Yesterday, the first teaser trailer for Rupert Sandersâ Snow White and The Huntsman arrived online, andâbased on the feedback Iâve been privy toâthe response has been cautiously optimistic. The film features Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Kristen Stewart (the Twilight franchise), and Charlize Theron (the upcoming Young Adult), and from what we saw in the trailer, Sanders has put together the most action-packed take on the Snow White story ever to grace the silver screen. But besides Hemsworth tossing around a big-ass hatchet, what can we expect from this somewhat-bizarre new take on the Snow White story? I sat down with the film's writer, Evan Daugherty, to get answers. You can find out what he had to say for himself after the jump, folks.Letâs just come right out and say what everyoneâs thinking here: do we really need another Snow White movie? Like Robin Hood, the Snow White legend has been adapted to film many times, with varying degrees of success (the Disney version is the gold standard, but God knows thereâs been plenty of other adaptations: IMDb tells me thereâs no less than 20 films with Snow White in the title), and another go âround seems like it might beâ¦well, a little less than original.At least, thatâs what I was thinking before yesterdayâs Snow White and The Huntsman teaser trailer arrived. This versionâwritten by Evan Daugherty, [Edit: Daugherty's people inform us that he's the only credited writer on the film], and directed by Rupert Sandersâshowed off what appears to be a bit of an epic: massive monsters, elaborate sets, Hemsworth whipping hammers around like lawn darts, andâin one very memorable shotâstar Charlize Theron writhing around in nothing more than what appears to be milk. This version of Snow White might turn out to be a complete trainwreck (Iâd bet against that, but who knows these days?), but if that trailerâs any indication, itâll be one of the most interesting-looking, action-packed, Snow White-based trainwrecks Hollywoodâs ever produced.Anyway, the trailer got me curious, so I was happy to sit down with Evan Daugherty to ask a few questions about the production. If youâre into the whole brevity thing, hereâs the highlights from our chat:
- Daugherty just sold a TV pilot to NBC, currently titled After Thought, which he tells me is âInception meets CSIâ.
- Daugherty says he wrote the film âsitting in a dorm room in (his) boxersâ back in 2003.
- He also tells us that Snow White and The Huntsman is more âaction-adventureâ-ish than the other Snow White project currently on the horizon (thatâd be Mirror, Mirror, arriving next March).
And now, for the rest of our slightly-more-patient readers, hereâs the full transcription of the conversation I had with Daugherty last night:
So, the trailer debuted online today, andâfrom what Iâve seenâthe response seems to be pretty positiveâ¦
EVAN DAUGHERTY:Â Yes!
And so, the first question I want to ask you is, why another Snow White movie? Weâve seen a whole bunch of variations on the Snow White story. To me, itâs the same thing as another Robin Hood. So, whatâs different about this version?
DAUGHERTY: Well, I wrote this script in 2003, when I was a humble college student, sitting in my boxers and writing in my dorm room. And I came up with the idea of writing an action-based Snow White, with this kind of Huntsman character as kind of a way in. So, thatâs something Iâm sort of proud of. Some people think that this is the era of revisionist fairy tales, and was this sort of a cynical grab? Well, the fact of the matter is, this is something that came from a very organic place. I think thereâs something to be said for the fact that people in Hollywood didnât want to make it back then, yâknow, and that fairy tales somehow became a trendâ¦but, for me, when youâre looking back at those old fairy tales, those stories are sort of about men saving women and the heroic prince saving the damsel in distress. And that didnât seem like a particularly modern way of talking about things. So, my guiding principle became, âWhat if, instead of saving Snow White, the Huntsman teaches Snow White to save herself?â
Uh-huh.
DAUGHERTY: So, the reason Iâm excited about it is, what had been a sort of frilly, fairy-tale world has been reinvented with a more subversive tone. Thereâs more action and adventure, itâs very Lord of The Rings-ish, and thatâs something thatâs been in there from the very first draft. People seemed kind of surprised by the teaser, but I was like, âYeah, well, thatâs what it is.â Yâknow, I read the talkbacks and the comment boards, and thereâs always some haters out thereâ¦but I think with this people see our intentions.
I think the teaser did a pretty decent job of showing that it was a different take on the story, for sure. When you were writing, did you have anyone in mind for the part of Snow White? If you were writing or back in 2003, surely you werenât thinking of Kristen Stewart for the role back then, right?
DAUGHERTY: Not really.  That was more in the era of Keira Knightley, but funnily enough, and I think I was telling this to Kristen, butâ¦I wrote Snow White shortly after Panic Room came out. And when we were just hanging around the dorms with my buddies talking about the movie, I think I did say that Kristen Stewart would be good for the role. Obviously, sheâd need to be a little older, but it would take a few years to get the movie made. I mean, that was her first big thingâJodie Fosterâs daughter in Panic Room.
I always forget she was in that.
DAUGHERTY: Well, yâknow, sheâs really young, and sheâs got super-short hair. But itâs a great movie, and she had to carry quite a bit ofâ¦yâknow, thereâs only, like, four people in that movie.  Thatâs a pretty big acting load for that age.
What did it feel like when you found out they actually wanted to make it after all these years?
