Anya is a character in 20th Century Fox's 1997 animated film Anastasia. A Russian orphan with amnesia, Anya travels to Paris, France to relearn about her past and family. She enlists help from a pair of con artists, who plot to use her resemblance to Russia's Imperial family to win a lucrative reward from her grandmother. Although largely fictionalized, the character is loosely based on two historical figures: Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II; and Anna Anderson, an imposter famous for claiming to be the Grand Duchess. Plot elements from the film Anastasia (1956), in which the character is played by actress Ingrid Bergman, also provided inspiration for Anya.
Created by director Don Bluth, Anya is inspired by the urban legend that Anastasia survived the Romanov family's execution in 1918, but the film's writers reimagined her tragic life in favor of a more optimistic ending. Basing her appearance on actresses Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts, Bluth redesigned the character several times to achieve a final design he felt best embodied her personality. Anya is voiced primarily by actress Meg Ryan. Despite being the filmmakers' first choice for the role, Ryan was wary about the film's dark subject matter, and only committed after the directors animated an original sequence to dialogue from her film Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Singer Liz Callaway provides Anya's singing voice, while actresses Kirsten Dunst and Lacey Chabert provide the speaking and singing voices, respectively, for a younger version of the character.
Reception towards Anya has been mostly positive, with film critics praising her spirited personality and independence. Ryan's voice acting was also well-received, although some critics found her American accent distracting. As the most famous American depiction of the Grand Duchess, Anya's likeness has been used in a range of tie-in media and merchandise, while various publications have written about her reputation as a strong female character and role model. In 2017, Christy Altomare originated the role of Anya in the Broadway musical adaptation of the film.
Role Banished by Nicholas II for treason, the mystic Grigori Rasputin sells his soul and curses the Romanovs to die, resulting in a political uprising against the Imperial family. Aided by a servant boy, eight year-old Anastasia escapes across a frozen pond with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie, while Rasputin seemingly drowns in pursuit of them. Anastasia is separated from Marie at a train station and knocked unconscious, losing her memory. Raised in an orphanage, the only clue Anastasia retains about her past is a locket inscribed "Together in Paris" her grandmother had gifted her. 10 years later, an eighteen-year-old Anastasia – now going by "Anya" – decides to travel to Paris, France, to recover some semblance of her family. Meanwhile, rumors circulate that Anastasia may have survived the fateful execution, prompting Marie to offer a ₽10 million reward for the safe return of her granddaughter. Upon arriving in Saint Petersberg, Anya meets Dimitri and Vladimir, a pair of con artists who, upon noticing her striking resemblance to the Romanovs, convince Anya to let them present her as Anastasia to the Dowager Empress in Paris. Under the ruse that they are simply trying to reunite the Grand Duchess with her family, they do not disclose the reward money, and initially fail to realize that Anya is, in fact, Anastasia. Anya's presence alerts an undead Rasputin, who has been trapped in limbo due to failing to kill Anastasia. He pursues Anya relentlessly to fulfill his curse, but his attempts are unsuccessful.
While learning to behave like royalty, some of Anya's memories begin to return, and she grows fond of Dimitri. Dimitri finally realizes Anya is truly Anastasia when she correctly answers how she escaped the palace, revealing to Vladimir that he was the servant who helped her. Marie, having grown despondent from interviewing numerous imposters, accuses Dimitri of only being interested in her money, and vehemently refuses to meet Anya. Overhearing Dimitri's original intentions for the first time, a furious Anya decides to leave Paris, but Marie, having finally been convinced by a relentless Dimitri, intercepts her in her hotel room. After a sincere conversation in which Anya recalls intimate memories and reveals the locket, Marie finally declares that she is Anastasia, and the pair emotionally reunite. Realizing he has fallen in love with Anya, Dimitri refuses the Dowager's reward money and intends to return to Russia, while Anya is conflicted between her loyalty to Marie and feelings for Dimitri. After defeating Rasputin in a final confrontation, Anya ultimately elopes with Dimitri with her grandmother's blessing, promising they will meet again.
Development Creation Anastasia is loosely based on the urban legend that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, survived the execution of her family. The character, Anya, is based on Anastasia herself. Although Anastasia was in fact murdered alongside her family in 1918 at the age of 17, rumors of her having escaped the assassination persisted for several years, which prompted numerous impersonators to claim to be her. The most famous imposter was Anna Anderson, whose claims were adapted into several retellings, including a 1956 film (also produced by 20th Century Fox) starring actress Ingrid Bergman as Anastasia.
