We’re completely intrigued by the prospect of Tarsem Singh’s reimagining of “Snow White.” The stellar cast, combined with Singh’s trademark visionary style, is sure to result in a surprising and unique twist on the classic fairy tale.
Shortly after the announcement that Lily Collins was cast as Snow White, MTV News sat down with Singh at WonderCon 2011. He revealed some juicy details about the film, slated to hit theaters in June of 2012.
There’s been much ado about his leading lady’s signature feature, and Singh didn’t hesitate to jump on the bandwagon, joking about why he chose Lily Collins: “Her eyebrows. I just saw her eyebrows and I said, ‘That’s Snow White!’”
What really interested us, though, is the detail that he afforded regarding the aesthetic of the film.
“If you looked at Gaudi’s architecture, based in England, done like a turn-of-the-century Russian film, done by an Indian guy," he laughed. "It’s kind of, like, very monochromatic – everything is in snow, but the costumes are very colorful, and so it’s like, no color and a lot of color.” Sounds, to us, like he’ll be taking his concepts from “The Fall” a step further – exciting!
Speaking of “The Fall,” what of the costume design in “Snow White”? Singh said, particularly of his Evil Queen (Julia Roberts): “Usually for me I never know how actors give you all the trust, because the stuff that I make people wear can not look ridiculous, it looks ridiculous. I end up pushing it so much that if you don’t trust that in the end you won’t be left completely hammy… it’s amazing to get her trust. She just said, ‘No – I want to make a movie with you and in your style.’ So, for me, we threw everything out there and we'll just see how much is palatable.”
Singh also revealed that he cast the film backwards, for very specific reasons. “I kind of went the other way around, as opposed to… usually it’s Snow White, then the dwarves, then the prince, then the queen," he said. "But I had to turn it around the other way -- the queen first, then the prince, because the prince goes both ways in this film. He’s pulled towards the queen and he’s pulled towards Snow White, and then Snow White. So if Snow White is going to be very young, let’s say, the queen would have to be younger, too, or the prince would have to fall in between… so I went the other way.”
And how does Singh feel about his final cast? “The first queen that I wanted I got, the first prince that I wanted I got, and the first Snow White that I wanted I got!”
Let’s hope all that luck in the casting room translates to the film’s look and feel come next June!
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