It was time. Camila Cabello was to take her shot at acting in a film. After Lady Gaga (in the recent times) took up ‘A Star is Born’ and made it to the Academy Awards, more singers from the current lot are bound to follow the trend.
Cinderella is a part of the cultural ether and culture never dies. It evolves and takes on different changes with time. From the time Disney immortalised a pumpkin carriage and the glass slipper, the tale has been told a number of times. What matters is the new angle and the responsibility of the storyteller to make sure it isn’t a carbon copy of the previous ones. This time around it’s been written and directed for the screen by Kay Cannon.
Amazon’s Cinderella played by Camila Cabello isn’t hung up on looking for a prince to sweep her off her feet but in this version she wants to be a known for the dresses she makes – Dresses by Ella.
I shall not repeat what you already know – there’s a king, there’s a prince and there’s a ball that Ella wants to go to.
But a butterfly does transform into Fab G (Billy Porter) who takes up the role of Cinderella’s godmother, gives her a business suit for the ball and then changes it into one of the fabulous dresses designed by the lady herself. He also turns Ella’s three mice friends into the film’s supporting cast played by James Corden, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster.
The prince (Nicholas Galitzine) falls in love with her of course but let me quote Cinderella on her response here, “What about my work? I don’t want a life stuck waving from a royal box, any more than a life confined to a basement.” And this is precisely the message from the nearly 3-minute long trailer of the film which also stars Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver.
Singing in the streets, dancing with extras, huge sets, it has all the workings of a rom-com. But will it be told in a convincing enough manner and will Camila’s performance be enough to sell us this age old tale that most kids grow up on but with a modern feminist twist along with other significant departures from the popularised version of the story including the much vilified step mother asking Cinderella to marry the prince for the family’s sake?
Well that awaits to be discerned on 3rd September when Cinderella will stream on Amazon Prime.
You can catch the trailer here –
