Bringing Cinderella to the screen required Kenneth Branagh and his designers to work some magic, reports Helen Barlow.
When it came to making a new Cinderella for Disney, director Kenneth Branagh naturally looked at Disney's original Cinderella, the classic animated musical of 65 years ago.
"When I watched the original 1950 film again my first impression was there's so much singing and so many mice - and in this film we wanted no singing and fewer mice."
So goodbye Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and hello Cinderella feisty heroine.
"We wanted to create a heightened world that gives us a cinematic experience but inside there is a psychologically real treatment of the characters. We wanted to stay away from caricature."
As a director, Branagh has done everything from Shakespeare to superheroes. With Cinderella his task was to drag another Disney princess into the 21st century while staying true to its fairy tale origin - and be part of an series of live action storybook tales coming between last year's Maleficent and the forthcoming Beauty and the Beast.
Branagh and writer Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass) decided on a more down-to-earth prince for their Cinderella - or Ella, as she is called - and that she gets to meet her prince early on, in a forest on horseback, where he introduces himself as Kit, who works in the palace. There's a feeling of equality and goodness between them.
"One of the things that attracted me to the film was the difficult idea of presenting goodness in a way that was charismatic and sexy," Branagh says. "Cinderella is interested in a man she met before she knew he was a prince. She's interested in him and not in the fact that he has a title or celebrity, which is very distinct from the stepsisters.
"When Ella asks them, 'What do you think he'll be like?' they say, 'What does it matter? He's a prince'. So there's a lot to be said about very modern notions in this story."
"It was important that everyone gets to go to the ball."
Trailer: Disney's Cinderella
The ball scene is delivered with baroque extravagance contrived by Italian production designer Dante Ferretti and his art director wife, Francesca Lo Schiavo.
Shot at Pinewood Studio's 007 soundstage, it required 200 extras, including 54 professional dancers and 30 orchestra members. And 17 chandeliers bearing 5000 oil candles, each of which had to be lit by hand.
When Ella descends the palace stairs in a spectacular blue dress to dance with her Prince (Richard Madden, Game of Thrones) we can't help but fall in love.
Even Cate Blanchett, who plays the evil stepmother, couldn't resist a few tears.
"Lily with this tiny waist was strapped in and could barely breathe. But when we looked at her sail down those steps into Richard's arms and then dance a really athletic dance, we wept because it was an Olympic feat and was executed so gracefully. Cinematic gold I think they call it."
Costume designer Sandy Powell created some of the most gravity-defying frocks imaginable.
"Sandy really captured the magic of those outfits," says James. "Somehow when you put them on you stand differently, you feel different, so they do all the acting for you.
Holiday Grainger, Cate Blanchett and Sophie McShera as Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters.
"The challenge with Helena [Bonham Carter] when we did the fairy godmother scenes was keeping the greatest of spaces between us as we couldn't get too close because of the width of the skirts."
Cinderella's ball gown and the fairy godmother's white confection were laden with 10,000 Swarovski crystals and many layers of material - more than 12 in the case of the ball gown. Bonham Carter's also came with hundreds of LED lights and its own battery pack. "I was a walking lamp," she says, "and there was a lovely young man and he'd come and turn me on."
Devising the glass slipper - "the ultimate fetish shoe" says Powell - proved a major undertaking. Powell had decided on crystal, so Swarovski made eight versions although many more were made of perspex and breakable glass.
"Actually the slippers don't fit on any foot, there's no princess," James sighs.
"It would have been a real risk to walk in those shoes. I did have a foot double and maybe they told me it didn't fit them either to make me feel better."
