UPDATE: Ray Winstone has joined the cast of Snow White and the Huntsman. The Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade actor will play Trajan, twin brother of Hadrian, who has been confirmed to be played by Eddie Marsan. Stephen Graham has also been confirmed for the role of Nero, the modern equivalent of “Grumpy.”
EARLIER: Eddie Izzard (The Riches), Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and Toby Jones (Infamous) are in talks to play dwarves in Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman. The project, directed by first-time director Rupert Sanders, will take a page out of Peter Jackson’s book and use average-sized actors in dwarf roles. Huntsman is one of several Snow White films in production at the moment, along with Disney’s Orientalism-tastic live-action version and Tarsem Singh’s untitled version starring Julia Roberts as the wicked Queen. In Universal’s reimagining of the classic story, adapted for ultimate teenage appeal, the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) charged with killing Snow White (Kirsten Stewart) instead teaches her to fight back.
So far, Huntsman is doing its best to distinguish itself from the pack by drawing up an interesting cast, including Ian McShane and Charlize Theron. Along with Hoskins, Jones, and Izzard, Boardwalk Empire’s Stephen Graham and Eddie Marsan are also in talks to join the film. Perhaps by throwing as many character actors into the mix as possible, Sanders hopes to distract from the fact that they have Kristen Stewart as their titular star. (This is also known as the Twilight method.)
Huntsman has dispensed with the adjective names of old — instead, the dwarves are apparently named after roman emperors. For some reason. Izzard is in talks to play Tiberius, the “biggest and burliest” of the dwarves; Hoskins for Constantine, described as “solemn and blind”; and Jones for Claudius, “the timid one.” Graham and Marsan’s parts are still unknown, but roles remain for Nero, “the angry one”, and Gus, the youngest dwarf, “seemingly smitten with Snow White.”
Snow White and the Huntsman is set to be released next summer.
