Amy Poehler and Netflix get together once again and this time it’s for an animated film. The movie will be produced by Amy Poehler under her banner Paper Kites Production. Titled, “Steps” the movie will be an animated musical and will be directed by Alyce Tzue, who will be making her directorial debut with the movie.
The movie is a spin on the classic fairytale “Cinderella”. The story will follow the journey of two step sisters who are overlooked by the prince for marriage. It is about their adventurous journey after that, when they set off alone realising marriage and princes is not the most important thing in a girl’s life. The story will show how they or anyone for that matter can have their own fairytale.
The movie will be portraying the young step-sisters as Asian immigrants to a fairytale world. It will tell and reflect on how they navigate through this world to find their piece of happiness and fairytale despite everything that they go through. Alyce Tzue, an Asian herself in the world of cinema connects deeply to the story and is grateful that she gets to tell the story of Asian immigrants on screen.
This is a much needed story and especially now, when the world is witnessing how the crimes against Asian Americans have taken a deadly turn. Asians need representations and for that to happen, the world needs to give them a platform to put forward their voice.
Also, this movie is added to the short, yet growing list of inspiring animations where female characters show they don’t need Prince Charming. This is important for the generation now, because the generation before this have seen fairytales getting completed only when it is validated by a handsome prince choosing the princess for marriage.
This will mark the 3rd association of Poehler with Netflix. The first being her directorial debut “Wine Country” and the second being the recent teen movie “Moxie”. The movie joins the illustrious list of animation movies that is all set to arrive on Netflix.