Considered to be an animated remake of the 1956 film, the previous film's plot was primarily used as the premise and inspiration for the animated character, with the idea of a confused young woman "who doesn't know who she is and discovers she's a princess" inspiring Fox Animation Studios to develop a fairy tale version of the myth. Despite acknowledging Anastasia's heritage and upbringing, the character is largely fictionalized; according to Russian culture researcher Kate White, the ideas that "a lot of people wanted Anastasia to be alive, and a lot of women over the years have claimed to be her" are some of the few historically accurate aspects about Anya. The character also takes several liberties with Anderson's story, who researchers had already determined was not related to the Romanovs by 1994.
While researching the Grand Duchess, director Don Bluth discovered she was a young woman capable of "light[ing] up the whole house" and incorporated transformative elements from the plays My Fair Lady and Pygmalion into her storyline. Agreeing that a documentary-style film would be too dark for its intended audience, the filmmakers opted for a more fantastical re-telling but incorporated some mature elements nonetheless, such as the heroine struggling with an inner conflict, while focusing on the developing romance between Anya and con-man Dimitri. Screenwriter Bruce Graham, who was not particularly fond of the film's tragic origins, felt the character would benefit from a female writer. Eventually, writer Susan Gauthier was recruited, with whom Graham re-worked Anya's somber story into a coming-of-age romance. Actress Carrie Fisher ghostwrote the scene in which Anya begins her journey to Paris, with songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty recalling that at least 13 writers worked on this particular scene in order to capture Anya's psyche convincingly.
Design and characterization Bluth understood that, by the 1990s, animated heroines had begun to be written as strong, driven heroines, as opposed to simply beautiful princesses yearning for a romantic relationship. He envisioned Anya as tough enough to survive an orphanage, yet regal enough to convincingly pass for royalty. Most of Anya's early concept art was drawn by Bluth himself. Bluth originally struggled to create a suitable design for Anya, re-drawing the character hundreds of times until settling on one he felt embodied her mysterious, strong-willed nature. The director discovered that Anya herself could have a comedic personality, comparing her to actress Goldie Hawn.
According to his notes, Bluth felt the character's eyes were originally drawn too close together, in addition to finding her hair too red and boots too large. Writing for Animated Views, Ben Simon observed that some early drawings conveyed a "softer and more visually appealing version" of the heroine. Other early iterations included a T-shirt and baggy men's trousers inspired by actress Marlene Dietrich. Bluth designed Anya based on actresses Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts. According to character designer Len Simon, Anya "physically looks like a princess, but has a more common way of behaving, as she doesn't remember that she belongs to a royal family". Some of Bluth's drawings of Anya were exhibited at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017.
Critics believe that Bluth, a former animator for Fox's then-rival studio Disney, was inspired by skills he had learned while working for them; Refinery29's Elena Nicolaou cited Anya's strong resemblance to Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) as an example. Film critic David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor described Anya as "a close cousin to all the genre's classic heroines". The yellow court gown Anya wears towards the end of the film is almost an exact replica of one the Grand Duchess herself had worn.
Voice Anya's adult speaking voice is provided by actress Meg Ryan. Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Bill Mechanic was a fan of Ryan's previous work as spunky yet sweet characters, and expressed a strong interest in casting her as the film's lead from the beginning. Although Ryan had always been the filmmakers' first choice for the role, she was initially concerned about the film's dark subject matter. With Graham, Bluth and his co-director, Gary Goldman, persuaded Ryan by showing her a brief original sequence animated to dialogue from one of her films, the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Ryan immediately accepted, emotionally moved by the amount of effort they had put into convincing her. The first main cast member to sign onto the project, Ryan was cast in 1995. Once she was cast, animators also based Anya's expressions and mannerisms on Ryan's performance in Sleepless In Seattle. Her first voice acting role, Ryan found the recording process to be very easy. She worked on the film sporadically for approximately three years for a total of 10 hours, most of which was done prior to animation, and reportedly felt guilty about how little she contributed to the film in comparison to its animators. Ryan claims she would offer 500 readings of a particular line, from which Bluth would choose his favorite. The actress recalled that she originally approached her performance "way [too] over the top", until she listened to herself and adjusted her approach accordingly. Bluth credited Ryan's performance with helping them create an admirable heroine. For mechanical reasons, Ryan recorded most of her dialogue isolated from actor John Cusack, who voices Dimitri, her character's love interest. The co-stars were allowed to record in neighboring sound booths on only one occasion, which Goldman credits with benefiting their performances and chemistry. Ryan and Cusack briefly dated shortly after working on the film together. Producer Maureen Donley spoke highly of Ryan's performance and sense of humor. Despite the character being Russian, Ryan voices Anya using her own American accent.