The new version of "Cinderella", released on March 13, will take the audience back to childhood memories. Because people are so familiar with the story, it doesn't seem to have much appeal in itself. What really interests people is the reinterpretation of classic roles such as Cinderella, prince, and stepmother by Lily James, Richard Madden, and Kate Blanchett, and the most anticipated of them is the evil stepmother played by Oscar actress Blanchett.
In Hollywood, female villains in fairy tales are often played by veteran actresses or Oscar queens who are superb. On the one hand, this is because the psychological changes of this type of character are subtle and complex, and they cannot be competent without outstanding acting skills; on the other hand, veteran actresses will also give classic stories a new charm and ensure that the film will get a good box office return. Looking at stepmothers or witches on the screen in recent years, it is not difficult to find Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and other famous names one after another.
Kate Blanchett
Works: Cinderella Role: Stepmother
As the stepmother of "Cinderella", Kate Blanchett's task in this film is to make Cinderella unable to marry. Her styling and temperament combine Betty Davis, Barbara Steinwick and Marlene Dietrich, creating an extremely annoying bad woman with wide open eyes, arched eyebrows, and always an angry mouth, which makes people want the film to focus more on her.
Blanchett, who just won an Oscar for "Blue Jasmine" in 2014, has perfectly balanced the character's multiple emotions and traits, both cunning and funny, while being pessimistic, arrogant, and with a sense of despair. She pretends to despise everything because she wants to protect her own daughter and her own future, which gives her viciousness a sad taste.
Julia Roberts
Works: Snow White's Magic Mirror Magic Mirror Role: Queen Mother
In the familiar Grimm fairy tales, the queen queen is only jealous of the princess's beauty, and in this movie, Snow White has become her love enemy. So the same stepmother, Julia Roberts, has to show a higher level of complexity than Blanchett. She is a beauty who still has charm, seeing the disappearance of youth and the emergence of new people, so she gave birth to a snake and scorpion heart, reminiscent of the former actor Norma in "Sunset Boulevard".
Snow White's Mirror is a terrible film, with almost all of the characters portrayed by director Thasim Sim as monolithic, with the possible exception of the Queen. Roberts, who won an Oscar in 2001, brilliantly interpreted the disobedience and vanity of an old woman, and people can't help but feel a little sympathy for this role. The queen's dilemma may not be understood thoroughly by an actor at Roberts' age (born in 1967).
Meryl streep
WORKS: Enchanted Black Forest Role: Witch
"Enchanted Black Forest" is a bit like the "Avengers" in Grimm's fairy tales, "Cinderella", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Bean Stem", "Rapunzel" four stories intricately intersected, those famous fairy tale characters appeared one by one, in the process of completing their respective missions and intersected with other characters.
As a villain, the witch played by Streep can only be regarded as half a bad person in this film. In retaliation, she cursed infertility on the barbers and his wife; to protect her daughter Rapunzel, she imprisoned her in a tower and blinded the prince's eyes. However, at the end of the film, she abandons evil and follows good, and joins the battle against the giants.
Despite the large number of characters and stars, because of the presence of "Aunt May" Meryl Streep, the film eventually became her "one-man show" and brought her another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In fact, Aunt Mei's role as a witch is not surprising at all, and the strange thing is that she has not acted before.
Angelina jolie
Works: Sleeping Curse Role: Vengeful Witch
The Sleeping Curse is based on the story of Sleeping Beauty in Grimm's fairy tale, but instead of taking the side of the princess and the king, it's told from the perspective of a witch played by Angelina Jolie. In this film, the witch casts a sleeping curse on the princess because the king betrayed her love and cruelly cut off her wings. Such a female role is quite similar to Jin Yong's Li Moxuan.
The film has excellent visual effects, but the story is thin, and although it is intended to create an adult dark fairy tale, the final result is still somewhat low. Therefore, its real attraction is Still Julie's performance charm. When she regained her wings and appeared in the clouds, a queen aura made people willing to worship, and the dazzling red lips and towering cheekbones made the queen both enchanting and out of reach, as if Wang Zuxian and Lin Qingxia were a combination.
Julianne Moore
Works: The Seventh Son Role: The Dark Queen
The main villain of "The Seventh Son", Margin Witch, is also a woman who has been emotionally hurt, and is somewhat similar in image to the witch played by Julie, with black robes and black feathers, who can transform into dragons. Compared to the above-mentioned female demon heads or stepmothers, the character played by julianne Moore, a new actress at the 2015 Oscar, is much more cruel, she is extremely resentful, lives on the human heart, and has a powerful dark army with the intention of conquering the entire human world.
