Rosario Dawson sang 'Happy Birthday' to Danny DeVito while dressed as Stormtrooper (original) (raw)
Rosario Dawson crashed Haunted Mansion set dressed as Stormtrooper to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Danny DeVito
The star of the upcoming Ahsoka series surprised DeVito and her Haunted Mansion cast with an impromptu appearance as a Stormtrooper on set.
Published on July 10, 2023 01:00PM EDT
Some people have Star Wars-themed birthday parties, some get serenaded with "Happy Birthday" by a Stormtrooper.
In the case of the latter, it was Danny Devito's big day, and the Stormtrooper was actually his _Haunted Mansion costar Rosario Dawson. In an interview for her role in the Disney movie (the studio's second feature film based on the popular ride), the actress — who stars in the upcoming Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka — reveals to EW how she pulled off the surprise thanks to Haunted Mansion costume designer Jeffrey Kurland, who was using a full Stormtrooper costume to help craft a knight's suit of armor for one of the film's spooky sequences.
Rosario Dawson in 'Haunted Mansion'; Storm Trooper; Danny DeVito in 'Haunted Mansion'. Disney; Doug Jones/Portland Press Herald/Getty
"She pulled up in the whole outfit," fellow Haunted Mansion actor LaKeith Stanfield recalls of the moment, upon which Dawson elaborated: "I pulled up wearing it over my [character's] wig, and sang Danny 'Happy Birthday' since it was his birthday. It was a great moment."
Stanfield confirms that "it was a great" and "glorious" day on set — especially for a film with a plot closely revolving around death and the afterlife.
Dear White People's Justin Simien helmed the project with inspiration primarily from the Disneyland iteration of the attraction in California, meticulously mimicking both the interior (and exterior) of the titular manor for the blockbuster production. The film — written by Katie Dippold — follows a New Orleans inventor (Stanfield) who, while working on a camera lens that can see spirits, is hired by a young boy (Chase W. Dillon) and his single mother (Dawson) alongside a host of other paranormal experts (DeVito, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson) to help them rid their new home of 999 inhabiting haunts.
Jamie Lee Curtis in 'Haunted Mansion'. Jalen Marlowe/disney
"You really do meet the mansion the way you would as a guest at the park: through the eyes of a new cast exploring the lore along with you," Simien previously told EW for our first look at Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota, a popular character who appears in both Disneyland and Disney World's versions of the attraction. "We got down to the point where we were obsessing over the angle you first see the mansion when you walk onto the ride in Disneyland, when we see it through the gates and we see the pillars. That angle has to hit. That's how specific we were."
Haunted Mansion — also starring Jared Leto as the iconic Hatbox Ghost — pulls its doom buggy into theaters on July 28. Watch Dawson discuss singing "Happy Birthday" to DeVito in a Stormtrooper costume above.
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