Summary

• Princess Elodie breaks the "damsel in distress" stereotype, saving herself from danger in Damsel's fantasy world.
• Millie Bobby Brown shines in her role as Princess Elodie, showcasing emotional depth and strength.
• Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo transforms the fantasy genre with a unique take on Damsel's story.

Princess Elodie will buck the traditional "damsel in distress" trope in Damsel. When her kingdom is in dire need of financial help, Princess Elodie is betrothed to the Princess of a much more wealthy kingdom. However, she discovers dark secrets about this kingdom that threaten her life and will force her to save herself instead of waiting for help from others.

Millie Bobby Brown gives an impressive performance as Princess Elodie, bringing emotional vulnerability and strength to the role. Damsel includes legendary stars including Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, along with Nick Robinson. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo flips the fantasy genre on its head with Damsel.

Screen Rant interviewed director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo about his Netflix fantasy movie Damsel. He praised Brown's performance and explained how the costume transformation showed Princess Elodie's evolution. Fresnadillo also gave a disappointing update on Disney's live-action Sword in the Stone adaptation but reiterated his desire to make the movie.

Millie Bobby Brown's Costume Mirrors Her Damsel Journey

Screen Rant: This movie is phenomenal. I love how it brings a lot of horror elements into this fairytale fantasy world. It's so, so great. Can you talk to me a little bit about collaborating with Millie Bobby Brown to bring out such an intense performance from her when she is for a lot of the movie on her own?

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: Thank you. That's music for my ears. Yes, she is. Especially if you think about the movie, there is a very big section, which is 25 minutes that she's playing by herself. There is nothing else. Despite the fact that the dragon is around and chasing her, but it's a voice, it's not close, it's not a physical presence. So the only actress in that long section of the movie, it's only her.

And you need to have a really solid actor to put the weight of a movie like this one for such a long time. And I don't know what you think, but I think she did an amazing job on that because you're completely mesmerized with whatever she does. And I think she conveys really well all the nuances that we have in those caves, the suffering, the pain, the encounter with the magical creatures of the glow-worms, the discovery of the other princesses in the cave.

I think she navigates through those caves in such an intense, but at the same time, delicate way. And that is coming from a great actress, there's no way that you can convey all those things if you're not a very deep and solid actor. And it's impressive to see such a young actress doing such an amazing job. I'm hands down with Millie Bobby Brown. I think she's the real deal in this movie.

One of my favorite parts was the physical transformation that we saw her go through. Can you talk about how that mirrors her internal evolution as well?

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: That was a very long conversation with the writer and the costume designer in this movie because we wanted to show with some physical element how Elodie is evolving in this journey and how she starts almost like a beautiful young woman and turns at the end into this brave fighter independent woman. And I think we needed to show that in a very visual way.

Obviously you have the actress, and she's behaving and moving and yelling and jumping and everything, but at the same time you need an element, a visual element, which literally conveys how in some ways, in this transformation journey, she's peeling out all these layers. And precisely the dress that we use in the movie was perfect for that. Because the dress as a concept, it's a trap, it's kind of a cage in the beginning.

It's a heavy dress. It's full of metal, and it literally tells you the story that these people [are] putting you in a trap, and they don't want you to move so much because the dragon is going to catch you. But the way that she's taking those layers out, the way that she's taking advantage of the dress and using it as almost like a Swiss army tool, I think shows really well the evolution of her in the journey. How she's shifting this heavy and really difficult dress to wear almost into her partner. It's almost like a character in the story, the dress. And I think that's one of the beautiful things in this story, how we use the costume into this transformation.

A Disappointing Update On Disney's Live-Action Sword In The Stone Adaptation

I saw that in 2018, it was announced that you were going to direct the live-action Sword in the Stone movie. I was wondering if we could get an update, and what would you want to take from this experience into that?

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: That was a project that I was attached years ago, but it was put on hold from Disney. To be honest with you, I don't know what is going to happen. I think it's a great project and a great story that needs to be told, but I don't know what is going to happen. I don't know. Let's see. Fingers crossed. But as you can imagine in all these movies, you never know when it's going to happen. So I really hope that Disney green lights the movie, but right now, I don't know anything about it to be honest.

I hope it happens too, because this movie made me even more excited to see your take on that.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo: Yeah, that will be great. And also the experience that I had now after this one would be fantastic to apply that into The Sword in the Stone for sure.

About Damsel

A young woman's marriage to a charming prince turns into a fierce fight for survival when she's offered up as a sacrifice to a fire-breathing dragon.

Check out our other Damsel interviews with:

• Millie Bobby Brown
• Robin Wright

Damsel will be available to stream on Netflix on March 8.

Source: Screen Rant Plus