Lily James spoke about the shooting of the movie "Cinderella", the glass slipper and Richard Madden

HELLO! said actress Lily James, who starred in Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella.

The fate of Lily James is in many ways similar to the story of Cinderella. The young British actress, previously known only for her role as the eccentric Lady Rose in the popular costume series Downton Abbey, she suddenly got to the "ball": she was cast in the major Hollywood project "Cinderella" and began acting together with stars such as Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter. As part of the promotional tour of this film, Lily visited Moscow, where we managed to talk with the actress and find out from her how modern princesses live.

Lily James at the premiere of "Cinderella"

Lily, be honest: are Cinderella's glass shoes really as comfortable as fairy godmother Helena Bonham Carter claims in the movie?

To be honest, here she somewhat embellished reality. (Laughs) They were actually made of Swarovski crystals and were too small for me. So we had to put them on me using CGI. They are also wildly expensive, and in the scene with the fitting of the shoe, Richard (actor Richard Madden, who played the role of the prince. - Ed.) scared the guards specially sent to the site to death when he began to turn the shoe in his hands.

- Were you not afraid to play such a famous heroine? After all, there are already so many versions of Cinderella.

At first, of course, I was very afraid. But I auditioned for so long and met so many times with the director of the film, Kenneth Branagh, that by the time filming began, I was firmly convinced that I wanted and should play this role. Plus, when you know you could be on the same project as Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter, the desire to work with them outweighs any fear.

Cate Blanchett
Cinderella's stepsisters, played by Holliday Granger and Sophie McShera

- As a child, you probably watched Disney cartoons. Wanted to be a princess?

Much more than the princesses, I liked the dogs from the Disney cartoon Lady and the Tramp. In second place was Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" ... If there was any heroine, looking at whom I said: "That's what I want to be!" - it's definitely her. And also, when I was nine years old, my grandmother sewed me a costume for another Disney princess - Jasmine, and I walked around the house like that. My brothers, seeing me in this outfit, began to tease, we had a fight, and I never wore that suit again.

Lily James as Cinderella

- And how did you feel when you first put on Cinderella's blue ball gown on the set?

My breath caught. You see, up until this point, we've been filming scenes where I play Cinderella the Dirty, an ordinary girl. And then I put on a dress and became a princess in an instant! The outfit played a decisive role in this reincarnation. By the way, it was wildly heavy: I almost fell down the stairs while we were filming the scene at the ball. (Laughs) What can we say about poor Richard - he also had to lift me up during our dance.

In addition to this dress, you have only two outfits in the film. Did you envy your stepmother and stepsisters, who had a much richer wardrobe?

I became so attached to my few outfits that I was not too offended. Plus, unlike everyone else, I didn’t have to get up at six in the morning and do hundreds of fittings. You see, Cinderella has her advantages too.

- You mentioned St.oh brothers. Do you have the same difficult relationship with them as Cinderella has with her stepsisters?

You know, they're much worse. (Laughs) I'm joking, of course, I adore the brothers. And after filming in Cinderella, I realized my happiness: I would hardly get along with my sisters. By the way, the brothers were with me at the Berlin Film Festival, where the world premiere of the film took place. They became the main beauties on the red carpet.

- Did they like Cinderella?

They are delighted, although after watching they laughed for a long time: "Lily, in real life you are not at all so cute."

Do you believe that in today's world a Cinderella story is possible? Can a girl without connections and fortune find herself a prince, if not on a white horse, then at least on a white Ferrari?

Now all the princes go with bodyguards, so, probably, modern Cinderellas will have to learn martial arts in order to break through this cordon. (Laughs.) But seriously, I believe that people from different social strata can be together. And it's not just about love, but also about life. An ordinary girl can have a lot in common with a prince in a white Ferrari. Especially if he is kind and smart.

Soon you will have to put on a ball gown again: your next project is the British series "War and Peace", where you play Natasha Rostova. Have you already started preparing for the role?

Yes, I went to St. Petersburg for a couple of weeks, and now we are filming everything at a studio in the UK. And, of course, I've already read the book. I remember Kenneth told me about Tolstoy while filming: "You'll be delighted!" - and he was right: this is an amazing story, I hope that I will be able to play it in such a way that I will not disappoint you.

