Emilie Blichfeldt is fascinated by fairy tales.
Specifically, the dark Grimms Brothers takes of old that inspired classic animated fare like Cinderella. But while her feature debut, The Ugly Stepsister, may share storytelling bones with classic Disney, it’s the viscera on those bones that shines in a body horror heavy take on one of the story’s lesser known characters, Elvira, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. And it’s an image of her taking a cleaver to herself to fit in that magical tiny glass slipper that drove the making of this film, now in theaters from IFC Films and hitting Shudder on May 9th.
We had the opportunity to interview Emilie on the red carpet premiere of her film at the Overlook Film Festival and ask a few questions about the genesis of the film. If you;’re interested, check out the film and see one of this year’s best body horror films on streaming May 9th
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Cult Classics – I’m Victor Moreno from Cult Classics and we’re here with Emilie Blichfeldt, the director of The Ugly Stepsister, one of the centerpiece films here at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans. So I have a couple of questions for you. You’re the writer and director of this film. Can you tell me what inspired this movie?
Emilie – So, first and foremost, it’s the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella that inspired the movie and this gruesome scene where one of the stepsister’s tries to cut off her toe to try to fit the shoe. And, personally, this really – I could really relate to this because I have shoe size 11 –
Cult Classics – Oh!
Emilie – And even like today, I was out shopping for shoes or tried and I needed a shoe size 12. So – to say I can relate and I really thought it was a great image on how a lot of women struggle to try and fit the unattainable beauty ideal, but also it made me really excited because I understood it was a body horror.
Cult Classics – Yeah.
Emilie – Yeah, and I love that.
Cult Classics – So, just on that vein, we’ve been seeing sort of the idea of beauty standards explored a lot in horror lately. Do you think horror is a good vehicle to explore the idea of body standards in society?
Emilie – I think you know, being a woman, especially, is quite a bodily experience, I think also with #MeToo – it really showed that although we’re so emancipated in so many ways. The idea of women as bodies or as objects is really alive today with #meetoo and the most powerful women could be reduced to bodies like this (snaps fingers) and I think body horror therefore really speaks to that you know – How you have this body that is a thing you’re trying to change and that you also identify with. But at the same time, you’re not only your body and I think yeah body horror is a great way to express or search around in those themes (of exploring beauty standards).
Cult Classics – I really enjoyed this movie a lot and I liked how it came across how all these characters were just victims of their own circumstances. I wondered about how you approached the character of Agnes (Cinderella) in the creative process of this film. Was there in your mind that I have to keep her the antagonist or that she should sort of float that line to make her relatable to the original story ?
Emilie – Oh, that’s a great question. It was really hard, you know. She’s going to be the antagonist anyways, if she’s bad or not, because she wants the same thing as the main character so she will be the hindrance – you know, the antagonist.
But in the sense of like, how bad I was going to draw her – like I could relate to all the characters. I can even understand the stepmother, you know. I have a lot of sympathy for her. But with Agnes, it was so hard to relate to her – I can’t relate. But, and I was thinking, should I make her just a dumb blonde, like ‘La La La La, I don’t know what’s happening, I’m just waiting for my prince.’ I really wanted to do that for a while. Just, you know, my revenge (laughs). But then I thought, that’s like , that’s going the cheap way and with all of the other characters, I tried and I had found this way to do like an archetype, but make them human right? To find the human in the archetype but without straying away. Without making the stepsister the “good one” and then Cinderella the “bad one” you know? And then I, after long soul searching (laughs) I found that everything is so difficult for Elvira, right? She doesn’t know what sex is. She doesn’t understand it. She doesn’t know how to, you know, she’s so un-self aware, you know, and I can really relate to that. Sex and everything was very weird to me and all my friends, you know, got their boyfriends in high school and I was like, ‘what are they doing?’ (laughs). ‘What’s happening at these parties?’ People would like disappear and I was like, ‘how are they doing that?’ and where are – what’s happening inside those rooms? Like, it was so foreign to me, you know, everything was so hard – and then I have these friends that was like just sweeping through the rooms, you know, just putting on some clothes and feeling great and beautiful. Picking up boyfriends, whatever. Everything was SO easy for them. And I thought, there’s a truth in that, you know, some people just got it more easy and those people exist and though the other people who have a hard time also exist, you know. And I think, you know, what also really surprised me with Cinderella, it just came to me that she was having this sexual relationship actually and that shocked me. But I thought, it makes so much sense because she has self-acceptance. That also means that she has no shame. She’s natural, right, she has natural beauty – she loves herself for what she is – she can have any sex she wants. You know, it’s natural, she has no need to be ashamed. And I think also that makes her into a real Cinderella character. Someone we actually also should look up to because she carries herself through the world with self love and I guess that comes from upbringing somehow in this story. But I love that for her – that’s she’s not a virgin – I love that (laughs). I think that’s so great and a way to twist that character and make her modern.
Cult Classics – Well, awesome and thanks so much for your time. Check out Emilie’s movie The Ugly Stepsister in theaters from IFC and soon to streaming from Shudder. Thank you so much.
Emilie – Thank you!
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EMILIE BLICHFELDT Photo Gallery from Overlook Film Festival 2025 – The Ugly Stepsister Premiere
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