Haunted Mansion director breaks down 'new blood' cameos from Winona Ryder, Dan Levy
Warning: This story contains minor spoilers from Disney's Haunted Mansion.
There's always "room for one more" happy haunt inside Disney's Haunted Mansion ride, but for director Justin Simien's movie adaptation of the attraction, make that two.
Schitt's Creek actor Dan Levy and Hollywood mainstay Winona Ryder have hilarious cameos about halfway through Haunted Mansion. The pair play highly animated tour guides at a manor-turned-museum that harbors a key element in the quest of paranormal expert Ben (LaKeith Stanfield) to help a single mother (Rosario Dawson) banish a spiritual infestation from her haunted New Orleans estate.
"It was so clear, the way [writer Katie Dippold] structured the story, that there were these characters that only existed in these little acts. They were screaming out to be really great cameos," Simien, a former Disney parks employee, tells EW. "We were lucky that Dan and Winona — both very in-demand actors and people — saw the significance of those roles, and really came in and gave us something absolutely beautiful, especially when you get to the third act of a movie like this. You have the final lessons to learn and everything is coming together, you need some new energy and new blood. I can't pass up a good cameo."
Disney (2) Dan Levy and Winona Ryder in 'Haunted Mansion'
Levy plays a theatrical guide who dons exaggerated costumes to amp up the haunted history of Crump Manor, a historical showcase that's also a breeding ground for supernatural spirits. He even references the prior murder of a butler, a light nod to the original concept for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction that would've seen guests walk through the titular building while accompanied by an ill-fated servant.
As for Ryder's character, Pat, who reads a Mortuary Monthly magazine when we first encounter her, don't look too deeply into her name. "There's absolutely no significance, as far as I know," Simien says with a laugh.
There is, however, a significance to Levy's character playing "It's a Small World" — the legendary Sherman Brothers song that plays throughout the fan-favorite boat ride of the same name — on the piano during the sequence.
"I was just obsessed with putting in as many Disney Easter eggs as possible, because I'm a nerd," Simien says of incorporating the song into the movie. "We tried a few different things in that moment. I told Kris Bowers, our composer, 'I want him to be playing a Disney tune,' and we tried a few, and that was the one that universally made everybody chuckle in exactly the right way."
Haunted Mansion is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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