Kenneth Branagh says HELLO! on the making of the film "Cinderella":

Most people know me as the director of Shakespeare adaptations or movies like Thor and Frankenstein. Therefore, when they found out that I was going to shoot a fairy tale, many people told me: "Kenneth, why?" At first, I myself did not believe that I would be able to make a film that was not tragic and too serious, but in the end we really got a fairy tale. We took something from the version of Charles Perrault, something from the editorial of the Brothers Grimm. The main difference of our story is that we did not create a modern guide "How to Meet the Prince at the Ball". Our Cinderella is very modern and may well be happy and content with herself without the prince.

By the way, it was the actress for the role of Cinderella that we were looking for the longest. A little-known girl was needed, who, on the one hand, could immediately win over the viewer, and on the other hand, cope with all the difficulties that are inevitable on such a large Hollywood project. Lily appeared out of nowhere: at first she wanted to play just one of the stepsisters, then the casting director invited her to audition for the main role, there were more auditions, second, third ... The process was exhausting, but in the end we were definitely confident in our decision. Lily fits the description of Cinderella perfectly: she is charming, resourceful, she has a great sense of humor and, most importantly, an abyss of patience."

Richard Madden, Lily James and Kenneth Branagh

240 meters of fabric and 10,000 Swarovski crystals it took to create Cinderella's dress. For the filming of the film, 9 absolutely identical dresses were made.

46 meters long and 32 meters wide- the size of the ballroom of the royal palace. The décor is no less impressive: marble floors, a massive staircase, curtains made with over 1,800 meters of fabric, 17 huge custom-made chandeliers in Italy, over 3,600 meters of turquoise velvet for wall upholstery, over 16,000 artificial silk flowers, as well as 5000 candles, each of which was made by hand.

In 5 different categories Disney Cinderella director Kenneth Branagh was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Short Feature Film. . In the history of the Oscars, only three other actors - Warren Beatty, John Huston and - were nominated in so many categories.

Frame from the movie "Cinderella" Photo: WDSSPR

2 knighthoods has the performer of the role of the King Derek Jacobi, which he was given by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Only one other British actor has been so honored twice - it was

Sir Laurence Olivier. The director of the film, Kenneth Branagh, was also knighted for services to drama.

120 meters fabric was used to create a dress for the Fairy Godmother by costume designer Sandy Powell. The width of the dress was almost 120 centimeters.

Poster for the movie "Cinderella" Photo: WDSSPR

6th Oscar nomination and the performer of the role of Stepmother Cate Blanchett. She received four nominations for successfully portraying real people on screen: Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, Bob Dylan in I'm Not Here, and Sheba Hart in Scandalous Diary.

Probably, if there was a competition for the most popular fairy-tale heroine, then Cinderella would win it. A simple but beautiful story gave (and still gives!) hope to every young lady to grow up as a smart woman and find her fabulous happiness with a handsome Prince.

Still from the film A Kiss for Cinderella, 1925

1. Silent Cinderella.

It is not surprising that cinema showed interest in this fairy tale immediately, practically, from the first years of its existence. Just think, Méliès himself, already in 1899 !, shot the first version of the story about the crystal slipper!

Frame from the film "Cinderella", 1899

They write that the style of this film, as well as all the work of Méliès (about whom Scorsese made a wonderful film "The Keeper of Time") was influenced by the work of Gustave Dore.

Illustrations by Gustave Dore for the fairy tale "Cinderella".

Méliès' 5-minute picture was a big hit! You can watch it below:

But we will not dwell on all the film adaptations - there are more than twenty of them, but we will recall only a few of the most interesting ones.
Silent film lovers are invited to watch another version, now an American one, in 1914 with Mary Pickford in the title role.

Frame from the film "Cinderella", 1914

We make a big leap and go straight to the films of our time.
I already wrote about the domestic version of "Cinderella" (here) and the Czech hit of all time "Three Nuts for Cinderella" (read). Therefore, now we will talk about another American film adaptation of the famous fairy tale. Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998), filmed in the style of the French Renaissance and called in our box office "The Story of Eternal Love".