In addition to Moore, the film also invited Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges to play Moore's former lover, which was the second collaboration between the two after 1998's "Murder of Green Toe". Unfortunately, whenever Moore and Bridges appear in the same scene, Moore immediately turns into a dragon, making it impossible to see the opponent play between the two, which has to be said to be a waste of outstanding actors.
Helena Bonham Carter
Works: Alice in Wonderland Role: Red Queen
Helena Bonham Carter plays the Red Queen, whose head is disproportionate to her body, who is domineering and fierce, and who cries all the time to cut off people's heads, and is the tyrant of the "underworld". That said, she's cuter than Anne Hathaway's positive character, the White Queen. She is strong on the outside, but in fact she is afraid and helpless on the inside, and is full of sympathy for Alice, who is not welcome in the real world.
Ex-Husband Tim Burton discovers Helena's evil temperament and tailors her one evil character after another, including Mrs. Lovett in Todd the Barber (who makes and sells human flesh), the one-eyed witch in Big Fish, and the zombie bride in Zombie Bride. And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows also invited her to play the fierce Death Eater. It can be said that Helena is a full-fledged witch professional.
Charlize Theron
Works: Snow White and the Huntsman Role: Queen
Snow White's Magic Mirror is a song and dance version of Snow White's story, and this film is a dark version of this story. Charlize Theron saw her loved ones killed as a child, drank the curse to gain immortality, and since then beauty has become her weapon, and she has used it to seize state power and control more than twenty countries in succession. The beauty of her stepdaughter Snow White undoubtedly posed a threat to her power.
This kind of fairy tale movie seems to be cursed, the quality of the film is always unsatisfactory, and the villain becomes the only point of view. The film is no exception, and the less than 40-year-old Theron is stunningly beautiful and soul-sucking; in contrast, Kristen Stewart's version of Snow White is terrible. When the Magic Mirror tells the Queen that Snow White is the most beautiful woman in the world, people have to start to doubt the aesthetic level of the Magic Mirror.
Tilda Swinton
Works: The Legend of Narnia Role: The White Witch
The White Witch is the descendant of giants and banshees who usurp the throne and turn Narnia into a world of cold ice and snow all year round. She also has a magic that can turn any creature into a stone statue. Ice and stone, two cold things that seem to have an innate connection to Tilda Swindon. And the film's director, Andrew Adamson, also said that Swinton gave the character a kind of strength, intensity and intelligence, embodying all the characteristics of the White Witch.
Born in England, Swinton has a British aristocratic temperament. Of course, this may also be an illusion, maybe we have made such an impression on her because we watched "The Legend of Narnia". Swinton's White Witch changed from the Gothic style commonly found on the screen, with a long silver dress and white fur, giving the impression of not eating human fireworks. This is very similar to the elf queen played by Blanchett in the Lord of the Rings series.
Nicole Kidman
Works: Paddington Bear Role: Taxidermist
Nicole Kidman is the film's main villain, playing a taxidermist who tries everything to catch paddington bears and make them into taxidermy. If her behavior is only professional, then the role may not have much psychological depth. So the creators deliberately gave her a mission of revenge. Many years ago, her explorer father was angry with this bear because he could not bear to make a specimen of a talking bear, and the future was ruined.
Because the story takes place in modern London, Kidman's image is not as charming or mysterious as the witches in the previous ones, there is a taste of female agents and spicy female teachers, and the use of weapons is only the product of modern technology. But as soon as she appears, we perceive a hint of danger. The danger, not just for Paddington bears, but for people like Mr. Curry, the Browns' bad neighbor, can be said to be her victim.
Kate Winslet
Works: The Divergent Role: Erudite Leader
Although Divergent is a dystopian film about control and anti-control, Winslet's character Jenning was actually born from a fairy tale witch or an evil queen. She enslaves the people through a serum that controls the mind, and since the divergents are immune to this serum, she tries to grab them for a serum test, which in turn advances the entire slavery program.
Or with little exposure to such characters, Winslet gives us the impression that it has nothing to do with evil. She was pure and beautiful when she was young, and in middle age she occasionally resented (such as "Revolutionary Road"), but it was far from being vicious. In "The Divergent", she shows a royal sister style, driven by the desire for power, closer to Streep in temperament, and has little in common with Julie and Kidman.
Interestingly, Winslet was five months pregnant when she starred in the film, so the cameras generally focused the camera above her waist. To shoot the main shot, ask her to hold a file or folder to block her bulging belly. But in the sequel, Rebel, we should be able to see her belly.