Who doesn’t love a fantastic fairytale? I know I do. However, at times, they can be a little redundant. That said, looks can be deceiving – this is the case with Damsel. Starring Millie Bobby Brown as Princess Elodie, Damsel smartly subverts the typical fairytale narrative to give viewers a tale of defying the odds, the power of family and vengeance.
Ahead of the film’s Netflix release, I had the pleasure of chatting with Brown about her performance in Damsel, including the physicality of portraying Elodie, what about the fantasy genre speaks to her and considering the film includes a dragon (voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo), mythical creatures.
I was interested in learning what aspects of the story spoke to Brown most and made her most excited about joining the cast of Damsel. Brown shared that she was interested in the subversion of the traditional fairytale elements.
Check out the full interview with Millie Bobby Brown for Damsel below:
“I think the fact that you’re reading it, and I was like, ‘I’m reading a fairy tale – she’s getting married, and she’s finding a prince, and it’s such a good story. And I love this.’ And oh, wait, there’s still another, you know, 100 pages. And you’re just like, ‘Oh, what else is meant to happen?’ And I think that’s probably like the first 20 pages of it being like, oh, this sounds like the ending of the movie. And it’s actually just beginning,” Brown said.
In addition to the film not being entirely what it seems, Brown used much of her physicality to portray Elodie, something she said she hadn’t had to do as much of in her prior work and found challenging.
“Really difficult. Um, you know, I had a lot of physical therapy. And I had to basically learn how to navigate, my body with the set and with the dragon and, and with the costume. I mean, like, I’ve just never had to do stunts quite like I did in this movie. And things like a corset and, you know, a skirt cage. I’ve never worked with anything more horrific in my whole life. [laughs] You know, it just has a mind of its own. If you move that way, it somehow moves that way. I don’t know how it does. But it does. And you’re running with it. And it’s really difficult. So I was really challenged in this movie, for sure,” Brown shared.
Despite the uncooperative skirt cage, Brown was glad to be back working in the fantasy genre and told me that she enjoys the escapism it offers.
“I think, you know, there’s so much happening in the world. The world can be a really scary and overwhelming place, especially for people younger, you know, coming out of COVID. Like there’s just a lot of anxiety around you know, in the world. And I think for people and for especially my generation and even my younger sister’s generation, it’s nice to watch things that help you escape and take a break and just enjoy what isn’t happening in the world right now. Which may be a princess fighting a dragon or you know, I personally know what my like escapism is like, that’s like, I love the Harry Potters and I love Twilight and I love those movies that just help you relax. And you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s right, I don’t have to think about this world right now.’ And you can escape and I think that’s the beauty of filmmaking,” Brown said.
Of course, there are few creatures more fearsome than a dragon and while Brown spends much of her time avoiding the fire breather, she is an animal lover. Knowing this, I wondered, if there was ever an opportunity to have a new pet join her already plentiful animal pack, what fictional or mythical creature would she choose?
“Hmmm – what are the ones in…wait Is Jake here? What are the ones in Star Wars? Ewoks! They’re sooo cute! I would say an Ewok.”