Cinderella Tagged Articles at Cinematical

After Daniel Radcliffe's trou-dropping Equus, Rupert Grint's wild Cherrybomb, and Robert Pattinson's sexy stint as Dali in Little Ashes, the world has been waiting with bated* breath for Emma Watson to continue the trend and fling herself out of Hogwarts with a sexy, adult role.

Of course, that means that The Sun has to do what they can to spark hope along. They say that the young actress, who has yet to appear on the big screen in a non-Potter role (she has one TV stint, a voice in Despereaux, and the upcoming Napoleon and Betsy on her roster), is going to head to the world of fairytales with Cinderella. Why would I then mention sexiness? It's a musical being schemed up by Marilyn Manson.

I imagine that this will stay firmly in the world of rumor and fan whimsy, whipped up from ideas about Manson's love and certain young blondes and Watson's lack of adult fare. Besides, she's got a lot on her plate as it is -- the two final stints with magic, her Napoleon romance, and university. Would she really add Manson to the mix?

... would you want her to?

Edited.

Marc Esposito, French filmmaker and founder of the French movie magazine Studio, is heading to the world of fairy tales. Having recently wrapped production on his film Le Coeur des hommes 2, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he will be tackling the world of glass slippers and sinister stepsisters with Cendrillon (Cinderella). They're calling it a "film lover's fairy tale," presumably because it's going to reunite Jean Reno and Sophie Marceau, who were both in Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders' Beyond the Clouds. Or, maybe this Cinderella tale will have a taste of the movies.

Either way, Reno will play the king, Marceau the fairy godmother, and they will be joined by Catherine Jacob as the wicked aunt, and César winner for Most Promising Female Newcomer Melanie Laurent as Cinderella. (She recently co-starred in the WWII drama, Days of Glory.) So far, there's no word on the scripts details, and how closely it will follow the fairy tale, but the project will enter production next summer, for the nice sum of $36.2 million. In the meantime, you can always get Enchanted with some Snow White flavor, but somehow, I have the funny feeling that there will really be no comparison between the two.

Most of us grew up with Disney characters. We'd anxiously await the release of the next video tape and then imagine ourselves in worlds with singing dwarves, tiny glass slippers and fairy godmothers, while poison apples, wicked stepsisters and sinister spinning wheels loomed on the horizon. Now, through the eye of Annie Leibovitz, the oft-remembered, animated scenes are getting further life through edited photography and celebrity re-creations.

The famous photographer was nabbed by Disney as part of their Year of a Million Dreams campaign. Her job -- to create an on-going series of photographs that use notable names to re-create the Disney scenes we know and love. So far, she's doing one hell of a job. The first celebrity to sign on is Scarlett Johansson, who took on the glass slippers for Cinderella's midnight run. Beyond being visually striking, what makes these pictures pop is the mixture of actual photography and digital flair. The actress was shot running down the steps of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in New York, and the the rest was re-created. It makes me wonder if a live-action film would work using this technique, because it looks pretty damned great!

Okay, so it might be a bit creepy for an adult to admit that an animated character is hot, but come on, Jessica Rabbit wasn't really bad, she was just drawn that way, right? Animated characters have been sexualized since the early days of the genre because sex sold just as well back then as it does today. It's pretty evident when you check out all of Disney's animated leading ladies that they've been drawn to look appealing to the eye, going back as far as Snow White and Tinkerbell. (An interesting side note here, according to this interview with Margaret Kerry, who was the character model for Tinkerbell, she claims that her real name is Tinker Bell, two words, although Disney officially has it as one. Her interview is pretty fascinating, check it out.)

The Being a Man Spot over at fanpop has a list of Disney's top ten hottest women, and there are no real surprises on the list. What's notable are the omissions like Jessie from Toy Story 2 who was both sassy and smart, and Daisy Duck, who sort of falls into the creepy Wayne's World category of Bugs Bunny in a dress being attractive. Daisy had a fair amount of sass as well, and she didn't take Donald's nonsense either. That has to count for something, because she definitely wore the pants in that pants-less relationship.

The real question is, what effect does the traditional Disney female image have on young kids? Not everyone is a fan of the oversexed and vivacious look that runs rampant in the Disney-verse, arguing that it gives little girls an image to live up to that is far from what a normal person looks like, and that is sets a very limiting stereotype of what a heroine can look like. Barbie has faced the same sort of criticisms, especially during the whole "Math is hard!" fiasco, yet both Barbie and the Disney women are still created to look like pinup girls.

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? What do you think, Cinemites?

[Thanks, Marsha]

How many computer-animated satires of fairy tales can we possibly tolerate? Lionsgate is hoping at least one more since they have acquired Happily N'Ever After for distribution in North America. The film is a version of the Cinderella story and takes place in Fairy Tale Land, where a war is brewing between good and evil characters. Voicing these characters are Sigourney Weaver, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., George Carlin, Patrick Warburton, Andy Dick and Wallace Shawn.

Shrek was witty enough in its poking fun of of fairy tales, and even went a bit too far with the jokes, in my opinion. Since then Shrek 2 and Hoodwinked have further driven the gags into the ground, and I can only expect this movie to be more of the same. Is it necessary to keep ripping off Shrek? Considering the box office for Hoodwinked wasn't anywhere near what the two Shrek films were, we know that kids aren't simply into the premise. This time the copy has more in common with the original, though, as Happily was produced by Shrek producer John H. Williams. We'll just have to wait until early next year to see if there's any interest in this, but my guess is the kids will just wait for Shrek the Third, which comes out in May.

Don't look now, friends, but Tyler Perry is slowly taking over the world. Despite a lukewarm critical reaction, his Madea's Family Reunion topped the box office for its first two weeks of release, and has earned revenues of nearly 10 times its budget in less than a month. And two weeks ago, he signed an unusual deal making his sitcom (House of Payne) available for first-run syndication. Though Perry won't star in the show, he is a writer and producer and is likely to make guest appearances; Payne is expected to air some time this summer.

Now comes the news of a new deal with Lionsgate, the company that is reaping the rewards of Madea's tremendous popularity: Perry will write, produce, and direct a drag-free new project called Daddy's Little Girl for the studio. The movie is a reverse take on the Cinderella story in which "a young, beautiful, successful female attorney...falls in love with a janitor and single father of three daughters." Though her dad, inevitably, objects - hence the title - everything works out ok in the end. (Clearly I'm really stupid, because this doesn't sound anything like Cinderella to me. Where are the nasty step-sisters/brothers? The evil stepmother?)

Because Perry is just that big of a cash cow, Lionsgate are pushing this one ahead at lightning speed - they hope to start shooting by June, and have the movie in theaters less than a year from now.