14 DAY TRIAL // Next week, a new live-action Disney movie will be out in theaters, directed by Kenneth Branagh: “Cinderella.” Lily James plays the beloved heroine, while “Game of Thrones” star Richard Madden is her Prince Charming, and big names like Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter are in the supporting cast.
Disney releases always get a lot of media attention, particularly live-action ones, but “Cinderella” got even more than that when the poster attached to this article was released, because it made it look as if James’ waist had been altered in Photoshop to make it impossibly thin.
There was no post-production trickery in that photo, the actress says in a recent interview.
A naturally slender figure, a good corset and an all-liquid diet
This isn’t the first time that James addresses the waist controversy around the poster, but she seems determined to make it the last.
The studio has already denied claims that they altered the photo in any way to make the actress appear slimmer, so they don’t see any justification for talk that they’re promoting an unhealthy body image.
Director Kenneth Branagh said pretty much the same in an interview with HuffPost Live the other day, explaining that the impression of a slimmer waistline came from the angle of the photo and the lighting. Of course, the fact that an already slender girl was wearing a corset also had a lot to do with it.
James says pretty much the same: she is a naturally thin girl who was stuffed in a very tight corset, in which she could barely breathe. It was only to be expected for her to appear even thinner than she is in real life.
Then, she adds, during long shooting days in the corset, she could barely eat because of how tight it was. On those days, she only had to make do with a bowl of soup, so she lost a bit more weight like that.
Enough is enough
Women are told too often how they should look and which is the “ideal” body they should aspire / strive to attain, but in reality, they must know that all that matters is that they be healthy and happy, the actress says in the same interview.
People are built differently, so focusing too much on a “perfect” figure is unhealthy and completely unrealistic. Knowing this, she would never agree to be part of this troubling trend, with a Photoshopped picture.
As for the controversy around it, enough is enough, James continues.
“I think it’s all very hypocritical, and they contradict themselves, and they’re drawing more attention to it. I think all that stuff’s so negative, and you’ve got to let it wash over your head. I’m so healthy. I’ve got hips and [breasts] and a bum and a small waist,” she says.