Photo by Can Nguyen/REX
Walt Disney Pictures released their classic Disney film, Cinderella, sixty-five years ago and since then the story has been told and retold over various genres and generations.
Now Disney is taking their turn with the beloved fairytale once again but this time with a live action version of the flick directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh.
Actress Lily James from hit British series Downtown Abbey plays the female lead, Cinderella, while the beautiful Cate Blanchett steps in as the evil stepmother.
The cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter as Cinderella’s fairy godmother while Game of Thrones’ Robb Stark actor, Richard Madden, plays the handsome Prince Charming.
Branagh stated that the film works to honor the original Disney work but incorporates contemporary themes to give the story an uplift.
“The honoring of the original comes in, I think, as sort of a lightness of touch and sort of a lavishness […] And then from the inside, we’ve given it a contemporary feel that is human and humane.”
He also added that part of the contemporary feel will be about the change in Cinderella and the focus on needing a man, an issue with Disney Princesses that has been raised more and more often and a subject Disney itself challenged to a degree in its hit film, Frozen.
“[The film is] not built around the idea that Cinderella’s life depends on finding a man or things, like clothes or a title, or just hoping this magic will come along. It’s much more about who she is, what she feels about herself, and taking that kind of sort of spiritual cue to make it refreshing in a contemporary way,” Branagh stated.
The film is also breaking away from the theme of musicals with Branagh stating, “There are no musical numbers inside the body of the film, but there is singing and you will find that songs work their way into the movie ultimately. We hope to pay a little nod to the original in that way.”
The new live-action Cinderella is set to hit theatres March 13, 2015.
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Check out the trailer below!