2. "The story of eternal love." Almost like a glass shoe.

This film aroused my interest with its, again, Renaissance costumes created by a famous British costume designer. Jenny Beaven(Jenny Beavan) (I wrote quite a bit about her in an old post about the Sherlock Holmes movie).

Costume design for Danielle - that's Cinderella's name in this movie. As we remember, "Cinderella" is not a name, but a nickname derived from "ash".

Shot from the film "The Story of Eternal Love"

The plot idea of ​​the film was also impressive - the whole action of the fairy tale revolves around the portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, known as
La Scapigliata(or testa di fanciulla detta la scapigliata)

Shot from the film "The Story of Eternal Love"

The stepmother is traditionally dressed in green, a color that symbolizes envy and malice.

Frames from the film "The Story of Eternal Love". Stepmother by Anjelica Huston.

Stepmother's dress. Costume Designer Jenny Beaven

Sketch of the Prince's costume.

Shot from the film "The Story of Eternal Love"

It was interesting to decide the key ball gown Danielle - showered with pearls and having translucent wings of either a butterfly or a moth, giving the heroine fragility and ephemeralism.

Shot from the film "The Story of Eternal Love"

Today, this dress can often be seen at film costume exhibitions, so we have a chance to see it in more detail.

This outfit looks especially touching and figurative after the Prince rejects Danielle, calling her an impostor: the heroine becomes like a moth that has burned its delicate wings, inadvertently approaching the fire that beckons him...

Forgotten (almost crystal) shoe - mules...

By the way, the famous shoe brand "Salvatore Ferragamo" had a hand in the creation of the famous "glass shoe" in this film.

And since we are talking about shoe design, I would like to remind you that not so long ago, Christian Louboutin, whose shoes every fashionista dreams of, created his own pair of shoes for Cinderella - but not for filming the film, but for the Disney Princess exhibition in honor of the remake a classic 1949 cartoon about a fairy-tale beauty. “I am very lucky that I have the opportunity to touch the world of Cinderella, so symbolic for the world of shoes and the world of dreams,” says Christian Louboutin.

Frame from the cartoon "Cinderella", 1949

Louboutin sketch.

It was in these shoes that actress Lily James, who played the role of Cinderella in a recent film adaptation, shone at the premiere in 2015.

3. Film "Cinderella", 2015. Crystal slipper.

The costume designer for the last Disney film, Cinderella, was Sandy Powell(Sandy Powell), who is known for her love of bright colors.

Therefore, there are many colors in this fairy tale. When asked by journalists what meaning the artist put into the color of the film, Sandy replied that she had not even thought about it, but simply followed her intuition ( Maybe that's why I'm not a fan of this artist's work. ;-)

If not for Cinderella's giant ballroom crinoline, I think everyone else would remember only the style of the Stepmother performed by the brilliant Cate Blanchett.

Stepmother's dress drawing. Costume designer Sandy Powell.

Joan Fontaine in Rebecca, 1940

"Actually, I started from the images of Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford, but from films shot in the 1940s in 19th-century costumes," Powell said in an interview. “For some reason, that was the first look that came to my mind: 1940s hair and makeup and big dramatic hats, a la 40s, but with 19th century imitation. I started by looking at photographs of 40s actresses from films are noir. And that was our starting point."

Promo for the film "Cinderella", 2015

Frame from the movie "Cinderella", 2015

Marlene Dietrich

The daughters of the stepmother turned out to be very bright. I liked their underwear - crinolines and bustles. This is, of course, a fantasy version, but funny)

"They're kind of nouveau riche," says Powell. "It's like people who get a lot of money and start spending it on clothes without having good taste. It all looks a little vulgar."

About Cinderella's blue dress, the artist says the following: "I knew I didn't want to make it pink, and then I thought that it could be white, but, no, it can't be, because we have a wedding scene, and there should have been this color dress.

Cinderella's wedding dress.

After that, I thought: green would be wrong, yellow would be wrong, red would be wrong. I went back to blue because it's actually the most attractive color and it's the only one that seemed appropriate.

Sketch of Cinderella's ball gown.

Then I remembered that the original was blue, and I realized: it was impossible to make any other color than blue, because it is - "Cinderella's blue ball color". And I think that millions of little girls all over the world would be terribly disappointed if I did it wrong."

