What made you decide to tackle such a huge film, right out of the box?
RUPERT SANDERS: I came straight from the Mattel factory into the directors chair. Yeah, it is a big film. I couldnt get a small film, ironically. Its much harder to get a small film off the ground than it is to get a big film off the ground. But, the high stakes gamble on the roulette table is that, if it doesnt fall on your color, youre in a small prison in Burbank, for the rest of your movie-making days. Hopefully, that would happen.
Because you do such big-scale commercials, dont you feel like that helped prepare you?
SANDERS: Yeah, if you think of the money we spend on a minute, Im actually making a fairly low-budget film. Ive definitely loved doing commercials. Ive had so much fun. Ive traveled the world and Ive gotten to really take on a lot of challenging projects. Its not exactly the same, but its not dissimilar. Its like riding a bike. Once youve learned how to ride a bike, then you can get on a motorbike. It gives you confidence, knowing that you can work with a thousand extras or a massive fight sequence with 600 horses on a beach or whatever it is. I wouldnt have done it, if Id been wetting myself every morning, going in there scared. But, life is about taking those risks. It was a high-stakes risk, for myself and for the studio, who very kindly wrote a large check to me to get it done. And they werent there, whipping me into line, which was great. I was really expecting to be shuttered in, but they were great. They trusted what we were doing and they let us go, which is all you can really ask for, in a partnership with a studio.
As you got to know her and work with her, what were the discoveries you made about Kristen Stewart, as an actress, especially with how people perceive her from the Twilight Saga movies?
SANDERS: I think what I realized is that shes such a good actor that everyone thinks shes Bella Swan. They believe that thats her. Obviously, an actor is playing a role. She is nothing like Bella. And, I got on really well with Kristen. It was great. As I was writing stuff, she was there. We had a lot of conversations, seeing through her eyes. We really hard on developing that character together. I was just amazed at her talent, really. Shes incredibly good at her craft. Shes incredibly instinctive. Shes incredibly intuitive. She will overcome fear, like no one Ive met, when it comes to it. She didnt really want to ride a horse. She had a bad horse-riding accident, as a kid. When youre riding fast on a horse, with 200 others soldiers on horses riding behind you, through surf on a beach, thats terrifying. She really went there. She crafted the accent, and its flawless. Shes a stunning actor. I saw her first in Panic Room. Then, I saw her again in Into the Wild. I loved her in The Runaways. I loved her in Welcome to the Rileys. I think shes going to be incredible in On the Road. Shes a great actor, and people just go, Twilight girl, which is a testament to her. Shes kept this pipeline of interesting projects going on the side, so shes not just going to be that girl, forever more. Shes a great actor and shes made incredibly shrewd decisions for someone whos half my age.
Considering that, what were the challenges in ensuring that your film didnt get distracted by the fact that this is the girl that so many people see as Bella Swan?
SANDERS: Ive never seen the Twilight movies, so I didnt really care that much. I met her, I really got on with her, shes a great actor, and she was right for the character. Thats it. It was as simple as that, for me.
People havent gotten to see too much of her Snow White in the trailer footage thus far. Is that indicative of the movie, or are you just being really selective about how much you show?
SANDERS: No, shes the lead. Im not a marketing expert, but the way its positioned, I think were starting to bring her in, more and more. We dont want to give too much away. We just want to say, Heres the bad person, and heres someone whos trying to get to her. Weve only done teaser trailers. The more stuff people see, the more theyll see of her and the more theyll be pretty blown away by what she did.
Charlie Theron is known as being a great actress. What did she bring to the role of the Evil Queen, which could have ended up being camp, in the wrong hands?
SANDERS: When youre playing an Evil Queen, you can go into pantomime very quickly. What she did and whats indicative of the film we tried to make is that she grounded that in reality. She found a way of playing this character in a very modern, realistic and gritty way. Shes not, Off with her head! Shes not the Alice in Wonderland kind of queen. Its not that kind of film. Shes playing it pretty straight, as a very disturbed character whos desperately got to find this heart because she needs to live forever. Its as simple as that. Shes someone whos dead on the inside, but shes determined that she will avenge her family and the tribe that she was with, that was constantly brutalized by kings and by other kingdoms. Shes determined that the world will feel the suffering that she felt, and she will stop at nothing to do that. Shes totally dead. She doesnt feel anything of life, but she has to get that heart and she has to live forever and she has to avenge her people. Shes very driven by some very dark machinations. Shes also incredibly wounded and incredibly fragile underneath. Its an incredible performance.
Will there be backstories for all of the other characters?
