Millie Bobby Brown, Robin Wright talk flipping the fairy tale narrative in “Damsel”

The two actresses star in the Netflix action flick about a dutiful princess sacrificed to a snarling dragon.

Millie Bobby Brown knows her way around the Upside Down, and now, the Stranger Things star is tackling a different kind of flipped narrative.

The 20-year-old actress stars in Netflix’s Damsel, a twisty survival story that aims to reimagine classic fairy tale tropes. Brown plays a dutiful young princess named Elodie, who agrees to marry a supposed Prince Charming (Nick Robinson) to help her kingdom. But when she arrives in the prince’s homeland of Aurea, she finds herself thrown into a cave with a bloodthirsty dragon, the latest victim in a long line of sacrificial princesses. Trapped underground with a fire-breathing monster, she has to use her wits and strengths to defeat the beast — and hopefully find her way home.

Brown says she’s always been drawn to projects that reimagine classic genres — whether that’s monster movies (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), ‘80s adventures (Stranger Things), or brainy mysteries (Enola Holmes). So, she quickly fell in love with the unconventional Elodie, who has to use both her brains and her sword to rescue herself. “I truly loved the idea of playing a princess turning into a warrior,” she explains.

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), Damsel also stars Angela Bassett as Elodie’s stepmother and Robin Wright as the conniving queen of Aurea. Wright is no stranger to fractured fairytales: She launched her career more than 30 years ago with The Princess Bride, filming the Rob Reiner classic when she was about Brown’s age. This time, however, she’s not playing the young heroine but the scheming queen.

“This one was just a little bit more evil, I would say,” Wright tells EW with a laugh. “And it’s just fun. It’s fun to play layered characters like that.”

Besides, she notes, she has some experience playing manipulative power players. “I kind of did that on a show called House of Cards for six years,” she says. “So I didn’t stray too far from that beast.”

Because much of the film takes place in the dragon’s lair, Brown spent most of the production by herself, with only a CGI dragon for a scene partner. The production team built an entire cave system on a soundstage in Portugal, and Brown spent months on that set, scrambling through dark tunnels, scaling ropes, and swinging swords.

But she says her favorite moment was filming Damsel’s fiery finale. (No spoilers, but it’s a blazing moment of female rage that would make Daenerys Targaryen proud.)

“It was a chaotic day,” the actress remembers. “I had a lot of lines, and I had to channel a lot of anger because I had just been through so much. Realistically, I had been through three, four months of being in the cave, so I kind of was angry. So, I was able to channel a lot of anger from that. Plus, that day was probably one of the hottest days in Portugal, so it didn’t help.”

Damsel is now streaming on Netflix.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

·     Millie Bobby Brown rescues herself in exclusive look at Damsel

·     Millie Bobby Brown on the impending end of Stranger Things: 'I think I'm ready'

·     Millie Bobby Brown credits her feminist awakening to a psychic

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.