Kay Cannon on reinventing 'Cinderella' with a contemporary and weird twist

Director Kay Cannon with Camila Cabello and Nicholas Galitzine on the set of CINDERELLA
Photo: Kerry Brown
© 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC

Kay Cannon went through Chicago’s prestigious Second City comedy troupe before landing in Hollywood. Her penchant for lively and witty feminist stories has earned her a writer for 30 Rock and the sitcom New Girl. Cannon also made a foray into feature films, writing the hit Pitch Perfect and its two sequels. In 2018, she tried her hand at directing with the comedy Blockers.

Now Cannon is taking the helm again as the writer / director of Amazon’s new reimagining of the classic Cinderella fairy tale. The film debuts on Amazon Prime Video on September 3.

This new take on the story combines original songs with Top 40 hits to tell the story of Ella (Camilla Cabello), an aspiring fashion designer living with her oppressive stepmom (Idina Menzel). When Ella crosses paths with handsome Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine), romantic sparks fly. With a little help from her fairy godmother (Billy Porter), Ella sets off to conquer Robert’s heart at a royal ball, and faces a choice: Should she marry for love? Or should she pursue a career as a designer? Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver also star in this challenging version of the story.

We caught up with Cannon to discuss the film, her deconstructionist approach to history, and her path to the director’s chair as a woman in Hollywood. Cinderella debuts on Amazon Prime Video on September 3.

So this is your second film as a director. When you’re about to reimagine a story like this – which was done well, and to death – what’s your first principle for making it your own?

I do not dispute with you that it was done to death. There are a lot of movies that I like: Forever and the movie Whitney Houston and Brandy.

Director Kay Cannon on the set of CINDERELLA
Photo: Christophe Raphaël
© 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC

Yes.

I would consider that my Cinderella. This is the one I loved, that I clung to. Looking back being 20/20, I’m watching this now – my daughter is seven, and I hope this Cinderella will be that of his generation Cinderella. In ten years there will be another for a younger generation. And as you mention, there’s a reason it’s been said over and over again. It’s an iconic underdog story that’s led by women.

Law.

So how I approached it… as soon as I was offered to do contemporary songs, I was like it’s different. Good. There have been musicals from Cinderella before, but not with contemporary songs. So I used the songs as dialogue on the page. I was like, how can i find some interesting and cool ways to do it? Then every moment I was not one Cinderella/ princess little girl.

I didn’t like the story too much. I just thought women were mean to each other.

[Laughter]

There is that.

So for me the chance to rewrite the story where I could make it more relatable and modernize it to the way girls and women see themselves today, and try to make it less sure – almost less about Cinderella. .

Camila Cabello and director Kay Cannon on the set of CINDERELLA
Photo: Kerry Brown
© 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC

Interesting.

I wanted to change everyone around her. You’ll notice that Cinderella doesn’t really change at all in this version. But everyone around her is enlightened. Everyone grows and evolves. Even structurally, I kept the structure of the classic fairy tale. But I made Cinderella and the prince kiss, and you think the story is over. But, haha! The story is not really over. We then have several scenes where we show happy endings for other characters. This is how I approached it: how can I honor it and make it different like I can.

Related: WATCH: Gay Man Offers To Do Boyfriend On Stage At Broadway’s ‘Cinderella’

You use a very eclectic mix of songs in a movie – a few originals and a lot of pop hits. This is obviously where your work on Perfect is very practical. What makes you want to include a song? Do you write scenes around a specific song, or do you write a scene and plug in a song? I must add that your use of “Seven Nation Army” really caught me off guard. I never thought I would see this in a musical.

[Laughter]

I start with the story. Each song is a dialogue on the page. It must have made sense. It was necessary to draw the story. It’s not like Perfect where they perform a song for an audience.

That way, “Rhythm Nation” made sense, because I wanted to show a realm where everyone was doing the same thing. Then I wanted Cinderella to sing “You Gotta Be”; it was she who woke up every morning saying I must be the best. She gives herself a pep talk.

Law.

And I wanted different genres for different characters. So for Prince Robert and his brothers, I wanted them to be like The Strokes. It was rock and roll. So it made sense for me to consider “Seven Nation Army” as his character style. What was great was that we not only got the rights to “Seven Nation Army” we were able to rewrite the lyrics as well. And [The White Stripes] We are amazing. We had to send the pages with the new lyrics to show how we were going to use them in the movie. And so we had a lot of support from our artists. And it was hard to know what to do, because we also wanted to do original songs. We wanted to show Cinderella as an original thinker.

Did you have any actors attached, or were you allowed to cast the whole movie?

Oh no. James Corden and Fulwell 73 approached me as a writer. And they met other writers. I didn’t have a straight face, so I said in the room, “I want to do this.” And they were like, “We meet other people.” And I said, “Yeah, yeah, but I wanna do it.”

Obviously, it worked.

They chose me. And I started to fall in love with it. I was really excited about what I was trying to do. I told them I would rewrite it all day and all night if I could make the movie. I said if I wasn’t the director it was fun, see you later. To their credit, they supported me and what I was doing.

You already mentioned the most intriguing part of the movie for me. Cinderella really isn’t the protagonist, as long as she doesn’t change. She is an agent of change for everyone. It’s so interesting to me the way you make the mother-in-law a woman who really loves Ella, but who has been imprisoned by her sex. She is arguably the protagonist here, and Idina almost stole the movie. Tell me about it. Why this character? How does her story of virtuoso talent denied credit for her gender echo your own experience of showbiz as a woman?

Well you know I’m really drawn to multidimensional stories. I feel like people aren’t inherently mean. The fact that she’s the “bad” mother-in-law, of course people can do bad and terrible things. But I think we are all shaped by the way we are brought up. Our worldview is shaped by how we grow. And I know it from my own mother. I love my mom, but there is a generational gap between how she was raised and how I was raised.

Sure.

So I wanted to humanize [the Stepmother]. I don’t think she’s mean. She’s someone who wanted to show hard love, but she Is loves Cinderella. She truly believes that the only way for a woman to improve her lot in life is to get married. She does everything for love. And she does bad things, she’s not the warmest woman in the world, but she loves it. And it was really important that they reconcile in the end. I don’t think of others Cinderella is it that.

No.

So that was the heart of the film for me. I’m glad you feel like Idina is stealing it. This is the biggest change, she is not banned. [The Stepmother and Cinderella] come together and learn from each other.

Yes.

In terms of being in Hollywood, I feel like I’ve been given a lot of opportunities. I’m just trying to put my head down and get the job done. I really want to hire women behind the scenes. I try to make it my duty to fight for the women behind the scenes. Any group of marginalized people, I try to level everything and make conscious decisions to do it. So I don’t know, man. I take it one day at a time.

Cinderella debuts on Amazon Prime Video on September 3.