Cate Blanchett Reveals How She Viewed the ‘Cinderella’ Role

— -- Cate Blanchett plays the wicked stepmother in the reboot of the film “Cinderella,” but when the two-time Academy Award winner was approached about the role her reaction might not have been expected.

“I said, it wasn't a fairy tale that I actually gravitated towards,” she told ABC News’ Nick Watt. When Watt asked her why, she replied: “Because I found the central female character really passive.”

This isn’t that Cinderella.

In the Disney retelling of the classic tale that the company first brought to theaters in 1950, Cinderella is loving and kind, but also smart and in control of her own destiny.

In the upcoming film, a live-action fantasy, Cinderella is played by Lily James, who plays Lady Rose MacClare on the hit series, “Downton Abbey.” Her prince is played by Richard Madden, known to many as Robb Stark on the popular series, “Game of Thrones.”

Blanchett, 45, enjoyed playing the villain, describing it as “fantastic.”

People get “socialized out of all these mean, cruel things,” she said, adding that people would have this “vicarious experience … through the villain.”

“Cinderella” opens in theaters March 13.

The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News.