SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
This is a little late, but better late than never, right? I went to this panel at Comic-Con because I wanted a little bit more insight into what separated this film and the other upcoming Snow White movie helmed by Tarsem Singh. What I learned from the panel was that the two films could not be more different. What I can say from seeing brief glimpses of both projects is that they both seem to promise very visually-striking films.
I am not a fan of Kristen Stewart. I think she’s a one-dimensional actress who seems to be drawn to the same types of misfit/outsider/emo hipster roles again and again. This was one of the reasons why I wasn’t too excited about this project. It also didn’t help that producer Joe Roth pretty much said that the reason they went with Stewart (instead of an unknown actress, which was the original goal) was because they wanted the opportunity to be the movie that would take her out of the Twilight franchise. Not exactly a vote of confidence there.
However, upon the announcement that this film will also star Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen character (we find out from the Comic-Con panel that she was the one and only choice for the role, too) and Chris Hemsworth playing the title role of the Huntsman, I was instantly intrigued. Add to that the addition of Rupert Sanders at the helm of this project and it sweetened the deal even more. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rupert Sanders’ work, you can check out a few of his commercials here. As you can see, this guy is extremely talented, and not only do his commercials look visually stunning and original, but they all have a story and some heart to them. That said, when it came time for him to reveal a brief video clip that he put together in 3 days’ time that would showcase his vision for Snow White and the Huntsman, as expected, the audience was pretty much blown away by what he had to offer.
I can tell you that this is an extremely ambitious film and as producer Joe Roth mentioned, they are planning this film on a scale of The Lord of the Rings, so that’s going to give you a taste of what to expect. For some, perhaps the film seems to be trying a bit too much to have that Middle-Earth flavor. From the picture above, Kristen Stewart’s Snow White dons a shield whose coat of arms bears an uncanny resemblance to the White Tree of Gondor (featured on Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn below):
And add to that Chris Hemsworth’s Strider-like look in this promo picture below:
…I guess they really like Aragorn. After all, Viggo Mortensen was originally supposed to play the Huntsman, before finally backing out of the project. Perhaps he wasn’t interested in making a wannabe Lord of the Rings?
Now it may sound like I’m ragging on the film, but the truth is I was blown away by the video reel that Rupert Sanders showed and I can’t wait for this movie to come out, as it looks to be really exciting. Sure, maybe there’s not a lot of originality in some parts, but it’s too early to tell where this movie could go. Since I mentioned Tarsem Singh’s Snow White project as well, here’s a look of what actress Lily Collins is slated to look like:
Talk about a stark contrast, huh?
