This was Melanie Lynskey's first Hollywood
film, coming three
years after her friend and former co-lead,
Winslet, became a
big star by starring in the 1996 big
screen adaption of Jane
Austen's novel 'Sense & Sensibility',
and five months after
Kate's star-turn in 'Titanic', the most
successful box-office
money-maker of all time. Also distributed
by 20th Century
Fox, 'Ever After' was the cinematic re-telling
of the Cinderella
fairytale.
This time, the story was given a more
period drama quality to
it. Set in the time of European history
known as the
Renaissance, it tells the tale of Danielle,
an orphan girl, who is
wrongfully put to work as a servant by
her stepmother
Rodmilla De Ghent. Only using the glass
slipper, 'Ever After'
went for the historical romance approach.
Lynskey's role,
Jacqueline (one of the two step-sisters),
was written to be
nicer to Danielle than Marguerite (Megan
Dodds). When
released, 'Ever After' became a big enough
hit to make
other film work come Lynskey's way,
although it did not
actually hit the top spot in the US and
UK movie charts. It was
one of the most exciting times of her
life as Melanie got to act
with Drew Barrymore, (who is facially
similar to Lynskey) one
of her idols, now one of her friends.