DAUGHERTY: It was insane, surreal. I wrote it purely for funâI mean, also because I wanted to be a screenwriter someday, but also for funâbut it wasnât until years later that I got an agent, and even then it was sitting on a hard drive for a long time. But once it started coming together it was just surreal. When I wrote the scene about the Huntsman being sent to kill Snow White by the Queen, I was just sitting alone in my room, thinking up weird stuff. And then, this morning, seeing the trailer, I was like, âwell, thereâs that sceneâ. Itâs really just surreal. And cool.
What do you think about the competing Snow White project? It seems like every few years two projects will spring up that are mirrors of one another: Deep Impact and Armageddon, or when they were talking about making two Alexander movies. Now itâs two Snow Whites. What do you think about that: creative synergy, or is someone getting ripped off?
DAUGHERTY: I donât think people are getting ripped off. Thatâs just a function of the way Hollywood works behind the scenes. The truth is, there are probably eight more Snow White scripts floating around out there. And once one Snow White script got hot, other people started pulling out their Snow White scripts. I dunno, I think theirs is a little more kid-friendly, a little more cartoon-y and family-friendly? I think itâs called Mirror, Mirror now, so it doesnât even have Snow White in the title. But it seems like the two movies are trying to distance themselves from one another, which seems like a smart move.
Yeah, Iâd agree.
DAUGHERTY: When I visited the set for Snow White a couple weeks ago, it was likeâ¦yâknow, itâs a big Lord of The Rings kinda thing, with axe-fighting and trolls and armies fighting. And I think the otherâs more fairy-tale-ish and traditional.
Obviously that would put pressure on a production to get your movie out first, but in a practical sense, how much do you actually think about that stuff? Is it something hanging over the production every day, or something you think about once and then never again, or not for a long time?
DAUGHERTY: To be honest, I havenât heard too much about the other Snow White recently. In the early days, there was some talk, and we were like, âDo we need to worry about this?â But not now. Once it became clear that we were getting Charlize and Chris and Rupert Sanders we stopped worrying about their movie and more about ours. By the way, though, their movie comes out first. Ours comes out in June, while theirs comes out in Marchâ¦but remember, when Deep Impact and Armageddon came out, both those movies did well. I think thereâs room, especially since each is carving out its own vibe.
Cool. Now, Kristen Stewartâs a wildly popular actress amongst the Twilight set, and Snow Whiteâs a popular story with children. But for every two Twilight fans, thereâs probably one Twilightâ¦uhâ¦non-fan. How are you planning to convince all the Twilight haters and non-fairy-tale fans that they need to come out to theaters to see another Snow White? Do you anticipate any difficult getting adult males into theaters for this?
DAUGHERTY: Well, thatâs a very good and salient point you make. Because it is based on a fairy tale, and it does have a female lead. But one of the great things about this sort of projectâand one of the reasons I think they wanted to make itâwas that this movie isnât just about Snow White. Itâs called Snow White and The Huntsman, because youâve got Kristen Stewart being mentored by Chris Hemsworth, whoâs sort of doing his badass Thor thing. But instead of hammers, heâs got axes. So, I think the teaser kind of speaks for itself. I think itâs kind of a tough, muscular, gritty...and, by the way, Iâve visited the set, and I can tell you that this is a pretty badass Kristen Stewart that you havenât seen before. So, hopefully, Iâd say look at that teaser. Up until now, when Iâve told my peersâguys in their 20âs and 30âsâthat I was working on a Snow White action movie, they were kind of like, âOK, yeah, well, good luck with thatâ. But after the teaser was up, I posted that to my Facebook or whatever, and they were likeâhopefully honestlyââwow, this actually looks pretty coolâ.
I think you were smart to have an action-heavy trailer. And some of the effects looked pretty cool.
DAUGHERTY: Yeah! And, by the way, the movieâs a lot like the teaser. Iâve seen a mock-up of the opening battle, and itâs pretty intense. No oneâs pulling the wool over anyoneâs eyes.
What kind of rating are you aiming for?
DAUGHERTY: Iâm almost certain itâll be a PG-13. Donât quote me on thatâ¦or, well, yeah, quote me on that. But this is going to be as smart and cool as a big action movie can be. Thereâs some swords, some hacking, some axes and scary creaturesâ¦
Just out of curiosity, whatâs that big-ass beast-looking thing in the woods that we see in the trailer? I was curious about that.
DAUGHERTY: Ah, yes. I dunno if I should say. I dunno what Iâm on radio-silence on. Itâsâ¦Iâll say this: thatâs a critical moment in Snow Whiteâs progression from where she starts at the beginning on the road to become the armored Snow White we see at the end of the trailer.
Cool. You got any other projects you wanna talk about?
DAUGHERTY: Yeah! That TV show, After Thought, is really exciting. Itâs a cross between Inception and CSI that Iâm working on with Melissa Rosenberg from the Twilight movies. And weâre shooting a movie that I wrote in January that used to be called Shrapnel; itâs now called Killing Season. That stars Robert DeNiro and John Travolta, and itâsâ¦remember that movie The Edge, where itâs like two dudes fighting in the woods, very small-scale? Itâs like that.
Awesome! Well, thanks for your time, and hopefully weâll talk to you again before the film comes out!
DAUGHERTY:Â Absolutely!
And that, my friends, was my time with Evan Daugherty. Stay tuned for more on Snow White and The Huntsman as we get closer to the filmâs June, 2012 release date, and be sure to sound off in the comments section with your thoughts on yesterdayâs teaser trailer: if Evanâs telling us the truth (and we believe he is!), heâll be reading your thoughts!