The short version
- The Norwegian horror comedy “The Ugly Step Sister” is ready for the Cannes Film Festival in May.
- The film has Lea Myren in the lead role as a stepsister. Thea Sofie Loch Næss plays Cinderella and Ane Dahl Torp the stepmother.
- Director and screenwriter Emilie Blichfeldt wants to trick the audience into a “girl-who-dreams-of-the-prince” fantasy that takes a violent U-turn and becomes something completely different.
- The film is Blichfeldt’s first feature film and will premiere in 2025.
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«A bold and unexpected interpretation of the world-famous fairy tale seen from Cinderella’s stepsister’s perspective», American Variety writes about the bloody, Norwegian horror comedy – even before it has been shown anywhere.
«The gory film follows Elvira as she struggles to compete with her insanely beautiful stepsister in a kingdom where beauty is a brutal industry», the well-reputed film magazine continues.
Shall fool the audience
“The ugly stepsister” has been recorded and is ready for the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Director
– With this beauty horror film, I want to trick the audience into a “girl-who-dreams-of-the-prince” fantasy. But then it takes a sharp U-turn and becomes something completely different, says director and screenwriter Emilie Blichfeldt (32) in a press release.
She is aware that it is a “daring” maneuver to enter the adventure classic with this entrance.
– It is high time that the story of the ugly stepsister is lifted from Cinderella’s shadow, she says.
Dahl Torp and Loch Næss with
Lea Myren (23) plays Cinderella’s stepsister Elvira. For Myren, otherwise known from series such as “Jenter”, “Familien Lykke” and “Kids In Crime”, this is her film debut.
Thea Sofie Loch Næss (27), known from among others “Ondskapen”, “Julestorm” and “Delete Me”, plays Cinderella.
Veteran actress Ane Dahl Torp (48), known from “Heimebane”, “Okkupert”, “Skjelvet, “Bølge” and a wide range of other films, series and theater productions, figures as the stepmother.
Blichfeldt promises a stepsister who is willing to go above and beyond to become queen of the ball.
– Funny, beautiful, heartbreaking and fabulously repulsive, are words the director himself unabashedly uses to describe his film.
The hope is that the Norwegian horror comedy will make its mark internationally.
So far, those involved do not want to elaborate on the film more than what appears in the press release.
– We simply want to save a little on the gunpowder since it is so long until it premieres, says press officer Joakim Thorkildsen to VG.
However, Lea Myren has posted a facsimile of the Variety article on InstaStory, with the caption “Emilie Blichfeldt everyone” – followed by a red heart.
“The ugly stepsister” is Blichfeldt’s first feature film.
She has previously won the Film Critics Award in Grimstad for the short film “How Do You Like My Hair”. Blichfeldt’s graduation film “Sara’s intimate confidences” has also been shown at several festivals.
There is also a large co-production behind the project. Maria Ekerhovd (49) in Mer Film has produced in collaboration with several international co-producers, including Zentropa Sweden, Danish Motor Films and Polish Lava Films.
Photographer is Danish Marcel Zyskind (44). The costumes are signed by Danish Manons Rasmussen (72).
Memento International will present the stepsister horror abroad, with the title “The Ugly Stepsister”, and in that context the prestigious Cannes festival offers a large market.
2025 premiere
However, moviegoers have to be patient. It will not appear on the big screen until next year.
While you wait, you can reminisce over more traditional Cinderella stories on VGTV:
