
Having just seen the movie premiere of Cinderella the night before, I was excited to be in the same room with the ultimate villain of the movie, Lady Tremaine, the evil stepmother. I have a thing for Disney villains as you may have noticed in my previous Disney posts and this one did not disappoint.
When Cate Blanchett walked into the room she was miles and miles away from her role as Lady Tremaine, she was smiling, clutching her morning cup of tea, and very welcoming to the room full of women with all eyes on her.

Getting the Role of Lady Tremaine
Cate actually went after this role “like a rabid dog” and joked she didn’t get the role of the star of the movie, Cinderella. The role actually landed in her lap and when she learned that Sandy Powell (Costume Designer), Dante Ferretti (Production Designer), and Kenneth Branagh (Director) were on board, it became the “perfect storm” in her eyes and she was delighted to be a part of it.

Being a Disney Villain
On being a Disney Villain, she exclaimed “There’s a lot of great Disney villains, and a lot of them are women and they always have fabulous frocks and fabulous hairdo’s, so it was an enormous amount of fun! However she did find it interesting to play a part of person who doesn’t have the kindness nor the emotional capabilities to think of someone other than herself. “Kindness is a super power, and we try to teach our children – you share, you be respectful, you be generous, you be thoughtful, put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and to play someone who can’t do any of those things, was quite fun.“

Her Inspiration for the Role
When asked where she draws from to become so evil she said, “I think as human beings we do absorb the stories that are read to us, the films that we see growing up, the pieces of art that we get taken to see, the music that we listen to and that cultural wellspring, it does come up. You know, like, I love Bette Davis, I love Lucille Ball, I love Gena Rowlands, I don’t consciously try and reference any of that stuff, but the people that you’re inspired by, will obviously influence you. Certainly, we had the Joan Crawfordesque shoulder pads, so yeah, I don’t know if it was conscious or not.” I loved that she reference Joan Crawford, since that is where my mind went when I saw her in this role, her performance was very Joan Crawford and old Hollywood, which I love!
She also spoke of her iconic laugh when asked how she came up with it she said, “Well, I was mucking around with a friend of mine on set and we were talking about what makes people ugly. I said, it’s interesting, you can go out with somebody and think, oh my gosh, you’re so attractive, and then he or she eats, and you think, oh my god, you’re a pig, [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]. Or someone is amazing and you think, your politics are reprehensible, or you know, there’s something about them will give them away, and we were talking about dirty laughs. So I just did it, and she laughed. There was a scene where I laughed, and Ken’s face was so revolted. He was really worried. He said, you’re not gonna do that, are you? and I said, oh yes I am! I think his reaction made me wanna keep it. It was like she’s got exquisite dresses, perfect makeup, and then she opens her mouth and that comes out, and so I thought that that was a bit of a red flag about what was to come.”

The Role of The Costumes
The costumes were a very important part in creating the character. Once she tried on the costumes she said, “Once I knew what those silhouettes were, I knew which bits I didn’t have to act because the costume was eevealing those things. It (the costume) gives you a sense of how the character might move, and you try those things out because the camera’s not rolling- no one’s looking at you.
She had a lot of input into the design of the costumes, she and Sandy Powell would email pictures that they found inspiring, lighting references, hat references, drapes, fabrics, etc. “We sort of found this pool of images that we were both drawn to” and then Sandy would work from their creating the elaborate costumes.”
Her Favorite and Not So Favorite Costumes
When asked about her favorite costumes, Cate joked. “There was a lot of green- my school uniform was green, so I tend not to wear a lot of green in everyday life, and I call that dress that I wore at the ball, the gherkin. That was my least favorite, but everyone seems to like that one.”

On her favorite, “I liked the blue one. There’s a scene where the stepmother goes to see the archduke, with the poppy gloves and the blue hat. Sandy’s costumes are just extraordinary.”
Her Favorite Scene(s)
“I think the chemistry between Lily and Richard is palpable, and I wept like a baby, completely inappropriately and out of character when they waltzed for the first time. The music is beautiful, but also it was a really big feat because Lily was cinched in so tightly, and that dress was like an armored tank. He was in seven hundred layers of wool, and the dance was really athletic, and they acted like a dream. And the chemistry was palpable, and I wept because it was beautiful to watch.”

As a mother of sons she also loved the scene between the King and Richard Madden as the Prince, I won’t give that scene away, but the movie stays true to the story int his regard, so you may already know the scene in which she is referring to. That theme is prevalent in this film, so she addressed how important this scene was and how touching “We try and shield our children from moments of grief, and I know from having lost a parent at the age of ten, but children are resilient. I’ve had a lot of friends recently lose a parent, and whether you’re eighty or eight and you lose a parent, you’re always the child.”

The Stepmother’s Story
In this version of Cinderella, you finally get a glimpse of why the stepmother is so evil, and what has made her so emotionless. Cate, goes on to explain that Lady Tremaine and Cinderella have both “suffered an incredible amount of hardship and tragedy, both of course in their own way.” Cinderella decides to turn her hardship into kindness and Lady Tremaine decides that “the way to navigate your way through (the hardships) is to graft yourself onto a man, and that’s what she’s imparting to her children. The way she has chosen to and has dealt with grief and hardship is to close down and to become bitter and jealous. I think that whether you’re a man or a woman, you know, it, that, that tragedy can define your character.” She does on to say that with this insight into the history the Stepmother has endured that perhaps you will understand her more.

The Message of Cinderella
Wrapping up her feeling about the movie Cate opens up about the message this movie presents to the audience. On ehte relationship between Cinderella and the Prince – “If this relationship is gonna work, he has to accept me for who I am, which I think is wonderful for young girls to say. I think it’s fantastic. And then there was a line at the end where he said, shall we go, and she didn’t say anything. And I thought, it’s not his story- it’s her story.
They also added in this sense of forgiveness. I forgive you, and I feel like that’s a wonderful kind of conclusion to her, to her super power. She (Cinderella) has an incredibly generous spirit and she also closes out the film which I think is great.”

Cinderella is theaters March 13, 2015 with the Frozen Fever short playing right before. I will be posting my review of both movies on the same day. Stay Tuned!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20DF6U1HcGQ
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Disclosure: I was provided with an all-expense trip to LA by Walt Disney Studios to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of Cinderella. All opinions are 100% my own. This is accordance with Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of. Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
She’s so amazing in this role!!