Witchy Cinderella

Netflix has a new animated feature premiering in time for American Thanksgiving on November 20^th with an impressive cast. Bette Midler is the fairy godmother, Daniel Radcliffe is the prince, Amanda Seyfried is Cinderella… but she’s not the main character. Instead Steps is a reimagining of the Cinderella story that includes the perspective of the so-called evil stepsisters, Lilith and Margot, played by Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu who, obviously, are of East Asian heritage, and are depicted as such in the movie.

Lilith behaves badly – but the way the story has been tweaked, she’s given her own backstory that informs the why behind her decisions in part as a reaction to Cinderella’s privilege. As you can see from the trailer, Lilith and Cinderella learn to understand each other on a level that the original narrative doesn’t explore. 

To be honest, I’m anxious about this. I am not anxious about the intention and the effort here – the writers and the producers are trying new things, I don’t want to sh-t on the attempt. What’s making me anxious is, well, what the reaction will be. On YouTube Netflix has disabled comments on the trailer. That should give you some idea about why I’m nervous and what will inevitably be the worst corners of the culture coming out to show itself.

At the same time, I also want to approach this with optimism, especially with such a great cast. Ali, Stephanie, Daniel, Bette, Young Mazino (who plays a hunky troll, which is exactly right), and of course Amanda Seyfried – we love all of these people. I also love that Ali, Stephanie, and Amanda were in all wearing Asian design at the premiere last night. Ali is in Greta Constantine:

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Stephanie is in Simone Rocha:

And Amanda is wearing Shushu/Tong:

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While we’re here… a note on Amanda that isn’t related to Steps. It’s what she reposted on IG stories about divorce. Two slides:

Making divorce boring, just another life transition, as a way to dismantle the patriarchy – it’s true that her divorce announcement has been kind of a shrug in comparison to other celebrity splits. But it’s also true that her divorce, at least recently, has been much less interesting than…well… the other reason she’s making headlines. When can we talk about this openly?! Has everyone seen it by now?

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What else happened today…

The LACMA gala happened this weekend and, at least for me, it seemed a lot more muted than usual. That goes for much of the fashion too. (Go Fug Yourself)

Céline Dion and Jack Black rocked out together at Metallica this weekend. Kayleigh Donaldson’s piece about this is the first I’m hearing that some people think Céline was “cringe” for this. Everything is cringe to Gen Z, it’s their default reaction. Like the only acceptable way to react to anything is to remain blank-faced and bored. Céline, of course, is the antithesis of that world view. And always has been. (Pajiba)

Thomas Markle Sr was arrested last Friday in Florida. What was found in the Philippines that exposed this whole mess has also been found in other locations. And it’s also emerging that at least some members of the British tabloids were aware of his crimes. But we all know what they chose to fixate on instead, motherf-ckers. (Celebitchy)

It was probably the worst-kept secret: that seasons two and three of Heated Rivalry were being filmed concurrently. What is new is that there’s also going to be a Christmas movie focused on Scott and Kip. Because Jacob Tierney is nothing if he’s not an overachiever! (Out)

The biggest gossip this weekend had nothing to do with actors and/or popstars but there is a celebrity-adjacent angle to this because at the centre of the scandal is the Chinese Elizabeth Jennings. Did you see the outfit that Jeremy Culhane was wearing to play Elon Musk on SNL this weekend? Basically Jensen Huang’s uniform. (New York Times)