The Good Girl

AS THE LIVING EMBODIMENT OF THE MOST FAMOUS DISNEY PRINCESS, LILY JAMES KNOWS HOW LUCKY SHE IS TO HAVE THAT GLITTERY FAN BASE. BUT LIFE ISN’T ALL CINDERELLA STORIES, AND THREE NEW ROLES COULD MAKE THE FAIRY TALE MUCH MORE INTERESTING.

- Emily Zemler

It’s Wednesday at 3 P.M., and Lily James is handing me a shot of Patrón XO Cafe, a sticky coffee-infused tequila that goes down way easier than it should. “It’s good, isn’t it?” the actress asks after we toss them back. “I much prefer it to, like, tequila-tequila.” She licks her lips. “I find that really drinkable.”

We’re at a pub in Finsbury Park, a neighborhood of North London that isn’t known for being particularly posh, and since James has the luxury of an afternoon off, it feels appropriate to day-drink. It started with a few frames of bowling next door at Rowans Tenpin Bowl, then some pints, then talk of something called a “strawpedo,” where you reportedly suck Smirnoff Ice out of a bottle as quickly as possible. Thankfully, this pub, a typical British working-class spot called the Twelve Pins, doesn’t serve Smirnoff Ice. So instead, we’re slamming back shots of tequila.

Here’s what you’re probably thinking: Isn’t Lily James known as a good-girl actress? She’s doing shots on a Wednesday afternoon in a dingy pub? Didn’t she play Cinderella?