Cinderella in a ball gown from the classic 1949 animated version.

Of course, the most interesting task for the artist was to come up with his own unique detail for the key ball gown. Cinderella - Danielle had moth wings, Cinderella - Ella - these are butterflies that dotted the neckline of the bodice.
"I was thinking about the scene where Ella's transformation into a princess would take place, even though it was planned to be filmed, as a visual effect," recalls Powell. “It made sense to make some decoration, but what? At first I thought about flowers, but then I remembered that Cinderella is close to nature, her friends are all kinds of animals and birds, and it would be nice if they helped her make this dress .And I just put butterflies on it, which fluttered and flew away when Ella was spinning."

Well, what about shoes? They were "classic", according to Perrault - made of crystal. Made by Swarovski for the film.

These shoes were recently on display at a shoe show at the V&A Museum.

We can not ignore another Cinderella, who lost her shoe on the screens of cinemas last year.

Film costume designer Colin Atwood(Colleen Atwood) (I have a whole tag dedicated to her) said later in an interview: "The Cinderella costume was a big challenge for me, from an aesthetic point of view. Because our Cinderella could not wear the traditional large pink or blue dress, which is the dream of every little girls.The soul of this character's mother lived in the willow, and we wanted to reflect this in the heroine's costume.I was looking for a fabric texture that looked like a butterfly wing, and my choice fell on a gold lamé from the 1930s and organza, which perfectly conveyed this effect. in the end it turned out that the dress is a bit reminiscent of the mother, it is a little fabulous - princess and, at the same time, modern.The dress seems to contain a doubt: "Do I really want to be a princess?".

This photo shows that Cinderella's shoes are not crystal, but gold. As Colleen said in an interview, this is because they stuck to the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale. “In the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm,” writes Wikipedia, “the heroine first receives as a gift “shoes embroidered with silk and silver”, and on the last evening - “pure gold shoes.” (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella )

Since most of the action of the picture takes place in a dark forest, the shiny textures looked especially advantageous.
For the same reason, glare, reflective fabrics are also present in the costumes of the Stepmother and her daughters. But the negative nature of these characters is manifested in a large amount of black trim.

It is a pity that we do not have time to enjoy the beauty of these costumes and appreciate the elegance of appliqués and hand embroidery... But such is the fate of the film costume.

I think the last two works of artists nominated for an Oscar this year. Wait and see. In the meantime, holidays are coming, I wish all young ladies to find their crystal slipper and, of course, with the Prince in addition!))

Well, I remind you of two posts about other "Cinderellas":

"Cinderella" 1947 Almost a fairy tale story.

"Three Nuts for Cinderella" fairytale renaissance.

And related posts:

Four Romeos, four Juliets.

Anna Karenina and her wardrobe: keeping up with the times.

The film is a remake of a Disney cartoon released 65 years ago in 1950. The plot of the film is based on the famous fairy tale about a girl who was oppressed by her evil stepmother and how she miraculously found her prince. Scenario of the new Cinderella" (Cinderella) wrote Chris Weitz), which at one time received the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (the film "My Boy", 2002).

In motion picture "Cinderella" starred such famous American actors as: Lily James, Richard Madden, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Hayley Atwell, Derek Jacobi, Sophie McShera, Ben Chaplin, Stellan Skarsgård and others.

World premiere of the film-fairy tale " Cinderella" (Cinderella) took place on February 13, 2015. Premiere " Cinderella" (Cinderella) in Russia – March 6, 2015.

The content of the film Cinderella / Cinderella

The ballroom of the royal palace impresses with its size: 46 meters long and 32 meters wide. The décor is no less impressive: marble floors; massive staircase; curtains, the tailoring of which took more than 1800 meters of fabric; 17 huge chandeliers made to order in Italy; over 3,600 meters of turquoise velvet for wall upholstery; more than 16,000 artificial silk flowers, and 5,000 candles, each handmade.

The performer of the role of the King, Derek Jacobi, is the owner of two knighthoods, which Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain gave him, only one more British actor was twice honored with such an honor - it was Sir Laurence Olivier. The director of the film, Kenneth Branagh, was also knighted for services to drama.