SANDERS: Yeah, all of them have very rich backstories. Theyve all suffered a great deal of loss. This queen took over a kingdom. Shes someone whos suffered a lot of loss. She lost her family, she lost a tribe, and she found her way into this kingdom. Like a Trojan horse, she moves from kingdom to kingdom, hollowing them out from the inside. Shes like a siren who attracts these people to her beauty. The dwarves lost everything. They were down in the mines. Theyre noble goldminers who see light in the darkness. When they came up from the mines, the world was blackened and they lost all the other people in their race. The Huntsman lost a wife. Snow White lost a kingdom, both her parents, and the love of the people. Everyones dealing with loss, in very different ways.
Fairy tale re-imaginings have been a staple in literature, for some time, but now theyre also hot in Hollywood. Why is this the right time for that?
SANDERS: These things are cyclical, and they come and go. Theres been a lot of superheroes and this big scale of movie. Theyre always looking for something that they know something about, whether its a comic book or a fairy tale. It just happens to be that this is the time for fairy tales. Also, its a financial thing. Once one makes a lot of money, then everyone gets on the bandwagon. The same producer that did this, did Alice in Wonderland previously. He started this up again.
How do you feel the tone of this differs from Alice in Wonderland?
SANDERS: That was very hallucinogenic and it was very CG based and very otherworldly. Ours is a very realistic film. Its really a big swash-buckling, knights in shining armor movie with lots of castles on hilltops and horse battles and shattering black armies. Its a medieval fairy tale, the kind of scale of those films that people love, like Gladiator or Lawrence of Arabia. Its got those big, sweeping vistas, and its a big, imaginative world.
How much are you aware of Tarsems Mirror, Mirror and what is your perspective on his vision for Snow White?
SANDERS: We used to be represented at the same company, so I know of Tarsem. Its definitely a big veering from what he normally does. Its comedy, which is something that Tarsem is not known for. Were probably both getting a lot more publicity because both films are out there, but theyre very different. I think theres room for both of them. I hope we both succeed, and I hope that people want to see two versions. People love to go, Oh, Hollywood is making two movies about the same thing. Theyre so dumb. So, everyone talks about it and I think it helps the awareness of the projects.
Do you plan on seeing his film?
SANDERS: I dont know. If you see a hooded man in the back of the theater, [it will be me].
Fairy tales have themes that speak to people, throughout generations, even though there are different spins on them. How do you think your film is going to speak, eternally and specifically to whats happening right now?
SANDERS: Its a film that was made by a lot of people who are in their prime. You cant really hope to make a film for any other reason then it turns you on. I say, This is what I want to do, and this is how I want to tell it. You cant sit down with a flow chart and go, Well, 90% of the people want to see a raven, and 10% want to see this. Ill leave the focus groups to the marketing department. We just got on and made the film that we wanted to make. It was as simple as that.
Initially, fair tales functioned as parables, in a broader sense. What is the particular message youre telling with this?
SANDERS: The messages arent dissimilar. No one sat down and wrote the parables. They were word-of-mouth that were transcribed later, over generations. These were stories that were told around the campfires, for God knows how many years before the Grimms wrote them. They are parables. Theyre Biblical tales. The themes in ours are quite similar to the themes in the original. Were dealing with a lesson in how to deal with some of those things that are difficult about the human condition, like loss and death. I hope that we havent been preachy and said, Our parable is this. I hope theres enough in there that people take their own lessons from it. What we really wanted to do was make a film that touched people and stayed with them. I didnt want to just create wallpaper that looked pretty and dazzling, and then it was forgotten as you walked out into the street and got a taxi. I hope that its something that stays with people, and I hope that people get something from it. We did a test screening for a couple hundred people and there were a lot of young people there, and a lot of the response was very positive. People said, I really want my kids to see this kind of film because its not telling them to shoot people and drive fast cars. It has moral messages, but its not like were saying, Heres your moral message: You mustnt wear make-up. You mustnt have plastic surgery. Beauty is within. All those things are obviously part of it, but its not like, Heres our big message.
Before this, you were well known for your video game commercials, particularly for Halo. Was there ever any talk about you attempting to resurrect the Halo film?
SANDERS: No, no one called me. The industry is always looking for the next big thing. Theyre always trying to take people from commercials and music videos and film school, and find that. Its hard to find a project. I didnt want to just make a film. I waited five years, until I found a project that I really wanted to do. I was close on a couple of other things, and they didnt work out. You put a lot of work into something, and then it just goes by the wayside. Its a tough business and you have to stay strong, but you should never do something that isnt within you. When I first read this story and started to work on it, I found that it was within me and it was a story I felt I could tell, rather than just going to do some comic book that no one was doing. Its dangerous when you make a first film. You put so much of your life into it. Ive done nothing but Snow White for over a year. Its all-absorbing, and you have to do that, so you better make sure that youre in love with it. Its a marriage.
