‘Cinderella 2015’ Review: Cate Blanchett was the Most Effective Evil Stepmother – Ever? Who was Her Inspiration?

There have been many remakes and movies related to the classic fairy tale ever since it was popularized by Disney but fans and critics believe that Cate Blanchett’s take on the Evil Stepmother was the best by far. Blanchett starred in the 2015 live-action film of “Cinderella” as the ultimate mean girl, Lady Tremaine.

The 45-year-old actress’ performance bested those of Jennifer Coolidge and Anjelica Huston, according to Hollywood Life. Huston was Lady Tremaine in “Ever After,” while Coolidge was in a similar role for “A Cinderella Story," which was a modernized Cinderella tale.

“I just wanted the stepmother to sound slightly that she was from the wrong class,” Blanchett told Wall Street Journal. “And that she worked very, very hard on sounding and being in the right class. Not that I based her on this character, but there’s this wonderful character in ‘Brief Encounter,’ when they’re at the railway station.”

“The woman that works behind the bar, she’d drop a few proper-sounding vowels into her very arch, cultivated, sort of, traditionally lower class accent,” she added. “But, she’s trying to stay above her station.”

It would appear that the two-time Oscar-winning actress’s evil character was inspired by a character in the 1945 Palme d’Or-winning classic. Vanity Fair believes that the character Blanchett was referring to – the bar girl – is Myrtle. She was played by Joyce Carey, the late English Broadway star who frequently worked with playwright Noel Coward.

In the 2015 live-action rendition of the Disney classic, Lady Tremaine was humanized with a back-story. According to Time, the movie intended to show that the Evil Stepmother was only mean because she needs to find a man to take care of her girls after her husband died. Her ambition compelled her to take an evil route and mistreat Cinderella in multiple ways.

Additionally, the object of her disdain, her stepdaughter Cinderella, had no ambitions at all. This characteristic is something that did not bode well with critics.

Cinderella accepted every hurtful insult and oppression with a song in her heart - literally. Despite being held prisoner by her stepmother in the attic, she does not do anything to escape. Instead, she sits by the window and sings. If it were not for her clever mice buddies, she will still be up there and would have missed her chance to be with the prince which was something she clearly wanted.