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Point of View
If fairytales and the world of make believe are enchanting, Mirror Mirror is beyond enchantment in an adorable, huggable kind of way.
It is the kind of film you want to put in your pocket and take home with you, and open like a music box to revisit its charm.
There's a world of difference between what's cute, cuddly and cheesy, and a film that has the charm of a 1000 fairytales, combining the magic realism of its vibrantly constructed imaginary fantasy world, and the reality it reflects of the world today, where glamorous television shows like Top Billing celebrate the lifestyles and opulence of the rich and famous.
The overall enjoyment and splendor of Mirror Mirror is the result of director Tarsem Singh, who is known for his attention to detail, stunning art direction and highly developed visual storytelling abilities. He is one of the most highly acclaimed and sought-after directors within the worldwide advertising community, and whose spectacular epic action film Immortals grossed more than $215 million worldwide.
Singh understands the potent potion of magic realism; educated at a Himalayan boarding school in Shimla, India, and graduating from Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, he is an extreme visualist, whose elaborate and sometimes over-the-top embellishment results in rewarding viewing and first rate entertainment.
Singh gloriously brings Marc Klein's screenplay to life (which he co-wrote with Jason Keller, based on a story by Melisa Wallack); Klein is a romantic idealist, and as with his previous screenplays for Serendipity and A Good Year, he is empathetic towards romance and indulges in its passion and its untamed temperament. Keller, who also wrote the screenplay for Machine Gun Preacher, knows how to deal with the human condition and infuses the fairytale with humanity.
Singh is also blessed with a heavenly cast. Julia Roberts is truly in her element and magnificent in her larger than life performance as Evil reincarnated, and is equally memerising as her alter ego, whose playful wickedness is delightful.
Roberts is also very funny as the older woman who is seduced by the beauty and innocence of the young prince who stands half-naked before her throne.
Armie Hammer makes a great Prince and will definitely garner a lot of new fans after Mirror Mirror. Equally beguiling is Lily Collins as Snow White, who is not only a picture of fairytale innocence, but an equally daredevil action hero when pushed to the limits.
Nathan Lane once again proves that he is one of the top comedians of our time; his delivery and comic timing is brilliant. When he is transformed into a cockroach by the Evil Queen and then recalls the horror, only Lane can deliver a line like: "A Grasshopper took advantage of me in a very unnatural way!"
Then there are the adorable seven dwarfs, unlike anything you could have ever imagined.
For his reinterpretation of the iconic Dwarfs, Singh found seven extraordinary actors. Rather than rely on the familiar band of animated figures for inspiration, the filmmakers allowed each of the actors to define an original character; the characters were developed around their personalities and each of them contribute something special in terms of helping Snow White to grow into the woman she must become.
Butcher, Grimm, Half-Pint, Napoleon, Wolf, Chuckles, and Grub are brilliantly brought to life by Martin Klebba, Danny Woodburn, Mark Povinelli, Jordan Prentice, Sebastian Saraceno, Ronald Lee Clark and Joe Gnoffo respectively.
If you want to escape into a world that is spectacular beyond belief, hilarious and a total fun ride from start to finish, allow the magic of Mirror Mirror to cast its spell of happiness. Review by Daniel Dercksen. Rating 5/5
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The Story
One of the most beloved stories of all time comes to life in the spectacular motion picture event Mirror Mirror, starring Lily Collins (The Blind Side) as Snow White and Oscar-winner Julia Roberts as the evil Queen.
A fresh and funny retelling of the classic fairy tale, the film also stars Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as the Prince, Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the King, and Nathan Lane (The Birdcage) as the Queen's hapless and bungling servant, Brighton.
After a beloved King vanishes, his ruthless wife seizes control of the kingdom and keeps her beautiful 18-year-old stepdaughter, Snow White, hidden away in the palace. But when the princess attracts the attention of a charming and wealthy visiting prince, the jealous Queen banishes the girl to a nearby forest.
