To say that Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman takes a “different” take on the classic Grimm fairy tale may be a bit of an understatement. After this weekend’s 2011 San Diego Comic-Con panel with director Rupert Sanders, producers Joe Roth and Palak Patel, and actors Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, and Sam Claflin, the enthusiastic crowd in attendance would agree that this Snow White turns the original on its head and made Snow White anything but “a little girl sitting by a well followed by tweety birds.”
Sanders had reinforced that they are approaching this in the same fashion as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in terms of re-imagining a classic tale and explained that this version will have an epic quality with large-scale battle scenes.
Theron and Stewart described this version’s characters in a pointed departure from their classic images – Theron talked about the Queen as “a serial killer, grounded in reality” and Stewart says that this Snow White is “totally un-self-conscious” and in the end “saves the day.”
A proof-of-concept short made by Sanders to secure the helm was shown to the crowd to give a sense of the feel of the film. Here’s a description of what was seen:
A voice-over emphasizes that the theme of the movie is about being confronted with death. Slightly disturbing fantasy images include a white fairy being born out of the body of a crow, giant wooden demons emerging from trees, knights hitting each other with swords and shattering into black stone, the crowned queen bathing in milk, castles on the edges of cliffs, and Snow White petting a giant wolf. This isn’t actual movie footage, and features unknown actors, but gives a sense of the look of the film.
Character portraits of each of the main characters in their costumes by Oscar-winner Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd) would be the best take-away from this panel. Looking at these portraits confirms what we reported to you earlier this month, this Snow White will be a “warrior in the woods.”
[Click images to blow sh!t up]
A bit of a spoiler was revealed that there are eight dwarves in this version due to copyright reasons (but one of them will die) and Sanders commented that he cast the dwarves as he would a British SAS squad.
When the cast was asked about stuntwork, most of the actors seemed to shy away from it. Hemsworth admitted that he’s “a big Australian wimp” in doing stuntwork, but Stewart has a harder edge to her than most people would think and seems to enjoy it and getting her hands dirty so to speak.
[Above: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Sam Clalfin]
Overall, this panel held so early in the project’s progress served as a teaser for what’s coming. The cast hasn’t had a chance to really work together yet so at this point, even they seem unsure what their chemistry will be like on-screen, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on this one for you!
Synopsis:
The film is said to offer a different take on the classic fairy tale, having Snow White (Kristen Stewart) banished by the evil queen (Charlize Theron), and forming a bond with the man who was sent to kill her, The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth). The Huntsman instead becomes her mentor, teaching her how to fight and defend herself and she “learns the ways of a warrior in the woods.”
Snow White and the Huntsman begins shooting this coming August and is slated to hit theaters on June 1st, 2012.
[Source] Deadline and a SFM Informant on-scene report
