The Scorecard Review news
News: Emma Watson is in early talks to star in Disney's Cinderella. If she gets the role, she'll star alongside Cate Blanchett as Cinderella's wicked stepmother. With Kenneth Branagh directing, Disney is hoping to get production underway sometime this fall. Source: Variety
Thoughts by TSR: New takes on classic tales are all the rage at Disney these days. For better or worse, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was hugely successful in 2010. Now Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful is set to come out in a week’s time, and the Angelina Jolie-led Maleficent is set to hit theaters in summer 2014. Their other big fairy tale update is a new live action Cinderella. Never Let Me Go’s Mark Romanek was once attached to direct, but now Kenneth Branagh is in the director’s chair. Cinderella’s wicked stepmother is set to be played by the exceptionally talented Cate Blanchett. Both of those things are very promising, as Blanchett and Branagh bring plenty of credibility to the project.
Now Variety is reporting that Disney wants Emma Watson to wear Cinderella’s glass slipper. This is potentially great news, though Variety says the talks are still in the early stages. Gabriella Wilde, Imogen Poots, and Alicia Vikander were also under consideration, but deals couldn’t be made. While Vikander was a standout in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, Watson would get me more excited for this film. I thought she gave one of the best performances of the series in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and turned in one of 2012’s best performances in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. With roles in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, the future is looking very bright for Emma Watson. If this deal gets done, things will continue to look good for Cinderella, too.