Lily James and Richard Madden Star in Magical Live Action ‘Cinderella’ Trailer
Downton Abbey’s Lily James trades in her flapper dresses for a ball gown as the titular Disney princess, and she gets the King in the North (also known as Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) as her Prince Charming.
Director Kenneth Bragnagh has assembled a top-notch supporting cast, including Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother, Cate Blanchett as Cinderella’s wicked stepmother, and The Borgias’ Holliday Grainger and James’ own Downton co-star Sophie McShera as the horrible stepsisters.
Watch the trailer for yourselves and see what you think of James's leading lady debut:
Things I’m Excited About? That the moral underpinning of this particular Cinderella seems to be that kindness and courage are truly magical, rather than oh it’s just about a girl who wants to go to a fancy dress party and gets a much-hoped for magical assist from a sorceress. To be honest, Cinderella has never been a particular favorite fairy tale of mine, but this trailer manages to make the story feel fresh, which is no small accomplishment.
"Goodness can seem pious. It can seem righteous. It can seem too good to be true. We needed Cinderella to remain funny, sexy, smart and crucially kind," Branagh told E!News in a recent interview. "There was talk way back about redefining goodness as a superpower and kindness in the same way. I think it can be very active and charismatic and compelling, but it needs to be lightly done. This Cinderella, she's not empowered in the sense of being adversarial or self-pitying or victimized. She makes her own choices and she doesn't indulge in her own pain or have any regard for her own hardships. She's generous of spirit, and we needed that in the actress. Lily has great generosity of spirit, which really you can't fake. I think the audience will intuit that. She is good company. She's un-showy, yet she's charismatic.”
Also, from the shallow end: Cinderella’s iconic blue gown is simply *amazing*.
Cinderella will hit theaters on March 13, 2015. Do you think Cousin Rose will make a good Disney princess? She certainly looks the part.