To create a dress for the Fairy Godmother with a costume designer Sandy Powell it took: 120 meters of fabric; 400 LEDs; thousands of Swarovski crystals. The width of the dress was almost 120 centimeters.

In the Disney Feature Film Cinderella» Sisters Anastasia and Drizella are always dressed in dresses of the same style, but different in color, just like in the animated masterpiece of the same name Disney.

Behind the production designer Dante Ferretti not only many awards and nominations in the category "Best Production Design" of the prestigious film awards "Oscar" and BAFTA, but also works on designing scenery for the most famous opera houses in the world: "La Scala" in Milan, "Bastille Opera" in Paris and "Colon" in Buenos Aires. In addition, Ferretti created stage scenery for productions of Verdi's opera La Traviata, as well as Puccini's operas Tosca and La bohème.

The staging of the solemn ballroom dance of Cinderella and the Prince was entrusted to the winner of the Tony and Emmy awards, the choreographer Rob Ashford.

The cast and crew of Cinderella

• Director Story by: Kenneth Branagh.
• Screenwriters With: Aline Brosh McKenna, Chris Weitz.
• Producers With: David Barron, Simon Kinberg, Allison Shearmur and others.
• Operator Story by: Haris Zambarloukos.
• Composer Story by: Patrick Doyle.
• Artists Cast: Dante Ferretti, Anthony Caron-Delion, Gary Freeman and others.
• Editor Story by: Martin Walsh.
• Cast Cast: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Hayley Atwell, Helena Bonham Carter, Stellan Skarsgård, Holliday Granger, Derek Jacobi, Nonso Anozie, Sophie McShera and others.

Hi all!

As recently as yesterday Gossip blogger Helen presented to our attention a selection of stars dressed in blue dresses, as well as its various shades (). I looked at this post with great pleasure, as blue is one of my favorite colors. And the most memorable outfit for me was Lily James dress from the movie "Cinderella" 2015!

So, the costumes for the film were created by a famous artist Sandy Powell which, by the way, is an officer of the Order of the British Empire (received in 2011), as well as the owner of the Oscar and BAFTA awards for the best costume design for the film "Young Victoria" (2009)- the one with Emily Blunt in the title role.

And here is a photo of the artist against the background of her creations for Cinderella.

In February 2015, she gave an interview to The Daily Mail in which she revealed the secrets of creating the main dress for Ella/Cinderella. In particular, she said that everything was done nine versions of the dress, and they are all different:“One of them was 5 cm shorter. There were two more dresses 10 cm shorter for filming where Lily had to run away. Another one had holes on the sides of the skirt for rigging (when the actress was lifted into the air with rods).”

Lily James in an interview with reporters, she shared that her thin waist was not the work of Photoshop designers, but the result of a tight corset and a very fluffy skirt, which visually made her waist look narrower.

Helena Bonham Carter, who played Cinderella's fairy godmother, gave Lily advice on how to "fit" in the dress. She advised to breathe out when her corset was tightened - so the waist would look narrower and there would be no painful effect. (Oh, what you won’t do for the sake of beauty! :-)))

The upper ball of the dress is made of silk-fastened - a very light and thin fabric. The lower tiers are made of a synthetic fabric called yumissima, an incredibly lightweight and very expensive material that "floats" in the air when thrown up!

Corset and crinoline (skirt frame) are made of steel.

In 2015, shortly before the premiere, an exhibition of costumes from the film was organized at London Fashion Week.

For tailoring each (!!!) out of nine creations took more 240 meters of fabric, 4.8 km of thread and 10,000 rhinestones; more has been done 4800 meters of stitches.

For one such miracle dress, it took 18 tailors and 500 hours of painstaking work!

Every time actress Lily James wore a dress, she spent 20 minutes.

The hardest thing Lily had to do in a dress was the dance with the prince. (by Richard Madden) - he constantly stepped on him.

Designers cannot say how much Cinderella's dress cost, but it is estimated that each version of the outfit cost the studio about 12 000 $!

Here is such an expensive, in every sense of the word, dress came out! But it is wonderful, fabulous, unique - isn't it?