A few weeks ago, we shared with you a feast for the eyes in the form of wickedly fanciful high resolution pictures from Relativity’s yet Untitled Snow White film. Not only did they give us a visually rich sneak peek at the film, but we could also glean the tone of the film and see the references back to the classic Snow White story.
Now, we know that this film is the more family-friendly film in comparison with Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, but how does Relativity’s take differ from the classic tale? Director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) tempts us with some spoilery details about Julia Robert’s Evil Queen character in an interview with CraveOnline.
When asked about his take on the Snow White tale, Singh describes pulling the viewer into a mindscape of the Evil Queen:
“[The Queen] looks into the mirror – and I just don’t want her talking to the mirror – so I said she enters the landscape, which is a mindscape, and in there is a house, inside which are many mirrors, and in those mirrors she just talks to herself. So basically, it’s like all those nasty people that’ll always do what they want to do, but they hear voices, or [say] people told them. So it’s actually just her talking to herself. She’s just bad, but wants to outsource the evil and say “That thing told me.”
So, it’s a classic evil baddie, but will she get her comeuppance? Singh confirms this point with some horrifying details:
“For me, in this one, she gets turned into a hag. Because basically there’s a particular charm that she’s put around something that gets broken, her true age comes out. So it isn’t “I’m melting, I’m melting,” but it’s pretty gross! [Laughs]”
It also sounds like Julia Roberts throws her weight around the production as much as she does in the film:
“It was much, much, much, much easier to do, because Julia [Roberts] was so on my side and everyone’s terrified of going against [her]. So all my fights were taken care of.”
[The Shakedown]
Now, Singh clearly performs better in visual representation than verbal discourse, but so far Relativity’s Untitled Snow White sounds like it maintains the classic format of good triumphing over evil. This will undoubtedly be a beautiful film to watch but will it be an interesting take on Snow White story? We’ll have to wait and see.
Press Release:
Relativity Media’s upcoming film Untitled Snow White, is a spectacular reimagining of the classic fairy tale starring Oscar® winner Julia Roberts as the Queen, Lily Collins (The Blind Side) as Snow White, Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as Prince Alcott, Sean Bean (The Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) as the King and Nathan Lane (The Lion King, The Birdcage) as the Queen’s hapless and bungling servant, Brighton. Visionary director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) rewrites fairy tale history as a wicked enchantress (Roberts) schemes and scrambles for control of a spirited orphan’s (Collins) throne and the attention of a charming prince (Hammer). When Snow White’s beauty wins the heart of the prince that she desperately pursues, the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a ravening man-eating beast hungrily awaits.
The as yet Untitled Snow White Project is slated to hit theaters on March 16th, 2012.
