 Filmmaker Walt Disney himself had first attempted to adapt the Brothers Grimm fairy tale " Rapunzel " into a feature @-@ length animated film during the 1930s and 1940s . However , the project was eventually abandoned because the original fairy tale was considered too " small . " When they were first approached to direct Tangled in 2008 , directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard decided that it would be best " to blow up the scale of the film " and transform it into a " big event " , while updating and modernizing the story for a new audience . Flynn was conceived because the directors felt that " Rapunzel needed to get out [ of the tower ] ... So she needed to meet a guy to take her to where she 's going . " In the original fairy tale , Rapunzel 's love interest is a prince . However , Greno and Howard decided to make him a thief – dubbed " a subtle yet startling twist for Disney " by The New York Times – in order to avoid creating a character who is too " safe " , opting for a funnier and " edgier " character instead , while identifying Flynn as an antihero . Greno elaborated , " When you look back at some of the past Disney princes ... a lot of them are kind of soft and they 're not like people we think are that cool , " continuing , " They 're good guys , so I guess we sort of took that to the other extreme . " However , some of the filmmakers themselves were concerned that Flynn was becoming too edgy . Greno revealed that " There were people ... who were a little worried because they were hearing these rumors , ' Well , it 's not a prince it 's a thief . He 's kind of a ladies ' man , and he 's very arrogant . ' " Greno summarized Flynn 's conception and development to Orange : 
