Photo courtesy of MomStart
Have you ever dreamed of being Cinderella?
Not just putting on the dress and the shoes, but actually BE Cinderella? The dress, the shoes, the prince, the castle, the pumpkin, the love, the loss, all of it? We had the chance to speak with Cinderella herself. Lily James IS Cinderella in the new Cinderella Movie. She tells us what it’s like to be every little girls dream!
Photo courtesy of MomStart
Let me start by saying that Lily James is even more beautiful in person than she is on screen. Flawless skin, perfect hair, and all the grace and elegance you’d expect from Cinderella. She entered the room with such grace and gave us all a warm welcome!
Question: What was your initial reaction when you found out you got the role of Cinderella?
“Ken rang me himself and I screamed so loudly I’m sure I burst his eardrum. He said “I’d like you–, I want you to be my Cinderella.” And I just, my heart, I was on set and I screamed. And Laura and Michelle came running over and, and they knew I’d been doing this torturous audition process and they’re like, ‘what is it, what is it?’ And then Ken was like, ‘you’re not allowed to tell anyone.’ So, I was like, ‘oh, nothing, nothing.’ And then, later that day, Hugh Bonneville announced it at the Downton dining room table. It was really sweet.”
Could you imagine getting cast as Cinderella? What a dream!!
Everyone wanted to know about THE DRESS! That amazing, flowing, beautiful, blue, gorgeous, iconic, DRESS.
QUESTION: Can you tell us about how you felt when you first saw it (the dress), you tried it on, what it was like?
“The dress is insane. When I first put it on, there’s a scene from Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts where she looks, she puts this dress on and she looks in the mirror and, I think Richard Gere is looking really handsome somewhere and she just goes like swoosh, swoosh. She makes this sound and I put it on and I felt like Julia Roberts, it was just the best feeling ever. I was so nervous about this bit of the movie ‘cause it’s the bit where she’s the princess. It’s the, it’s like the moment, and I think, ‘how can anyone live up to that?’
Really, you know, it’s this fairy tale, it’s this sort of thing that’s very far removed from me. And then I put on that gown and I just felt transformed and it felt like a suit of honor. But, it was really hard to wear and it was incredibly tight and incredibly, it had a life of it’s own basically.”
QUESTION: Was the dress heavy?
“Yeah, it was really heavy. It was like crazy heavy and it pulled down on my waist and it was also, it took about twenty minutes to get in and twenty minutes to get out. In the end me and Helena had same problem so in the end, we had, these port-a-loo’s that we’d put under us. And it was like the most unglamorous thing ever. So Helena and I would sometimes be in our tent and be next door and be both using the port-a-loo’s at the same time.”
And onto the shoes. Oh those beautiful shoes! Who knew that the glass slippers were actually made of Swarovski Crystal? And, that Lily never really put the actual slippers on??
QUESTION: So, next to the dress you think about the glass slipper. How was that? Were they comfortable? Were they really made out of glass?
“They were really made out of Swarovski crystals, so, even more amazing. And they’re so beautiful but, sadly,I hate saying this, but, they don’t fit any human foot.”
In case you were wondering, it’s not easy being Cinderella. Yoga, dance lessons, and horse riding lessons were just the beginning of all the preparation for this role.
QUESTION: How did you prepare yourself, leading up to the beginning of filming to be Cinderella?
“First of all I started horse riding lessons ‘cause I’d never ridden before. When I first met Ken early on after he cast me he was like, ‘so, how do you feel about horse riding?’ and I was like, ‘[GASP] great,’ And, so I start–, and I had to bare back as well so I was going, every time, every second I wasn’t filming Downton, I was at this farm learning to ride. And then I did yoga, to sort of try and feel in my body and, you know, graceful and that was physical, and then I was just working on the script on back-story. When I met with Ken as well, he was like, ‘I want to know, does Ella sleep with the blinds open or closed, what does she dream about, you know, what’s her favorite food.’ He wanted to know, for me to know all those details so that I could sort of just exist on set being her, you know.”
We learn in the movie that Cinderella is not just a beautiful girl. She is SO much more than that. There are many lessons to be learned throughout. I never thought about the pressure playing this role must have. Being a princess may be fun, but being a role model to millions of girls, well that’s another story.
QUESTION: What would you say is the, what would you tell young girls today that your character Cinderella, how is it relevant to them? What is the message that Cinderella has for them today?
“I think with our film, was being really faithful to the fairytale. This is a girl that’s not sitting around waiting for a prince to come and save her. That she’s, she’s got this unbelievable strength and it doesn’t come from fighting or from, you know, what happens, it comes from within. And that she has, and the strength is her courage and her kindness and that, if she has that, she can, in a way, deal with, as best she can what life throws at her. And by being this person that she’s being the best version of herself. And, with such an open heart when she does meet the prince not knowing who he is, he falls for her because she’s a strong, powerful, you know, beautiful from within woman. That’s the idea.”
Cinderella opens March 13, 2015. Frozen Fever, an adorable short plays right before the movie. Don’t be late!
Check out related Cinderella posts:
*CINDERELLA Movie Premiere Red Carpet Experience at the El Capitan Theatre
*Getting Glamorous at the JCPenney Glam Ball #JCPCinderellaMoment
*Cinderella Red Carpet Premiere #CinderellaEvent
*Cate Blanchett Interview | The Wicked Stepmother #CinderellaEvent
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Disclosure: I was provided with a trip to L.A. for this event including this makeover, plus airfare, meals, and lodging. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are 100% my own.
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