Deadpool’s Zazie Beetz Is Playing A Disney Princess

According to an interview with Screen Rant, Beetz and her writing partner David Rysdahl (also her fiancée), will be responsible for the modern adaptation of the Disney story.

By Shawn Paul Wood | Published

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zazie beetz

Zazie Beetz, known for her roles in Joker, Deadpool 2, and Vanessa in FX’s Atlanta, plans to continue her fairy tale life in a remake of the Brothers Grimm classic Rapunzel. According to an interview with Screen Rant, Beetz and her writing partner David Rysdahl (also her fiancée), will be responsible for the modern adaptation of the story. Rysdahl noted he and Zazie Beetz see the project as a novel sequel in the life of Rapunzel.

There’s something I can’t talk about, but it’s going to be exciting. But Zazie [Beetz] and I write a lot. I have a couple of scripts. We have a production company, and we write a lot. Like I just said twice. Did I mention we write a lot? (laughs). So, we are making a Rapunzel story, kind of what happens after, for Zazie. She’ll have a huge afro. That’s something we’re excited about writing…[Zazie’s playing Rapunzel] in the script that we made! Yeah. She’s gonna kill it. She’s so good.

David Rysdahl, ScreenRant, February 2022

The story of Rapunzel traces back to 1812 when the Brothers Grimm released their anthology Children’s and Household Tales, now known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This isn’t the first time David Rysdahl and Zazie Beets have worked together. In 2018, they starred in Cathy Yan’s Dead Pigs, and in 2020’s Edson Oda’s avant-garde story, Nine Days. The couple owns a production company, Sleepy Poppy, that will be responsible for the new fairy-tale project. The couple told NPR that Sleepy Poppy is “a place where storytellers can embrace their true, authentic selves while exploring stories with joy, passion, wonder, and humility.”

disney tangled rapunzel

Passion and wonder have been seen along with this story of Rapunzel before. Most people will recognize the Disney adaptation of the tale done in full computer animation for Tangled, which starred Mandy Moore. Other notable places where the musical maiden kept up in the Belfry Tower have been seen are in Shrek and ABC’s reality series Once Upon a Time, which took creative liberties with the story the network entitled Gothel’s Tower.

From being Sophie Dumond in the Oscar-winning dystopian view of Joker to being a prominent voice in Robot Chicken, Zazie Beetz is no stranger to taking risks in her career. She was recently interviewed in Harpers Bazaar, where she used that mentality to encourage others, including herself.

The advice that I’d give to my younger self is just to lean in and follow the fear. I’m not saying I’m even good at this now, but exposure therapy is a thing. The higher the risk, the more internal reward you get in some ways. It’s empowering to do things that you’re afraid of.

Zazie Beetz, Harper’s Bazaar, October 2021

Many fans wonder if Beetz will be seen again as Domino in Deadpool 3. Fortunately, she would love to play that character soon. In Deadpool 2, Zazie Beetz surprised fans as a “just lucky” member of the Mutant X-Force.

Although the wizard Kevin Feige has already given the next edition of the Deadpool franchise the green light behind the Marvel curtain, very little has been shared about progress until earlier this week. As we reported previously, Ryan Reynolds sat down with Collider to discuss his role in The Adam Project; the star was asked about the mercurial mercenary and was vague about details.

I’ll say this about that particular subject is I’ll have a batch of updates on that sooner rather than later, I hope. So I’ll be able to get into stuff about Deadpool a little bit more clearly and definitively down the road.

Ryan Reynolds, Colider, February 2022

Until that day, we’ll have to wait to catch Zazie Beetz listening for the new beckoned phrase, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your afro.”