Overlook 2025 Interview with THE UGLY STEPSISTER Writer / Director Emilie Blichfeldt

My favorite film from this year's Overlook Film Festival was easily The Ugly Stepsister, from writer / director Emilie Blichfeldt, which not only delivers some incredible practical body horror, but also a powerful message on body image. Having just opened today in theaters from IFC and Shudder, I had the opportunity to catch up with Emilie Blichfeldt to discuss horror inspirations, casting the perfect Elvira, creating those practical effects on set, and more:

The Ugly Stepsister has been delighting and grossing out audiences during its festival run. What are some of your filmmaking influences that shaped your approach to The Ugly Stepsister?

Emilie Blichfeldt: I didn't start watching movies until I was 13 because I grew up in Northern Norway, where there are no people and no Blockbuster. My parents didn't believe in movies. They believed in books, so I was 13 when me and my siblings begged to get a VHS player and it was combined with a DVD [player]. So, I was kind of late into movies, but also late into the horror game. I’m quite squeamish and, when it comes to jump scares, that's real torture to me. So I didn't think horror was for me until I discovered David Cronenberg. 

It was 2015 [or] 2016. I was in film school and just randomly stumbled over Crash and fell immediately in love and needed to see everything Cronenberg. 

Also, Raw by Julia Ducournau came out [around] that period. I had never thought that I would dig a cannibal movie, but [I was] just mouth and eyes wide open, being like, “This is the coolest shit ever! Body horror is really my jam!” 

I also like Argento. [His films are] elegant, playing with form and fashion. And, more and more, Fulci.

I was just so excited when this idea [for The Ugly Stepsister] came and I [realized that] I get to make a body horror. Yeah, it’s a dream come true. 

How did the idea for taking the story of Cinderella and flipping it on its head come about?

Emilie Blichfeldt: I've been working with a few female characters in my shorts [that were] struggling to fit in within the ideals of femininity and beauty. I suddenly got this little snippet in my head of her, thinking that she's Cinderella and fitting the shoe. But, she’s not Cinderella, she's the stepsister and she felt such despair, shame, and grief over that. I felt like I'd been in the stepsister's shoes, pun intended, and I could totally relate. I, myself, have struggled with living under the burden of feeling ugly, felt the tyranny of beauty on my body and on my psyche. I knew that this was not just a great character, but a true character… a human with a truth we hadn’t seen before. That was a big revelation. It's one of the world's most famous fairy tales and she's been under our nose the whole time. 

The casting of Elvira was so critical to the audience connecting with this character and film. Can you talk about the casting search and finding Lea Myren?

Emilie Blichfeldt: Casting was great, but also challenging because I didn't want to have this feeling of modern people just in old clothes, or something that was too psychological or realistic. It needed to have that kind of campiness to it, with twisted or heightened acting to it, but still not just become this [fully] camp, non-emotional.

For Elvira, I was really insecure, [not knowing if] we were ever going to find the right actress. Without that role, there is no movie, right? There are so many facets to her, and the emotional, humor, and physicality. And also, the tactical transformation, and dancing. [I had seen] five or six hundred girls before I invited Lea to come in. I was actually looking at a bit younger girls, but I understood the task was too great.

A lot of people have asked me about the “ugly” part of it, saying, “How was it to cast someone who was described as ugly?” It's very important for me to say that I don't consider Elvira ugly. It's more used in the term that we use for the stepsister, and then challenging the audience to ask, “What is ugly?”

Yeah, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Elvira at the start of the film.

Emilie Blichfeldt: Exactly. There's nothing wrong with any of us.

It’s society that puts all of this pressure on women.

Emilie Blichfeldt: Yeah, and that's really important. I was really trying to be mindful about that when talking to the girls as they came in. There's only one ideal and the rest of us are struggling to fit the shoe, and therefore we are stepsisters.

So, I was just looking for the best actress, and then Lea came in the door, and she was fantastic from the start. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was like, “There she is!”

The Ugly Stepsister has such wonderfully practical body horror scenes. Being such a fan of Cronenberg, can you talk about how much you enjoyed creating these sequences?

Emilie Blichfeldt: The [entire movie] is a big team, but when the body horror happens, it’s so technical, and it’s like all of the other people disappear. Suddenly, you’re just left with me, the photographer, the prosthetic makeup designer, the VFX supervisor, the puppeteer, and maybe the actress. It would be like six people just nerding while everyone else goes to have lunch. 

It was important to me [the movie was not] like body horror all the way through. I'm easing people into it because I also really wanted it to be a film that you would just go and buy a ticket, even if you didn’t know what body horror is. But then, when the body horror hits, I wanted it to be fantastic, so we worked really hard to get the best effects out of it. 

There’s been a lot of talk about the fact that the film has made audiences squeamish and the body horror of it all, but there is such a positive message at the core of this film. What has your experience been like hearing from folks who have seen The Ugly Stepsister during its festival run?

Emilie Blichfeldt: First and foremost, I wanted to make a great cinematic experience in a fantasy area. It allows people from any background to remove themselves from today and see beliefs outside of a common narrative. I’ve been dipping my toes in Letterboxd a little bit—fun puns for this movie!—and it seems like people are reacting to it in [a positive] way, which is great. We've been served this narrative [that] if you invest in yourself and change your appearance into what is now considered beautiful, then it’s a success story or the thing you should do. But maybe that's not so good for you… I really hope that people can feel relief [when they see it]. 

[Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]