Taken in by a band of rebellious but kindhearted dwarfs, Snow White blossoms into a brave young woman determined to save her country from the Queen. With the support of her new friends, she roars into action to reclaim her birthright and win back her Prince in this magical adventure comedy that will capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences the world over.
Tarsem Singh (Immortals, The Cell) directs from a screenplay by Marc Klein (Serendipity) and Jason Keller (Machine Gun Preacher) from a screen story by Melisa Wallack (Meet Bill).
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The director
Tarsem Singh is known for his attention to detail, stunning art direction and highly developed visual storytelling abilities. He is one of the most highly acclaimed and sought-after directors within the worldwide advertising community. Singh's epic action film Immortals grossed more than $215 million worldwide.
Singh was educated at a Himalayan boarding school in Shimla, India. He came to the United States when he was 24 years old and graduated from Pasadena's Art Center College of Design.
The director's major breakthrough was in REM's music video Losing My Religion, which won a Grammy Award and eight MTV awards including Best Music Video. Over the years, Singh has garnered numerous other awards including two Press Grand Prix awards in Cannes as well as D&AD, DGA and BAFTA Britannia awards.
Singh's first feature film was The Cell, a beautiful, shocking and hallucinatory psychological thriller.
In his second feature film, The Fall, Singh expanded his directorial role into that of producer and co-writer. Part heroic journey, part pure celebration of storytelling, The Fall shot in exotic locations spanning 25 countries and was hailed as one of the most original releases of 2006.
Currently, Singh splits his time between Los Angeles and London.
The Writers
Marc Klein (Screenplay) made his first impression on audiences worldwide with the acclaimed Miramax release Serendipity. Directed by Peter Chelsom (Shall We Dance), the film tells an enchanting tale of a long-distance love that stands the test of time and happenstance. Serendipity garnered positive notices for Klein's richly drawn romantic characterizations and a narrative economy which branded the film's time-lapsing effect.
Klein also adapted Peter Mayle's revered novel, A Good Year, for director Ridley Scott, which tells the story of an Englishman (played by Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe) who inherits a vineyard in Provence, only to arrive at his property to find an American woman (Abbie Cornish) who claims the land is hers.
Klein made his directorial debut with Suburban Girl (aka The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing), which he also adapted for the screen. Melissa Banks' international bestseller is the endearing tale of a Manhattan book editor (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who changes her take on the game of romance after she lures the attention of an influential older man (Alec Baldwin).
Klein is currently writing an original romantic comedy, Unreasonable Doubt, for Universal Studios and director Jon Turtletaub (National Treasure). He is also rewriting his original screenplay TMI, which he sold to Universal with co-writer Kirsten Smith.
Klein resides in Los Angeles.
Jason Keller (Screenwriter) is an up-and-comer whose feature work has attracted Hollywood's most desired talent and established him as a go-to screenwriter of muscular, character-driven projects. His first produced feature was Marc Forster's emotional action-thriller Machine Gun Preacher, the film tells the true story of a former drug-dealing gang member who single-handedly rescued hundreds of destitute children conscripted by warlords in Sudan's vicious civil war.
Keller's next project is a page-one rewrite for Summit Entertainment, the action-filled The Tomb. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone will star for Danish director Mikael Håfström (1408), with Mark Canton and Robbie Brenner producing.
Keller's screen adaptation of the A.J. Baime book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, tentatively titled Go Like Hell, is in development at Fox for director Michael Mann. The story focuses on the exciting rivalry Ford instigated with Ferrari in 1966 to establish itself as the dominant player on the international race circuit.
Keller recently completed his adaptation of Justin Cronin's epic 2009 novel The Passage for Fox. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) has been developing the project and chose Keller as his collaborator. The Passage is the first installment of Cronin's planned trilogy set in the future, after a government experiment to lengthen human lifespans ends up turning people into vampires.
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Keller was attending Ball State University when a professor recommended him for a yearlong theater and film studies program at Regents College in London. There, he wrote and directed his own plays. In 1998, he received a New Harmony Writing Fellowship for his play "Paris Moon."
