Trivia / Cinderella (1997)

• Actor-Inspired Element: Whoopi Goldberg insisted that Queen Constantina wear real Harry Winston jewelry, as opposed to the fake jewelry the costume department originally provided for her.
• All-Star Cast: This version stars Brandy, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber, and Whitney Houston.
• Billing Displacement: Brandy's name is last in the credits (among the leads). Whitney Houston, Jason Alexander, and Bernadette Peters come first. Although the opening credits start with Brandy's name and go through the rest in alphabetical order.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • The fairy godmother usually only sings "Impossible/It's Possible" and one line at Cinderella's wedding (the same line which ends those songs), but Whitney Houston closes this remake with another song, "There's Music in You." It originally came from an obscure MGM musical titled, Main Street to Broadway. She also gets an Adaptational Early Appearance before the main titles roll.
  • Whoopi Goldberg also gets to do more singing than either of the queens before her. She starts off "The Prince is Giving a Ball", and replaces Prince Christopher as the performer of the reprise of "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" (presumably renamed, "Do You Love Her Because She's Beautiful?").
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Whitney Houston was originally set to play Cinderella when the film was in development for CBS back in 1993 but when the film moved to ABC three years later, Houston, who was 33 at the time, felt she was too old to play the princess and thus was cast as the Fairy Godmother instead.
  • Whoopi Goldberg was offered the role of the stepmother but her commitments on the film In the Gloaming prevented her from taking the role, hence once that film wrapped production, she became free to do the film and was cast as Queen Constantina.
• Channel Hop: Originally pitched to CBS, the same channel that premiered the 1957 and '65 versions, as the follow-up to 1993's highly-rated Gypsy Made-for-TV Movie. However, after some new CBS executives expressed disinterest in another Cinderella, the producers accepted an offer from Disney CEO/Wonderful World of Disney host Michael Eisner to air it on ABC instead.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Atlantic Records stopped Disney from commercially releasing the soundtrack, deeming it too contradictory to the "Urban" image they wanted Brandy and her music to uphold. It's because of this that it's the only film starring Whitney Houston to not have an accompanying soundtrack, however, a rip of an unreleased CD has made its way to the Internet.
• Milestone Celebration:
  • Twenty years after this remake first aired, Shondaland reunited cast and crew to share an oral history of the production.
  • ABC celebrated the 25th anniversary by hosting a televised cast reunion on 20/20, followed by the film's first network airing in over two decades.
• Playing Against Type: Jason Alexander insisted that Lionel have a different sense of humor than George Costanza. He's still a Butt-Monkey like George, however.
• Produced by Cast Member: Executive Producer Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother.
• Role Reprise: Paolo Montalban would later play Prince Christopher again in a 2001 touring production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
• Throw It In!: Whoopi Goldberg came up with Queen Constantina's habit of stammering.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The project was first pitched in 1993, with the prospect of Whitney Houston playing Cinderella. But production was delayed until 1996, by which point Houston felt she was too old to play Cinderella and recommended Brandy instead.
  • An executive wary on the marketability of an African-American Cinderella suggested casting Jewel instead, but the producers never asked her, likely to avoid depicting Whitney Houston as a Magical Negro.
  • The producers first pitched the role of the stepmother to Whoopi Goldberg, but her schedule wouldn't allow her to accept the role. The offer went next to Bette Midler^note star of the 1993 Gypsy TV movie, but she feared that abusing an African-American Cinderella on TV would ruin her public image. Bernadette Peters took the part because she didn't believe fairy tale characters' skin tones should matter; the final film cast Veanne Cox and Natalie Desselle as the stepsisters as a reminder to the viewers that skin color was irrelevant to the story.
  • The producers planned a Remake Cameo for Julie Andrews, the 1957 Cinderella, when she became their first choice to play Queen Constantina. Unfortunately, the botched surgery of her vocal cords left her unable to accept the role.
  • The film earned a standing ovation at its Mann's Chinese Theatre premiere, so Disney tested giving it a wider theatrical release. However, a test screening in Pasadena didn't prove successful enough to justify it.
  • Wayne Brady, Taye Diggs, Marc Anthony, and Antonio Sabàto Jr. were all considered for the role of Prince Christopher before Paolo Montalban was cast.
• Word of Saint Paul: Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber speculate in the DVD bonus features that Queen Constantina had her own Rags to Royalty story when she fell in love with King Maximilian, and admit that this headcanon influenced their performances.