TheMusic.com.au Kristen Stewart believes that most people’s notion of Snow White is the sweet, demure Disney version of the character (“unless they read a lot of fairy tales as a kid, which I didn’t), and so she admits that she didn’t really see the potential of a new Snow White story when she first heard about the film.
“I didn’t really see why anyone would want to join her cause,” she says. “Back when the Disney version was made, being a caretaker, being delicate and sweet and maternal, was kind of an ultimate goal. But to do the story today, I think she has to do a little more than sweep house. When I read it, I could totally recognise Snow White within this very dark context as someone really, really trying to retain light and not harden.
“Right now, a lot of female characters that are trying to be strong are promoted as ‘Yeah, female empowerment!’ but in this case I’m glad she remained a girl, someone trying to find her strength and her steadiness and her compassion and her trust in herself. You know, we rip her heart out and stomp on it, put it back in her chest and see if it still beats… and it does. So I thought it was really impressive, the darkness and the light of this world.”
It was revealed this week that Stewart topped the Forbes magazine list of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses, her paydays for the last two Twilight Saga movies earning her more than $12 million (and her cut of her profits ramping it up even more). But her tastes seem to be run more towards the independent end of things, with the actress taking on roles in critically-acclaimed films like Adventureland, Into the Wild and The Runaways. So she was happily surprised when Snow White And The Huntsman offered her the opportunity to delve a little deeper into the creative process than she imagined it would.
West Australian If you are going to inject a classic fairy tale with contemporary relevance, it helps to have as your leading lady an actress who speaks to her generation. Director Rupert Sanders admits that he has seen only the first Twilight film - but he knew when it came to finding a girl who embodied all the qualities of the gutsy heroine at the centre of his first feature film, Snow White and the Huntsman, there could be no one better suited to the role than Kristen Stewart. "She's very contemporary and very spirited," Sanders says of the 22-year-old star who has become a household name playing Bella Swan in the hit vampire film franchise. "She carries a lot of weight on her shoulders and does it with far more years than she has under her belt. There was just something about that spirit that was undefined and raw that drew us to her. It's very unbridled and kind of un-manicured."
It's the morning after the Australian premiere of Snow White and the Huntsman (or SWATH as the film is known on Twitter), Sanders' ambitious, big-budget adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, featuring a stellar cast including Australian Chris Hemsworth and Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron.
In the plush confines of Sydney's Park Hyatt Hotel, Sanders is sitting alongside his leading lady whose casual leggings, old grey t-shirt and flannel shirt, belie the fact she has, just that morning, been named by Forbes as the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. "Well, she's worth every penny," he adds, giving the uncomfortable- looking actress a reassuring smile.
