There are two ways through life, the way of nature and the way of grace. Or in Hollywood terms, there are two ways to release a movie: rushed on a tight schedule, or finely tuned with a more realistic production. The battle between Relativity and Universal over their respective Snow White films has been ugly, with the former trumping the latter by moving their Tarsem-directed film all the way up to a March 16, 2012 release date — nine months from now and no, it hasn’t started shooting yet. Universal’s “Snow White And The Huntsman” is currently set just under a year away on June 1, 2012, with a comparably luxurious year to get it on screens. And it looks like they’re going to use that time wisely.
Deadline reports that hot scribe Hossein Amini has been brought on board to do rewrites on the film. His most recent credits include Nicolas Winding Refn‘s acclaimed “Drive” and the currently shooting “47 Ronin” with Keanu Reeves, and he also had a hand in one of the many Jack Ryan reboot drafts. Set to be directed by Rupert Sanders, and starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Sam Clafin and Chris Hemsworth, the film is a retelling of the classic fairy tale which places the woodsman who is meant to bump off the titular princess front and center of the story.
This move seems to indicate a change in direction for Universal who seem to be saying disengaging from the pissing match with Relativity and saying, “we’re gonna get it right, go ahead and rush your movie out the gate.” As for Tarsem’s film, it’s still gearing up to shoot in Montreal and it will be under the wire with almost zero room for error. All eyes will be on the still untitled film to see if Relativity played it smart or gave in to their own hubris.