Last week, we brought you casting news of Lily Cole and Sam Spruell in Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen, and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman. Cole is playing Greta, of which little is known at this time about the role, and Spruell will be Finn, “the Queen’s henchman sent to kill the Huntsman.”
In an interview with EW, producer Joe Roth (Alice in Wonderland, Oz: The Great and Powerful) explained that Snow White and the Huntsman is actually the first in a planned trilogy of films and revealed how exactly this re-imagining of the classic fairytale will be similar to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and differs from the Julia Roberts Snow White film:
“We retain the basic story in the same way we retain the basic story of Alice, a young girl meant to be the queen who is cast out. The Huntsman is a mercenary, in the sense that he’s a guy who is very able in the woods, more able than most anyone. His job is to capture runaway girls, who are all fleeing the kingdom because of the queen. He’s a nondescript bounty hunter, as we first meet him. He’s not a nice guy, but not only that he’s someone who has lost hope and lost faith. He has lost his wife, given up on everything.”
[Above: Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart]
In Snow White and the Huntsman, the Huntsman teams up with Snow White to take down the Evil Queen. Roth indicates significant departure from the classic story in the character of Snow White in describing her as a “warrior in the woods:”
“She starts out not a damsel in distress, but innocent, and after 11 years of imprisonment by the Evil Queen, she escapes and learns the ways of a warrior in the woods.”
Roth believes that this role will allow Kristen Stewart to stretch out from behind her Twilight role of Bella:
“Frankly, what we did, we searched high and low for an unknown. Which was my want after Alice. As we went through it, it just became evident to me that Kristen occupies a space in the universe where she’s a terrific actress only known for one part. I hope this is a movie that will appeal to those who find Twilight appealing, but also [Stewart] is someone who has some piss and vinegar in her.”
Are you ready for Kristen Stewart to be a “warrior in the woods?” Can she pull this off?
Snow White and the Huntsman begins shooting this coming August and is slated to hit theaters on June 1st, 2012.
