VOGUE – She may be most famous at the moment for playing the corseted lead role in Disney’s latest epic, Cinderella, but Lily James is much more of a low-key, jeans-and-jumper girl at heart.

“When the cameras are off I’m basically in jeans and my boyfriend’s jumpers. That’s it – jeans and jumpers,” she told us this weekend. “For the red carpet I have an amazing stylist and I go to her living room and these amazing gowns are spilling out of the windows, so that’s side of it I’ve got complete faith in, but I do find the make-up and the hair and the getting ready all quite stressful because it’s so far removed from how I am when I’m off duty.”

Wardrobe and make-up aside, there are other differences between Lily and her rag-to-riches character (she admits to being more like Walt Disney’s heroines Belle and Pocahontas in real life), and, while she loved the four-month experience of making the fairy-tale epic, the former Downton Abbey star is looking forward to working on a completely different genre when her current commitments are over.

“I’m actually doing War and Peace at the moment playing Natasha Rostova so it couldn’t get more epic after Cinderella than that – which is slightly daunting – but afterwards I’d really love to do an indie film or something completely different that’s modern and fresh.”

Well on her way to becoming the home-grown starlet to watch on the international stage, James is looking to mirror the successful career trajectory of another British film star.

“I think Keira Knightley is amazing and I’ve heard also that she is one of the coolest, most down-to-earth, brilliant girls and I really look up to her in that respect,” she enthused. “She’s got it all really and I think she’s made interesting bold choices in her work.”

High praise that, ironically, currently describes James herself.

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