How appropriate is Snow White and The Huntsman for kids?
SANDERS: Well, its not for six year olds, but its for eight to 80. I think theres a message in it for everyone. Its certainly not for the kids who wear Snow White diapers.
What was your first exposure to the story of Snow White, and when did you learn about the darker elements of the Grimm fairy tales?
SANDERS: I read that before I saw the Disney one. The Disney one is still pretty dark, even for Disney. Its got, Bring me the heart, the lungs and the liver. Its a brutal story. In the original, she eats the heart, the lungs and the liver, and then finds out that its a deer. And then, at the end, to really rub in her jealousy, Snow White invites her to the wedding and makes her dance a death in molten steel shoes. Its a dark story. I dont think weve shied away from the darkness, and Disney actually didnt either. They just took a very different approach than we did, but the heart of the story is the same.
There are iconic elements to the Snow White story, like the apple and the mirror. How do you incorporate those elements, while also keeping the film grounded in reality?
SANDERS: You take the root of that idea. What is the mirror doing to the character of the Queen? Why is she asking it these things? What is it telling her? What does the apple symbolize? Going back to the parable, there are so many Biblical images in the story. All of those things are so laden, if you read a lot of Jung or Freud. With the mirror, the apple, the snake in the tree and the dark forest, its a very rich world. Were still scared of dark forests, for some bizarre reason. Theres nothing scary about trees or birds, but if you put someone in a dark forest, they get scared.
What does it add to the mythology to make this version of Snow White a warrior princess?
SANDERS: Warrior princess is something thats external, rather than being internal to the character. She wears a suit of armor, but shes not suddenly Bruce Lees adopted sister. She is wearing armor for protection, and she has to kill a queen. Shes not beheading people. She doesnt suddenly acquire these skills. Its very instinctual and defensive. She knows she has to kill someone, and that is abhorrent to her. That sword lies very uneasy in her hand.
How did Kristen Stewart take to the sword work?
SANDERS: I put that sword in her hand, as I would put it in any of your hands. If I told you someone was going to come through that door who had done something terrible to you and you had to kill them, Im sure youd *beep* give them a good run for their money. Thats really how she fights. Shes no ninja or samurai. Its purely reactive.
What was it about this story that resonated the most, for you?
SANDERS: For me, it was about loss, and being pulled away from somewhere you were safe and you were exposed to something terrifying. You have to find that within you, in order to tell a story properly. A lot of my process, going into it, was to find those things that really connected to me, and that was a recurring theme. Youll see a lot of people being pulled away from each other. Those things really resonated with me, and thats what I put into the story.
Why did you decide to have eight dwarves instead of seven?
SANDERS: I dont know, really. Its just weird, how those things happen. It wasnt like, Weve gotta have eight dwarves! It was like, *beep* it, lets have eight dwarves. The Snow White story, or Snow Drop story, just had dwarves. We werent trying to beat Disney. We just wanted one more.
What role do they play in the film?
SANDERS: Mythologically, dwarves are latent sexuality. They are half-men, so theyre about sexual awakening. There are no dwarf gang-bangs. Its really about another group of people who have lost everything, and they are touched by Snow White, and they decide that they will fight for their pride again, alongside her. Theyre very instigative, in taking her kingdom back with her.
Are they still the comic relief, at all?
SANDERS: They are funny, but its not slapstick humor. Theyre funny because theyre funny guys. Ray Winstone delivers this beautiful, allegoric speech about whats happened to them, as a tribe of people, and its really heartfelt. And then, he goes off and is really funny. We just let them go. Theyre a hysterical bunch.
How did you go about finding Kristen Stewarts British accent for the role?
SANDERS: If youre amongst the forest and theres knights in armor, all looking chivalrous behind you, and then Snow White says, Is that, like, my castle? So, it was important that she wasnt Californian. To fit into the world, all of the characters have accents from that part of the world. Chris Hemsworths accent is Scottish, and Kristens accent is very royal English. She was really great at it, and she did the work. Its easy to do an accent for a few minutes, but to be able to do it without thinking about it, so you can concentrate on the performance, is very hard. She worked with one of the best British dialect coaches. Its hours of work, and she did the work so that she was flawless. She didnt need to worry about it, and could get on with the performance.
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