5 things to know about Winter’s War
Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Chris Hemsworth star in prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White and the Huntsman was hardly celebrated by critics, but moviegoers supported the fantasy flick to the tune of nearly US$400 million worldwide.
Four years later, there is the required continuation of the series, this one a prequel.
But it’s minus Snow White and the tabloid-ready Twilight actress Kristen Stewart, who played her.
In The Huntsman: Winter’s War, sorceress Ravenna (Charlize Theron) discovers that her sister Freya (Emily Blunt) is carrying a child after an illicit affair. When the Magic Mirror predicts the child will eventually surpass Ravenna’s beauty, things get ugly.
In the middle of the battle between Ravenna (the Evil Queen) and Freya (the Ice Queen) are returning Huntsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain), the new Warrior who is Eric’s love.
While the combat is intense and the special effects state of the art, The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a great deal lighter than the 2012 flick.
Here are five more things you should know.
1
Theron is Mad Max ready to play Furiosa in another George Miller picture but she never expected to get a call back for Ravenna, who was eliminated in Snow White and the Huntsman.
She remembers when the offer arrived: “So it was a little bit like, ‘Wow, is that going to work out?’ ” When she read the screenplay, she realized it would. Theron also looked forward to acting opposite “a powerhouse like Blunt.”
2
For her part, Blunt couldn’t wait “to do a queen-off with Charlize Theron.”
Another bonus? It was Blunt’s first time defining a villain “in that heightened reality” of fantasy.
3
Timing was everything for Chastain. She had been doing her “serious actress thing” in a string of films — Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, A Most Violent Year, The Martian and Crimson Peak.
Playing Sara in The Huntsman: Winter’s War allowed the actress a break from the grim grind, on-camera and off. “It’s the most laughing I’ve had on set,” she says.
4
Hemsworth went from the Avengers sequel (in which he plays Thor) to the Huntsman prequel — or from what he says seemed like a boys’ club to a girls’ club.
There was another difference. During the filming of The Huntsman: Winter’s War in England, everybody had their kids with them on set, reports Hemsworth. He jokes that the cast and crew taught the children how to survive in “a vicious kingdom.”
5
Next up for Theron is American Express with Joel Edgerton, and Fast 8 from the Fast and Furious franchise. Hemsworth has a co-starring role in the remake of Ghostbusters out this summer and will reprise his Thor role in his own movie and at least one more Avengers picture.
Chastain has at least five films at various stages, and Blunt coyly says that “maybe” she’s in the pre-production phase of re-imagining Mary Poppins for director Rob Marshall.