Mirror Mirror
Short description
Mirror Mirror is a comedic take on the Snow White fairy tale, centred on a vain and power-hungry queen who seizes the throne after the king's death and keeps her stepdaughter confined within the palace walls. When the young woman slips out and encounters a wealthy prince passing through the kingdom, the queen, who hopes to marry him herself, has her rival banished to a forest. There Snow White falls in with a band of seven outlaw dwarves, and with their help she sets out to reclaim her birthright. Tarsem Singh directed the film from a screenplay by Marc Klein and Jason Keller, with Brett Ratner, Ryan Kavanaugh and Bernie Goldmann producing. Julia Roberts plays the queen and Lily Collins plays Snow White, while Armie Hammer takes the role of Prince Andrew Alcott and Nathan Lane appears as Brighton.
The film was released in March 2012 and runs 106 minutes. It was Singh's fourth feature, arriving between Immortals and Self/less in his filmography. Made for a budget of 85 million US dollars, it took 183 million dollars worldwide, a solid return relative to its cost. Reception was moderate: on IMDb it holds a rating of 6.9 from 10 votes, while on TMDB the figure is 5.9 from 3,327 votes.
A film critics' rating of 5.6 from 194 reviews sits below the audience scores, indicating that reviewers were less taken with the film than viewers were.
What's left behind the scenes
- This is the second time Martin Klebba has played one of the seven dwarfs in a Snow White film. The first project was 'Snow White' from 2001.
- During the filming of the fight scene between the Evil Queen and Snow White, Julia Roberts accidentally ripped out a clump of Lily Collins' hair.
- In the original version of the script, there is a scene involving the prince and the queen, where the prince is shirtless and the queen comments that he has smooth chest hair. But this scene was changed because Armie Hammer refused to shave his chest hair.
- The peacocks painted on the wall in the Queen’s room are an exact copy of the peacocks painted by James Abbott McNeill Whistler in his famous Peacock Room (1876–1877). The glass tables were conceived by the renowned Art Nouveau jeweler and artist René Lalique.
- When Snow White is about to leave the castle for the first time, the sound of knights' axes is heard, but it is clear they did not clash with each other.
- All the trees seen in the film are birch trees.
- Julia Roberts said in an interview: "I thought it was a terrible idea. I was a thousand percent against this film." However, after meeting with director Tarsem Singh, her opinion completely changed: "I am a big fan of Tarsem and I fell under his spell."
- The film is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Schneewittchen).
- This is the second time Julia Roberts has starred in a movie based on a famous fairy tale. Two decades earlier, she appeared in 'Hook' (1991).
- Saoirse Ronan auditioned for the role of Snow White.
- Sam Claflin auditioned for the role of the Prince, but Armie Hammer ultimately got the part. Interestingly, the first actor eventually played the Prince in 'Snow White and the Huntsman' (2012).
- Throughout the film, Julia Roberts wears enormous ballgowns. On set, her children would hide under her skirts, and no one knew. During breaks between takes, Roberts eventually decided to take her children off the set because she was worried they would hear her 'nasty speech' in the role of the Evil Queen.
- According to Julia Roberts, her costumes in the film were very heavy, which greatly hindered her movement. And once during filming, she turned too quickly and pulled a muscle. Filming was suspended.
- As is tradition with Snow White stories, the actress playing the Evil Queen also played the role of the old witch with the poisoned apple. Producers kept videos and photos of Julia Roberts' transformation into the witch secret until the film was released. This came as a big surprise to viewers.
- The working title of the film until its completion was "The Untitled Snow White Project". Director Tarsem Singh wanted to title the film Snow, but the studio decided to name it Mirror, Mirror. Later, at the film's premiere, Singh admitted to journalists that he was dissatisfied with how the studio had decided to name the project.
- According to Julia Roberts, this film was the first to make her young children understand that their mother was a famous film actress. Although her children expressed a clear interest in it, Roberts did not let them watch the film because they were still "too young." "They are still too young for this film, and I think they would find my image unpleasant," Roberts said.
- At the 18th minute of the film, when the prince says goodbye to Snow White in the forest, he initially stands to the left of his companion Charles. And in the next shot, he stands to the right of him.
- Alex Pettyfer, James Holzer, and James McAvoy were considered for the role of the Prince.
- This is the first film adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale where both characters – Snow White and the Evil Queen – have romantic relationships with the Prince.
- Almost all of the Queen's seemingly unbelievable cosmetic procedures are actually real procedures common around the world. These include: bird droppings paste, a chocolate (or clay – it is unclear which, as the color is brown) mask, snake massage, snail slime, worms, and tiny fish that eat dead skin cells. One of the few (or perhaps the only) unreal procedures is a bee sting to the lips to make them fuller, although lip augmentation substances do contain (usually plant-based or chemical) irritants.
- Lily Collins admitted in one interview that she could have played Snow White in another film – “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2012). Lily was one of the leading contenders for the role, but ultimately the producers chose Kristen Stewart.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
