Disney’s Cinderella Gets An IRL Rework

It seems as if Disney's new M.O. is re-releasing its classic animated films in live-action form. First came 1994's The Jungle Book, followed by 1996's 102 Dalmations, Tim Burton's 2010 rework of Alice In Wonderland, and this year's Maleficent. Now, the studio is creating an IRL version of Cinderella.

Directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, the film will star Lily James as Cinderella, Kate Blanchett as the evil step-mother, Richard Madden as Prince Charming, and Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother. According to Branagh, the storyline will remain quite similar to the 1950 version, although there will be a few twists. "I wanted to take the world of the ball. Life can be pretty rough sometimes and it's a wonderful thing to be able to invite the world to the ball," the director told E! News. "And then, from the inside, we've given it a contemporary feel that is human and humane and strangely enough, not built around the idea that Cinderella's life depends on finding a man or things, like clothes or a title, or just hoping this magic will come along. It's much more about who she is, what she feels about herself, and taking that kind of sort of spiritual cue to make it refreshing in a contemporary way."

It's certainly a refreshing approach to the story, which is quite possibly one of the most feminist-based of the classic Disney animated films. Still, we'll have to wait until March 13, 2015 to see how it all plays out.