A prince on the quest to rescue the ‘damsel in distress’ is the classical stereotype for a “princess” film. Cinderella may be known to fall in love with Prince Kit, but the theme is not being saved but rather having courage and being kind, and as Richard Madden (Prince) said himself, it’s also about perception. “More importantly I think it’s about perception that you look at the step mother whose got a roof over her head and two daughters that are healthy and some money in her pocket and yet she lives her life and she’s miserable and thus she’s unhappy all the time. She’s not going where she wants. Whereas Cinderella’s life could not be worse and she perceives it in a positive way. She’ll find the best moments, the little bits of joy with the mouse and stuff like that and actually she’s happier because of her perception in life. So I think that rather than the ‘have courage and be kind,’ which is a great message and we should all do about that, but it’s about your perception of things. It’s not about what you have, it’s about how you look at what you’ve got.”

Cinderella, the live adaptation written by Chris Weitz and directed by Kenneth Branagh is a new heroine story. “Ken had a really clear point of view about what was important to him and I remember the first time we met with him he said ‘Let’s a make a story about kindness as a superpower,’” explains Producer Allison Shearmur. “When you think this is the guy who brought us Thor you knew that he understood the analogy he was making. And in a time where female heroines, Katniss Everdeen and Tris in Divergent have a manifestation of their strength that’s a lot more, you know it’s physical. It’s just much more overt, you got a bow and arrow and you know what Tris does in Divergent, which is to match the guys. This Cinderella’s strength and her half of self-strength is something that is internal… it’s a progression of a female heroine in art type in the movies and we love it.” The real story here is how an innocent young woman can overcome obstacles not by fighting evil with evil, but by having courage and being kind. “We almost wanted to make a film that celebrated courage and kindness,” adds Producer David Barron (Harry Potter).

The evilness of the Stepmother is strong and vivid; a sense of empathy toward Cate Blanchett’s character is inevitable. She is a woman whose suffered a great loss. Lily James (Ella) talks about working with the talented actress, “The scenes were just so incredible to do because she just brought this whole life and depth into character. There was this like pain in here eyes. You could see this woman’s been through life and it’s damaged her. I just had to just respond.”

With a 1950 classic the challenges are quite clear. Branagh (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) explains, “When people would ask me what I was doing and I would say Cinderella. The first thing that they would say, ‘Are the mice in it?’ ‘Is Gus Gus in it?’ I thought, well I’d probably need to listen to that, you know that there’s a kind of expectation of sort. There are certain set pieces in the story. So they want the pumpkin. They want that midnight dash. For me the sense of being able to rely on what’s been working for hundreds of years and thousands of years in various cultures and for the last 60 years since the Disney animated classic is to lean on that structure but inside you know, reinvent and refresh the character herself.” A big part of that was creating the set and the costumes, including the glass slippers, which designer Sandy Powell tells us are ‘made of actual crystals.’

While some may believe the film is specifically targeted to one audience, it’s not. “I don’t think it is just a movie for girls or about a princess or about a dress or a slipper. There’s so much more to this film… It kinda teaches you how to be and how to behave. Especially for young boys if they’re looking at this movie and they’re seeing this prince guy to how he respects women. How he has an awareness of the people around him. But he’s also hopefully fun and strong and masculine and hopefully if they wanna be like him in any way then that’s a really good influential thing,” says Madden. The moral teachings in this film are told effortlessly. James tells us there are many lines in the film that are “simple and beautiful.” She shares one of her favorites, “At the end where the Godmother says, ‘this is the greatest risk you’ll ever take, to be seen as you truly are.”

Cinderella is breathtaking, a truly magical tale worth dreaming about, even if just for the length of a feature. Plus, if you’re a fan of the Disney tales, the filmmakers of the box office hit, Frozen have a little treat. Short film, Frozen Fever will be released in theatres along with Cinderella. The story follows Elsa (Idina Menzel) as she prepares a birthday surprise for Anna (Kristen Bell) with the help of Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and Olaf (Josh Gad). Director Chris Buck explains how the idea was developed, “The first ideas were mainly about Olaf just ‘cause he’s fun and then the idea came in, well what about Elsa… We hadn’t had much fun with Elsa in the first movie and so and then the idea came up with what if Elsa had a cold?” The short features yet another catchy song, but this time it’s birthday themed. “We were fortunate to work with Bobby and Kristen Lopez again who were the same songwriters we worked with on the movie and again collaboratively back and forth once we landed on the idea, they wrote the song and it’s very catchy,” says producer Peter Del Vecho. Frozen Fever marks perfect timing as the sequel to Frozen has already been announced.

Cinderella opens in theatres Friday, March 13^th.