6/7/2023 0 Comments Brandy cinderella![]() She was just Fairy Godmother doing her acting and singing with all of us. And you know, I honestly think that even though she was executive producer and she had a vision, she kind of let her partner Debra Chase and Craig and Neil and them have that kind of vibe. Her energy was very down to earth, loving. Oh, she didn’t really act like a boss lady like that. What was it like seeing Whitney the executive producer on set? Did you get to see any boss lady moments? So I keep that and I try to live by that every day. That was what she preached all the time to me up until she passed away. Her being a legend and having been through so much in life and experiences in this industry, she wanted me to stay on the path of being who I am and true to myself. She loved that I could be myself and she didn’t want that part of me to change. Well, Whitney’s whole thing with me was to just be myself. Can you share any of the wisdom she imparted while you guys were filming Cinderella? You’ve said before that getting the call from Whitney was like getting a call from your own fairy godmother. It represents who I am, who Black women are. ![]() I actually wanted the braids all the way down to the middle of my back, but they were like, “It’s too long.” I love that they allowed me to have braids. And just go head-on and put the braids right in. But what if we just take it all the way back to the motherland. That was what I felt would be so much cooler - if Cinderella also had braids, you know? Because, yes, there’s the first Black princess. You can still see they’re still in my hair today. You know, I had been wearing braids throughout my entire career when I was younger. ![]() What went into that choice and what did it mean to you to be able to be an unapologetically Black princess? One of the things I love about your Cinderella is that she has her hair in braids throughout the movie. It was as if I wasn’t even watching me as Cinderella. When I was able to see it all come together and see the finished product of it, I was like, Wow, this is different. I knew that it was special, but I didn’t really know how special. I didn’t really understand how revolutionary this was going to be, how big of an impact it was going to be. I couldn’t grasp it all because I was so young. What did it mean to you to be able to portray a Black Cinderella? And that was supported by the powers that be.Īt the time, “ colorblind casting” wasn’t as prominent. I wanted to sing in a musical theater way but have my own - isms to it. We just worked on bringing who I am to it, in the singing. Of course, I worked with an amazing director, Rob Iscove, and I had a lot of work with Whitney Houston. I wanted to just bring my own flavor to it. In preparing for the role, what did you want to update or add your own touch to? In so many ways, there’s no Cinderella like yours. Ahead of this week’s Friday Night Movie Club Ball, we asked Brandy to do the impossible and take us back to 1997. “I was like, ‘This is not real.’ It was mind-blowing.”Īlmost 24 years later, the musical, co-starring Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber, and Paolo Montalban as the charming Prince Christopher, is (finally) heading to Disney+. ![]() “I was so blown away by the fact that Whitney Houston called me to be the first Black Cinderella,” she told Vulture through the magic of Zoom. But it’s Brandy who experienced the Cinderella transformation firsthand, complete with fairy godmother. “I never thought that I would be on set with her hanging out in a pumpkin, in a dress, and she’s got a wand.” Disney’s 1997 adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was a dream come true for executive producer Whitney Houston (originally tapped to play Cindy herself) and for Black girls around the world. “Oh my God, I used to have dreams of her when I was a kid, like being at her house and hanging out with her,” said Brandy, now 41, fresh off her seventh album release. Not a random cloud of gases dying somewhere lifetimes away. When Brandy Norwood was just a little girl, she was wishing on a star. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Walt Disney Television On singing with Whitney Houston, the fate of the movie’s soundtrack, and building up impossible hopes for Black girls everywhere.
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