Richard Madden: Cinderella was an acting lesson

Richard Madden felt honoured to act alongside such a prestigious cast in Cinderella.

The 28-year-old Scottish actor stars as Prince Charming in the new retelling of the fairytale classic, which also stars Cate Blanchett, Derek Jacobi, Helena Bonham Carter and Stellan Skarsgard and is directed by Kenneth Branagh.

And Richard has revealed in a new interview that appearing alongside such veteran actors helped him expand his skills.

“It was like a master-class everyday on that set with Cate, Kenneth, Derek, Stellan and Helena,” Richard told Harper’s Bazaar magazine. You understand why they’re movie stars. It’s not just their acting; it’s how they behave when the camera’s not rolling. Ken and Cate have a real compassion and awareness of everyone else around them. You’d think being as successful as they are that they’d be really insular and only concerned with themselves, but it’s the opposite, they’re concerned with everyone. I learned a lot from them.”

Lily James stars as the titular Cinderella, and the film isn’t the only time she and Richard will be working together. In fact, Richard and Lily will be joining forces with Kenneth once again on an upcoming new stage version of Romeo and Juliet.

“I can’t wait to work with Ken again,” he said. “That was a big pro for me doing this job. As soon as we started working on Cinderella I thought ‘I just want to Shakespeare with him’; that’s his ballgame. I’m thrilled to be doing that with him. As for Lily, she hates me, I know she does, but I love her and I’m just waiting for her to get sick of working with me.”