Bibbity Bobbity Booyah! Disney’s immportal fairy tale is transformed into a live-action spectacle for the twenty-first century in director Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella; starring Downton Abbey‘s Lily James as the big-hearted heroine and Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden as her handsome Prince. Nerdist’s Joseph McCabe hits the film’s red-carpet premiere in Hollywood, and chats with its stars. James tells us how she found the core of her archetypal character, while her fellow Downton Abbey vet Sophie McShera (best known for her role as the show’s kitchen maid Daisy) and Holliday Grainger (of Showtime’s The Borgias) talk about bringing their hissable stepsisters Drisilla and Anastasia to life.

We also speak with two key behind-the-scenes players — screenwriter Chris Weitz (who’s scripting the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One for Disney) and composer Patrick Doyle (a longtime collaborator of director Branagh, who’s also responsible for the hummable score to Marvel’s Thor). Both men discuss how they preserved the sincerity of the story in an ironic age.

Co-starring Oscar winner Cate Blanchett as the wicked Stepmother, Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother, and Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd as the Grand Duke — along with Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, and Rob Brydon — Cinderella works its magic in theaters everywhere on March 15, 2015.