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Ella Enchanted in our magazines

THE MOVIE: Ella Enchanted

THE STARS:
Anne Hathaway • Hugh Dancy • Cary Elwes
DIRECTOR: Tommy O’Haver

THE CONCEPT:
A new and hip version of Cinderella, where Ella (Hathaway) is given a fairy’s ‘gift’ at birth – the gift of perfect obedience. Her father remarries dastardly Dame Olga, whose two daughters get a kick out of ordering Ella around, knowing she can’t disobey. To gain her independence, Ella finally decides to leave home and search for the misguided fairy, so that she will reverse the spell.

U.S. RELEASE: April 9 2004, Nationwide • Rated: PG

THE COMMENTS:

Is there someone in your life that serves as a fairy godmother? ANNE HATHAWAY:
“I do have a godmother in real life and she’s small and petite and looks a bit like Gail Carson Levine (the author of the book). I certainly have a lot of people that look after me in my own life but no, I’ve always been very independent and proactive in doing things on my own.”

Did you ever believe that your prince would come along? HATHAWAY:
“Yeah, when I was seven, and it was a fun analogy to buy into. I still do believe that in my future I will end up with one person, so I’m just having fun in the interim. Now I know that the definition of Prince Charming is more specific yet, at the same time, broader than I used to think. Love is a crazy thing!”

What was the appeal for you to do this movie? HATHAWAY:
“A couple of things. One was, I was doing a play in New York at the time called Carnival, and I was playing a wonderful character named Lily, and I got the offer to do Ella Enchanted. I thought I saw a lot of similarities between these two characters, and I thought it would be interesting if I could recapture some of the magic I felt in Carnival on the screen. Secondly, I loved the book. I just thought it was such a wonderful project. Gail’s characters are so great. I thought the script was a lot of fun.”

Did you obey your parents growing up? HATHAWAY:
“No, I was a very independent little girl. If I felt my parents made sense in what they were asking me to do, I wouldn’t just challenge them to be challenging them. But if I disagreed with something, I was always encouraged to argue my stance, and even if I lost I would usually go off and do my own thing anyway.”

What was your approach in playing Ella? HATHAWAY:
“I just wanted to make Ella as honest as possible. I wanted to make her very likeable, and I just imagined how it would feel if you were a naturally free-spirited person, being told you couldn’t do what you wanted to do. I worked with a mime on all the physical stuff in the movie. It was so cool. I had to learn how to control my body and make it look like someone was controlling me. It was hysterical.”

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

Visit the official Ella Enchanted site
Images above © Miramax Films
Feature © 2004 Visual Imagination Limited.
Not for reproduction.

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