Hilary Duff was blackmailed by Jennifer Coolidge while they were working together on the 2004 film A Cinderella Story.
The “Lizzie McGuire” alum reflected on working with the “American Pie” star and how Coolidge helped her play Fiona, Duff’s Sam’s mean stepmother, in Coolidge’s modernization of the classic fairy tale.
“I’ve really enjoyed watching her career, by the way,” Duff, 38, said of the Emmy-winning actress. “It’s really impressive because she goes there so brazenly, which as a teenager was a little intimidating.”
“And it was kind of scary because she was mean to me, because I was only like 15 and she was mean to me, because she’s my evil stepmother,” she recalled.
Ms. Duff admitted that she felt uncomfortable because Mr. Coolidge, 64, has such a strong personality.
“At that moment, I was like…” Duff said, recalling taking a deep breath. “I had to say, ‘I’m making a movie, I’m making a movie.’
A representative for Mr. Coolidge did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Mr. Duff’s remarks.
Directed by Mark Rothman, “A Cinderella Story” stars Chad Michael Murray as Duff’s girlfriend Austin and Regina King as Sam’s fairy godmother Rhonda. The film was a commercial success and inspired multiple video films.
Murray, 44, shared his ideas for a sequel to the film in an interview with Parade in July. The original ending showed Austin and Sam heading to Princeton together.
“If I were to do that, I don’t think it would work out, just like a high school romance,” he said. “For the most part, they went their separate ways. They had their own lives.”
“Maybe at this point my character is a teacher, and I go back to school and I’m an English teacher, and Hilary Duff’s character is married and has kids[and]things don’t work out,” he continued.
“And now her daughter happens to be in my class, and you do a double Cinderella story. She’s a little shy and probably won’t fit in. And[my character]brings that up. And blah, blah, blah. I think that’s going to say something.”
Murray also shared why he thinks the film has stood the test of time.
“Young girls still watch this movie all the time, and every time it airs, I sit there and think, ‘You know what? They did a great job on this movie. Hats off to everyone who worked on this movie,'” he said. “They did a great job.”
