Disney May Have Found an Incredibly Obvious Choice for Its Live-Action Prince Charming

Deadline reports Chris Hemsworth is in talks to star in Prince Charming, a new project at Disney from Paddington and Wonka director Paul King.

Prince Charming is based on a script co-written by King with Simon Farnaby and Jon Croker; the exact nature and details of the story are currently under wraps, but unless it reveals itself to be a simple rom-com utilizing the name like The Perfect Man or The Idea of You, the story likely concerns some variation of the stock character seen in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and other Disney fairy tales. As the outlet notes, “insiders do add that the film will not specifically be linked to Cinderella,” and so will likely not be a retelling of the Disney movie from the perspective of its royal shoe-obsessed love interest.  

Entertainment insider Jeff Sneider broke news of the project and Hemsworth’s involvement in his newsletter last week, so the Deadline report is further confirmation that this movie is real and moving forward. Which begs the question: if it’s not specifically about Cinderella’s himbo, what’s it about? And why is Disney interested?

Perhaps Prince Charming really will be some sort of essay on the stock character, in a similar vein to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, with Hemsworth as some sort of bumbling incarnation of the trope—similar to Ryan Gosling’s evergreen portrayal of Ken. Perhaps it’ll be a sort of modern retelling of The Stepford Husbands, the 1996 made-for-TV sequel to The Stepford Wives with Mr. Hemsworth standing in for Michael Ontkean. How are ideal storybook men made, and for what purpose? Will Hemsworth’s Charming become self-aware and lead a revolution of his colleagues as they question why they’re cursed to play second fiddle to their princess counterparts? We’ll find out soon enough.

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