After the program, Keller dropped out of college and moved to L.A. to pursue a writing career. To pay rent on his austere Koreatown apartment and buy gas for his 12-year old beater of a car, he signed on for any production job he could find. While working as grip, gaffer, assistant and countless other jobs, Keller continued to teach himself the craft of screenwriting. He partnered with a friend to co-write a spec script that somehow found its way to Mel Gibson, without representation involved. After the writers completed an unpaid rewrite to address his notes, Gibson bought the script.
Keller got an agent and his first solo spec, Sugar's Sweet Science of Bruising, sparked a bidding war between some of Hollywood's top talent. In the end, it sold to New Line for $1.4 million. While the project was never made, it marked the end of Keller's hand-to mouth existence.
Today, Keller lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles.
Melisa Wallack (Screen Story) was named one of Variety's "Top 10 Screenwriters to Watch" in 2005. Since then, she has written both features and television. Currently, she is writing Emily the Strange for Universal with Chloe Grace Moretz attached to star. She is also co-producing Dallas Buyers Club, which she co-wrote with Craig Borten. The film is scheduled to shoot this spring with Mathew McConaughey attached to star and Jean-Mark Vallee directing.
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An innocent young royal, a wicked stepmother, a charming prince and seven little men living in the woods--the elements of Tarsem Singh's latest epic may seem familiar, but audiences will be surprised and delighted by new twists the visionary director has brought to an age-old tale in Mirror Mirror.
According to producer Bernie Goldmann, who collaborated with producer Josh Pate and writer Melisa Wallack to develop the initial concept for Mirror Mirror, they were inspired by a photograph depicting a live model as the fairy-tale heroine. "What we set out to do was to make a live action version of the classic fairy tale, Snow White, that had the feel, the size and the scope of an animated movie. We realized that it's a great story that had never been explored narratively in a live-action movie."
In looking for a director to turn the concept into reality, Goldmann says Tarsem Singh was the obvious choice. "Tarsem was the perfect filmmaker to direct this film," says Goldmann. "He knows how to enhance a story with color and light and is very comfortable with the kind of scope we wanted for this movie. There's no one else like him."
For Singh, who was finishing up work on the action epic Immortals for Relativity Media, this project was a chance to tackle something he had never done before: a family-friendly movie that combines action, comedy and intrigue with his signature visual splendor. "This was one of the few projects I was interested in doing," says Singh. "It's a totally different energy from my other films and I was deeply interested in updating a classic and eternal story."
With Singh on board, the script began to take shape as a stunning big-screen spectacle leavened with humor and romance. Singh and Goldmann decided that the best way to start the search for a unique take on the classic tale was by returning to the original story. They discovered a wealth of options. "The story actually has existed for five or six hundred years throughout Europe, in many different countries and different versions," says Goldmann. "We were able to incorporate what we learned from our research into the concept for our movie."
Singh explains: "Going back and looking at the original story was a very important process. There are thousands of different variations that have developed since it was first written. These variations provided us with many inspired ideas that were later used in the film."
For example, in some of the early versions, the dwarfs earn their living as highway robbers. In the words of one of the film's characters, they "steal from the rich--and keep it." "We thought that was an interesting thing to go back to," says Goldmann. "It gives whole other side to their characters. They've been marginalized by society and this is their revenge.
"In some of the stories, we also discovered a beast of sorts that lived in the woods and we decided to bring that into our story," Goldmann continues. "Then we also expanded the role of the King and added a mystery surrounding him."
In addition to historical incarnations of the Snow White tale, Singh plumbed his own considerable imagination for inspiration. "I knew right away that the bulk of this narrative was going to center on the relationship between the Queen, Snow White and the Prince," he says.
Goldmann is confident the film will resonate with audiences of all ages and would like to see it take its place beside other big screen adaptations of classic tales. "Hopefully, this is a movie that will play for years as a perennial family favorite and redefine the story of Snow White."
The art of original filmmaking
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