Mother Gothel always about ... who’s best for the part". Film critic James Berardinelli of "ReelViews "observed that this decision echoed "Disney's approach during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when big name stars where often bypassed in favor of lesser known talents." An additional asset was that the actor be able to perform well both independently and collaboratively. Mother Gothel is voiced by American actress and singer Donna Murphy, a Tony Award-winning Broadway actress who was informed about the casting call for "Tangled "by her agent. Having never voiced an animated character before, the actress decided to audition for the role
Mother Gothel trying to say visually that this is not this girl’s mother." The animators studied footage of Murphy in order to get "ideas about facial expressions" and "gestures." After much speculation, the directors finally admitted that, in addition to Murphy, Gothel's physical appearance was in fact influenced by American singer Cher. Howard explained that this was "because Cher is very exotic and Gothic looking," continuing that the singer "definitely was one of the people we looked at visually, as far as what gives you a striking character." The term passive-aggressive has since gone on to be commonly associated with Gothel. Critics