Lily James is recognized as the Cinderella of modern cinematography and with good reason. The March released reinterpretation of the old tale of the orphan princess and the crystal slipper lost on the steps of the palace is closer than ever to the animated version which charmed the childhood of the majority. The Kenneth Branagh directed Disney fantasy was not received without controversies and disputes among critics. Such being the case, lead actress Lily James decided to speak her mind on the matter and concluded that Cinderella is not about her horridly thin waist, but about how the character is empowered with moral virtues.
Lily James confessed that she hadn’t lived the life of a princess while filming Cinderella due to her having to almost constantly wear a really tight corset, which at times, hindered her breathing or moving capacity. According to the leading actress, she even had to resort to a special diet in order to adapt to the tiny little waist of Cinderella in her dreamy blue ball-gown. Watching that tiny waist on screen was a real problem for most of the critics, who decided to underscore the picture for that very reason: ‘’What’s crazy about this version is that Cinderella ends up with a supernaturally thin waist, thanks to a corset that James has complained wouldn’t let her swallow whole foods’’ or ‘’Is it just me, or is the animated Cinderella’s waist actually slightly larger? And even if it’s not, it’s still weird to try to get an adult human being down to cartoon proportions.’’ (via Daily Mail)
To all those who judged her version of Cinderella for her unrealistic looks, Lily James answered in the following manner: ‘’Why on earth are we focusing on something so irrelevant?’’; a quite realistic point of view, considering the fact that fairy-tales were written not only for their dreamy atmosphere, but also for educational purposes. Young actress Lily James agrees that Cinderella is definitely a meaningful picture, which focuses on more dramatic and profound issues than mere figure and clothing; and she is certain that the majority of the children watching Cinderella got that message rather than the one underlined by the critics. In order to emphasize her point of view, she gives the example of a nine year old boy named Daniel, who confessed: ‘’It’s amazing how you promised your mum to be kind and good and you remembered it.’’