Movies
James Corden's appearance in the 'Cinderella' trailer didn't excite fans on Twitter.

James Corden Popped Up In The Cinderella Trailer And Twitter Chose Violence

I mean, he *is* in a lot of musicals.

Amazon Studios

The trailer for Camila Cabello’s new Cinderella movie didn’t turn out to be a wish come true for some Disney fans. The first look dropped on Tuesday, Aug. 3, revealing a colorful makeover of the classic tale fresh with a new career-oriented princess, tons of pop song covers, and a fabulous fairy godparent who eschews the gender binary. But one very brief celebrity appearance proved to be a sticking point for some viewers, and these tweets about James Corden in Cinderella’s trailer showcase the many fans wondering why he seems to pop up in every modern movie musical.

Corden only has a few short moments in the trailer, but they were enough to get his name trending on Twitter. The late-night host plays one of three mice who transform into Cinderella’s carriage footmen in the new movie. His fellow mice/footmen are played by English comedians James Acaster and Romesh Ranganathan, but if the trailer is any indication, Corden’s character looks like he will snag the spotlight among the group.

This casting feels incredibly familiar for movie musical fans, who took to Twitter to point out that Corden seems to have a strange hold on the genre in recent years. Most notably, Corden starred in 2014’s Into the Woods adaptation, 2019’s Cats movie, and Netflix’s 2020 adaptation of The Prom. He’s also lent his singing voice to the Trolls movie and its sequel. After so many recent movie musical appearances, fans of the genre reacted negatively to Corden showing up yet again when the Cinderella trailer dropped.

This backlash against Corden isn’t exactly new. The actor received a similar reaction last year for his role in The Prom, which some criticized as being offensive to the LGBTQ+ community. And of course, Cats became an online joke almost instantly — but to be fair, that wasn’t Corden’s fault.

Despite his role in Cinderella seeming smaller than in past movie musicals, Corden is much more heavily involved in this project. Along with acting, Corden also served as a producer and story writer on Cinderella. The new iteration of the classic fairytale will premiere on Sept. 3 on Amazon Prime Video.