The Front Room: Brandy Norwood Compares Her New Character To Cinderella

Brandy explains how Belinda in The Front Room is similar to Cinderella.

By Jamie Jirak

The Front Room is heading to theaters this weekend, and the new film was helmed by Max Eggers and Sam Eggers, the younger brothers of The VVitch and The Lighthouse director, Robert Eggers. The Front Room stars Brandy Norwood (Descendants: The Rise of Red) as Belinda and Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things) as Solange. In the film, Belinda is a new mother who must deal with her mother-in-law, and the duo don't exactly get along. ComicBook previously spoke to the Eggers Brothers about casting Norwood and Hunter, and they compared Belinda to Cinderella. Of course, Norwood played the titular role in Disney's 1997 version of Cinderella. We also spoke to Norwood and brought up Belinda's similarities to Cinderella. 

"Oh my God," Norwood replied when we mentioned the Cinderella comparison. "She didn't get the prince at the end," she joked about The Front Room. "She didn't get the fairytale ending. But she was definitely doing everything she could for Solange and taking care of her and trying to save her family, save her marriage, fighting for her life in every scene, trying to find her dignity, her integrity."

"It was a ride for her," she added. "The control and the manipulation on her life was just unbelievable. So I can see in that regard, she was very much like Cinderella, but I just didn't get the prince at the end." 

You can watch our interview with Norwood at the top of the page. 

What Is The Front Room About?

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(Photo:

Brandy Norwood in The Front Room.

- A24)

You can read the description of The Front Room here: "Everything goes to hell for newly-pregnant Belinda (Brandy) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere..." The film also stars Andrew Burnap and Neal Huff.

The Eggers brothers also talked to ComicBook about casting Brandy in the role of Belinda.

"It's funny," Eggers began. "We were looking for our wicked stepmother, and then we found her, but what we always needed was a Cinderella. And yes, of course, Brandy is a scream queen. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is in my unconscious. But Cinderella, certainly, we are theater kids, we've been in many productions of Cinderella, and you needed somebody that you wanted to root for immediately."

"And I think us telling this tale ... Who is that that comes to your mind? It's Brandy. And so, when she was willing to go through this kind of thing, because that was challenging. It wasn't so much the same thing about Solange, but finding somebody who'd be willing to go through that, who wanted to be stretched in that way. And she just was such a shining light for us when we actually got to work with her."

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"And she was very committed to the role," Sam added. "And I think, just like with Kathryn's and Solange's wild behavior, you needed that foundation with Brandy in Belinda. And she's in every single scene, and she was willing to go there and do anything we asked of her. And you can't ask more from an actor." 

The Front Room hits theaters on September 6th.

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