything needs to be slightly heightened than you would be doing in a live action film. [Because], you don’t have the facial expressions or gestures [it’s] really up to you to relay the emotions of what you’re saying. The thing I didn’t realize was they were filming us most of the time in the booth. I thought, “Oh, they’re doing behind-the-scenes DVD stuff.” The animators were using that footage as a guideline for facial expressions, and I’m very gesture-y when I talk. When I first saw the movie, I would see certain things Rapunzel would do and think, “That is so me!” I could see how they incorporated it into the film at times, which was really trippy. It’s nice to watch the film and sort of lose myself more so than in watching other movies I’ve been in, [because] I’m way too critical. I look nothing like Rapunzel. So I’m like, “OK, that’s my voice,” which is kind of grating but I can get past that and actually watch the film—until she does some gesture and I’m like, “Oh, that’s me.” It’s weird.

The Chronicle: What were the pros and cons of working exclusively in a recording booth?

MM: Well, the best was probably the idea you didn’t have to sit around and get hair and makeup done and be there super early or wait on lighting and for cameras to turn around and change angles. That was sort of nice, you just showed up and did your thing. Although I found an appreciation for it later on, I didn’t like the fact I was by myself. I was looking forward to getting to know Zach [Levi, who plays Flynn Ryder], and Donna [Murphy, who plays Mother Gothel] and how much fun it would be to have that rapport in-person and feed off their energy. I was intimidated by that setup at first—going it solo. But then it ended up being OK when it comes down to having to record a bunch of effect noises. You know like, “OK, now she’s being chased by Maximus the horse, and now she’s using the frying pan!” And you’re grunting or struggling or you have to cry. You would just feel super weirded out, having to do this in front of other people.

The Chronicle: So there was absolutely no interaction with the cast during shooting?

MM: None. Byron [Howard] and Nathan [Greno] are both amazing directors. They were kind enough to read over some of the scenes with me, just so I could understand the rhythm of the scenes. There was never a full-fledged finished script to sit down and read through yourself. You’re just kind of taking it from the directors, at the helm, to tell you the story: “And this is what happens, and Rapunzel goes here, etc.” You’re sort of just listening to them and their thorough explanations and you’re looking at storyboards. You’re taking their word for it, and you really have to throw all of your trust in them, [because] they’re at every session with all the actors, so they know what they’ve got in the can and what they need from you. I’m a perfectionist, so I need someone to go “OK, we’ve got it.” [Because] I’ll just keep going and going and going. So it was nice in that sense to eventually feel that. I felt very safe. I felt very protected, like I had my best interests looked after.

The Chronicle: Had musician Alan Menken composed any music before you were cast?

MM: Yeah, I think he had, [because] the callbacks were in New York City. I had to go into the studio with Alan and the powers-that-be and I had to learn the song “When Will My Life Begin?” So I had to work with Alan, which was incredibly intimidating, being a big fan of his. But also, it was a tough song. I remember I had a record that just came out, so my brain was focused on that, then I was like, “Oh my God, now I have to learn this totally different song and it’s hard, and I have to go into the studio with all of these people.” I kept telling myself, “I’d made it this far and I should be proud of that, trying to see the positive in it. But it went OK. I don’t think it went spectacularly, I didn’t walk out thinking, “I have that, it’s all about me.”

But it was cool, it was great to meet Alan. Then, I got to work with him in the studio for all of the music in the film and he is so hands on and he’s such a pro. He knows exactly what he wants and exactly how to get it out of you. [Because] I was like, “There are so many words to fit into such a compact amount of time.” I didn’t know if I had the lung capacity to do this. He was like, “This is the word that needs to be punched” or “This is the word you can speak-sing.” I was like, “Cool, I’m going to put all of my faith in you, just tell me what you need.”

The Chronicle: How was this different than other voice work you’ve done in the past?

MM: It was only different in that I felt I was part of the project—not since its inception since it [has] been years in the making—but I felt like I actually got to see the project from a very early stage, with the storyboards and just literally sketches. I felt like I was more part of it.

It was always a much bigger deal to go in and work on this than it has on other projects. You go in and you may just be in the gigantic recording room with the directors. But then there’s 30 people in the control room sitting behind the glass, and everybody had different opinions and so forth. So it was a bigger process than I’ve ever been a part of doing animated work, but at the same time it just felt really organic.

And because I had that much time—we worked on it for a year and a half—I got to increasingly be more comfortable with the character, instead of going in one day doing all the work. That way, you have no real connection to the character.

“Tangled” is currently in theaters.