“When my young daughter (a huge Hilary Duff fan) approved the script, I knew I was doing the right thing,” offers Sellers, also a studio executive-turned-producer, who recently produced the hit Cody Banks films. Describing A Cinderella Story, he says, “The issues are very much high school. The characters are teenagers and the writing is cool and edgy but it’s still a classic love story and that has always transcended the age of the characters and the time they’re living in. Whether it’s You’ve Got Mail or Romeo and Juliet, it’s irresistible to see the understanding grow between two people who are from opposite ends of a spectrum or perceive themselves to be very different from one another.”
Werber’s first choice to write the screenplay, Leigh Dunlap, wrote from his initial pitch and, he says, “brought back a story and characters with exactly the right voice and a sense of uniqueness. The opportunities for comedy just popped off the page.”
“I’m still a teenager at heart,” admits Dunlap, a former Valley Girl and USC Cinema student now married and raising a son in London. “I don’t think you ever lose that feeling of being in high school. It’s amazing how those four years can stay with you through all the years that follow.”
As Werber recalls, he and director Mark Rosman “did a lot of research prior to production. We went to high schools in the Valley, both public and private, to talk to the kids because we wanted to be sure this movie spoke to them. We saw what they were wearing, what kind of music they’re listening to, and in the process we confirmed an integral theme of the film – that so many people wear figurative masks of one sort or another. There’s a point where the Austin character, writing anonymously to Sam, says something about how ‘the world is full of people pretending to be something they’re not.’ He’s a high school football hero who’s under parental and peer pressure to pursue a certain kind of future and would rather take another path.”
“So many of the kids we spoke to were aware of being judged for how they looked, how they dressed, what peer group they belonged to, and in general they felt the need to hide their inner lives from this kind of scrutiny,” notes Rosman, who employed this mask motif throughout the film. “Austin is only able to reveal his true character when hiding behind a chat room alias. Sam, of course, is seen wearing a mask, literally, at the Halloween ball, but her real mask is the one that hides her true power and beauty from everyone every single day.
Sam’s friend Carter is an aspiring actor and dresses in a variety of outlandish costumes to avoid having to be himself. Even Sam’s step-mother, a cosmetic surgery addict, is always undergoing some procedure she hopes will make her beautiful.”
For producer Hunt Lowry, exploring these issues is what movie-making is all about. In recent years he has been involved in the production of a number of films, both comedy and drama, that feature young people in the process of growing up, discovering themselves and emerging as stronger, wiser adults (films such as A Walk to Remember, White Oleander, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, What A Girl Wants). “One of the great things about life is that we learn from each other and ourselves,” he says. “I like to see that reflected in movies, especially where, at journey’s end, it’s a positive resolution.”
Reflecting on his own teen years and on what advice he might like to go back and give his 16-year-old self, Lowry says sagely, “it gets better.” “Two thoughts guided me on the script,” says Dunlap: “One, to believe in yourself and not look elsewhere for validation and two, don’t be afraid to participate in life. You aren’t confined by how you look or where you come from or how much money you have.”
Producer Ilyssa Goodman, who helped develop the Moolah Beach series for Fox and the Family Channel, in which teen teams met physical and mental challenges to compete for a prize, concurs. “Nearly all the projects I become involved with have underlying themes meant to inspire, empower and entertain kids. There are so many timeless themes in the Cinderella classic to which we can all relate – the underdog scenario, the lesson that slow and steady wins the race and about staying true to yourself. But, I believe the original put too much emphasis on being rescued by a handsome prince. Sam, instead, plays a more active role in her own life and actually serves as an inspiration to Austin.”
“In our story,” says Rosman, “Cinderella saves herself.” Rosman counts among his credits multiple episodes of the phenomenally popular Lizzie Maguire Show, starring Hilary Duff, and it was initially his working rapport with Duff that made him the production’s first choice to direct Cinderella. He soon proved the right choice for many reasons. “He has a genuine sensibility for the material,” notes Sellers, “and he’s seriously interested in the reality of each scene. Is this really the way kids this age would behave or speak? What is their state of mind coming into this scene? He’s very intuitive about all of it and about getting the actors into the right frame of mind.”
Duff agrees, citing Rosman’s focus and tireless attention to detail before boiling down her longtime admiration for the director to three essential and heartfelt words: “He’s very cool.”
The most essential ingredient in this creative mix was, of course, Hilary Duff, whose timely involvement in the project Werber enthusiastically recalls as “lightning in a bottle.”
The effervescent young star, who made her performance debut at six in the BalletMet Columbus touring company of The Nutcracker and now, at 16, balances film and television projects with a burgeoning recording career and concert schedule, was intrigued by A Cinderella Story’s modern spin.
Having loved the story as a child, Duff believes the original will always have its special appeal to a younger generation’s imagination, while this version speaks to a more sophisticated age group. “It shows what a lot of people go through in high school, which is funny but it can be brutal too,” she says. “There’s always the popular group and lots of cliques, and so many people trying to be something they’re not or just don’t have the freedom to be themselves. A lot of things get complicated and sometimes people get stuck with labels or take on labels that really limit them. I hope that kids who watch it will get the message that they are not alone, that this stuff happens to everyone.”
A Cinderella Story (2004)
Directed by: Mark Rosman, Susan Duff
Starring: Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Julie Gonzalo, Regina King, Lin Shaye, Madeline Zima, Andrea Avery Ray, Mary Pat Gleason, Erica Hubbard
Screenplay by: Leigh Dunlap
Production Design by: Charles William Breen
Cinematography by: Anthony B. Richmond
Film Editing by: Cara Silverman
Costume Design by: Denise Wingate
Set Decoration by: Jeffrey Kushon
Art Direction by: Gary Diamond
Music by: Christophe Beck
MPAA Rating: PG for mild language and innuendo.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 16, 2004
Visits: 275
