Back in September, I reported that three different Snow White adaptations were in development in Hollywood: Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven, and Relativity Media’s The Brothers Grimm: Snow White. Now, Vulture’s unveiled Relativity is making a play to go into production first, offering the Brothers Grimm director’s chair to commercial director, Tarsem Singh. Never heard of him? Well, he’s responsible for this:
Admittedly, after seeing this, I’m not surprised he was picked for producer Brett Ratner’s “edgy” Snow White, which is assured to have pint-sized thieves, dragons, and 3D. (And maybe a scantily clad princess with a metal bra?) However, Singh’s also directed some visually striking features like The Cell and The Fall, so this may in fact be an interesting interpretation – at least visually. No deal’s been struck yet, but Relativity is building a rep for writing sizable checks, so they may be able to lure in a commercial director.
However, the real drama here is that Relativity Media has long been a co-financing partner with Universal Pictures, which has its own Snow White project, Snow White and the Huntsman, in development. Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh announced the greenlighting of Brothers Grimm last June, so when Universal bought The Huntsman script in October with a clear intention to go into production in short order, it triggered surprise to say the least.
What Kavanaugh has previously called a “true partnership” has involved a multiyear deal where Relativity was backing three of four Universal releases a year through 2011. Universal may be gunning for success independent of their trusted backers in the coming years, and burning them on Snow White is one way to accomplish that I guess. For its part, Relativity, predominantly a financial backer not a production studio, has been looking to move into producing, which may have felt threatening to Universal. Still, even by Hollywood standards, this is a crass move. Still, show business is still business.
So it’s come to this. As both films ready for the battle over casting, while Disney’s film flounders in development, it’s a race to the finish line/box office – which usually spells bad news for the quality of films.
We’ll all be watching to see how production on both projects unfolds, and we’ll keep you posted.
Do you think both projects will make to production? Which version of Snow White are you most interested in?
The above image photoshopped from Jeffrey Thomas’ stunning prints.