Brandy and Montalban inspired a generation to believe in their dreams a little harder (impossible? I don’t know her) but through their onscreen love story, they also brought to life something we rarely get to see on TV: an interracial romance that didn’t center whiteness. In the OG Cinderella’s world, a Black queen (Whoopi Goldberg) and white king (Victor Garber) could make a Filipino son. A Filipino Prince Charming and a Black Princess wasn’t treated as irregular, or impossible, it just was. And it was beautiful. I can’t count how many times I rewatched the iconic ballroom scene where Brandy’s Cinderella and Montalban’s Prince Charming waltz to “10 Minutes Ago” singing to each other like there’s no one else in the room. By the time they sing “I have found her” and “I have found him” while twirling effortlessly across the dance floor, it was a wrap. It was the most romantic thing I had ever seen and truly altered my brain chemistry, setting the bar high for romance and the standard for the kind of chemistry two leads should have in movies like this. Brandy told me that after all these years, that connection was still there.
