The Millie Bobby Brown-led dark fantasy film Damsel is fast approaching its Netflix release date. Meanwhile, the epic fairy tale world teased in the promotional materials will leave viewers curious if the movie is based on a book or fairy tale short story.
The film follows Elodie (Brown), a young damsel preparing to marry the handsome Prince Henry (Nick Robinson). However, the marriage turns out to be a scheme from the wealthy royal family, resulting in Elodie struggling for survival in a cave with a vicious fire-breathing dragon. Damsel has quite the cast stacked up, as Angela Bassett has signed on to portray Elodie’s stepmother, Lady Bayford, while Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, and Shohreh Aghdashloo are also slated to appear.
The film marks Brown’s fourth Netflix collaboration after she starred in the Enola Holmes films and Stranger Things. So far, none of her Netflix projects have been misses, boding well for Damsel’s performance. Viewers are also likely anxious for the film to arrive, considering it was originally set to release on October 13, 2023, before it was pushed back to March 8 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Is Damsel based on a book?
For those wondering if Damsel is based on a book, the answer is no, but there is a Damsel book. Damsel by Evelyn Skye was published by Random House on April 18, 2023. What happened is that Dan Mazeau was tapped to write the script for the movie, and he penned the original story and screenplay. Once it was completed, he handed off an early draft to Skye, who was essentially given the freedom to write her own version of it in novel format. So, the movie script came first, and the book is a novelization of the movie.
However, Skye described both the movie and book as largely being their own unique art. She told The Hollywood Reporter:
The easiest way to think about it is this: Dan Mazeau wrote the original screenplay. I was able to read an early draft and was given free rein to write my own version of the story, which ultimately became the novel. Both the novel and the movie may stem from the same origin, but they are also each their own unique works of art.
What’s interesting is that Skye was working on her novel while the movie crew was working on the final versions of the screenplay. As a result, they would share drafts back and forth and “riff off each other’s details,” making it quite a unique partnership. Ultimately, though, Skye explained that the book and movie are fairly similar due to featuring the same characters and setting. However, she did tease there were several differences that might be fun for readers of the book to discover once the film premieres.
(featured image: Netflix)
