When you are a teenager auditioning for Kenny Ortega, when he greets you in the room with his fedora, his walking staff and his whiter-than-white smile, this is what he wants to see: “The potential,” he said. “The desire, the enthusiasm.”An actor, then a choreographer, director and producer, Ortega, 70, has an unparalleled instinct for nosing out young talent and making it shine, blindingly, from the screen. For Disney, he directed all three “High School Musical” movies and all three “Descendants” movies. And even in the face of computer-generated dragons and Auto-Tune, he gets performances from young actors that feel somehow real. Julie, a high school student mourning the death of her mother, has lost her love for music.

Source: New York Times September 09, 2020 17:37 UTC