Hannah New Talks About Her Role as Aurora's Mother (aka 'Maleficent' News)

Apologies for a quiet weekend on the news front. It's been close to impossible to get to a computer I can blog on for days now, but I hope to put up a few shorter - and, sadly, less detailed - posts over the next couple of days to catch you up a bit.

First of all, the cast for Maleficent is beginning to be allowed to talk about their work on the film. The following excerpt is from an interview with Hannah New who plays Sleeping Beauty's mother when SB was a baby:

From CraveOnline:

You also worked on Maleficent. What’s your role in that?
It was fab. I got to play the mother of Sleeping Beauty which was an incredible role. Sleeping Beauty is a film that I remember very vividly as a kid and I remember all of those scenes, so revisiting the dark side of these fairy tales is almost cathartic as an adult. I think it’s an interesting trend that’s happening now that all of these tails are being explored from both sides, from the good and evil side. I’m very excited to see it. I haven’t seen it yet.

Is her mother out of the picture by the time Maleficent comes along?
Obviously when she’s born, that whole scene from the Disney film when she curses the baby is going to be in Maleficent. It’s the core conflict that happens in the story. Yeah, she then is obviously, because much of the story covers when she’s older, when she’s 16 so obviously I’m only playing her mom when she was a baby.

That still must have been a fun scene to do in live action.
Yeah, totally, it was awesome and also kind of was the culmination of lots of dreams because I’d always dreamed of working at Pinewood because it’s such an institution for us Brits. Obviously that childhood dream of being a Disney princess and getting dressed up in amazing, amazing costumes. The costumes are just out of this world, and obviously working with such incredible actors was another incredible bonus to that job. I’m just really, really glad to be part of it.

I think we're going to be seeing a lot more talk about looking at the darker side of fairy tale, aka seeing stories from the villain's POV in the immediate future. Even though it feels (to me) like we've been discussing this "darker side of fairy tales" thing for a few years now, I guess being sympathetic with the villain's story is a more specific strain of that, and people are completely fascinated by it. There are quizzes and hypothetical posts all over on "who will/should get the Maleficent treatment next?!".

I do think the consideration of the anti-hero, the misunderstood hero who sacrifices all (including reputation and their correct place in history) is a reflection of our current social considerations.. but that's for someone else with more time (and a bigger brain!) to discuss! Feel free to weigh in though. I'd love to see what your thoughts are on this.

A Dark Rapunzel Coming to OUAT (No, I'm Not Talking About Her Hair or Skin Color, Although She's Not Blonde Either)

Here we come to one of those times when the internet shows it's personality disorder: "..we want more diversity among Disney princesses!" is currently having a head-on clash with "..why is OUAT's Rapunzel not blonde?!".

:/ Yeah.

What is more interesting (to me) is not how 'non-white' the new Rapunzel character for OUAT's features will be, but how dark the storyline is promised to be (by OUAT creators Kitsis & Horowitz), and when we say "dark" here we mean The Grudge Japanese horror film dark.

Apparently.
No doubt it will be toned down a lot to keep the current mostly-family-friendly rating but that's the promise: The Grudge-dark.

In the second half of season three, we will meet Rapunzel (Alexandra Metz).

 

The executive producer, Adam Horowitz, has confirmed this to be true. 

However, he stated that, “We’re not doing Tangled; we’re doing our spin on the character.” This just makes the news all that more exciting. 

Kitsis went on to describe Rapunzel’s character. He said that she is going to be a little darker and freakier. Think of a horror story like the vein of The Grudge. 

The long-locked damsel (Alexandra Metz) will be visited in her tower by Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) as well as a mysterious hooded menace. Might it be the Wicked Witch of the West (Rebecca Mader) lurking under that hood? "I can't tell you," says Mader.

I'm immediately reminded of the Fairest (Fables comic spin-off) Rapunzel and how perfectly that Japanese horror aspect is explored, not to mention how well it fits with Rapunzel's story. I guess the OUAT people aren't keeping up with Willingham's Fables/Fairest? Or are they?

Not only is the trend for understanding the villains' side of the story continuing but it has well and truly expanded into "the heroes aren't exactly as squeaky-clean as you thought..".

I have to say I'm enjoying the look at the anti-hero a lot - the perfect princess/hero approach of the last 20+ years has been cloying but at the same time this trend of villain stories and exposing the dark hearts of the heroes can occasionally feel a little forced. I'm curious to see where on the spectrum this storyline lands.

The way people are viewing fairy tales is certainly richer than it was a few years ago but instead of mining the multitude of stories that already have complex heroes and villains we're still in re-mix mode for the familiar ones.

This is not a complaint - exactly - more of a sigh at a missed opportunity but honestly, I'm just glad people are still considering different aspects of fairy tales more than they have for some time.

Sources: HERE & HERE

Fairy Tale Villains Do the "Spell Block Tango"

Todrick Hall's "Spell Block Tango"

Note: I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me, (I always wish I could clone myself a few times during Halloween week!), so apologies for not alerting you before it went viral. 

This is another musical gem from Todrick Hall*, creator of Cinderonce, and is very fun. Not only is it extremely well done, it's great to hear the villainess' (ahem, including Scar) "arguing their POV", Chicago style. It's in perfect keeping with the current trend of retelling stories from the villains point of view (and it makes me want to see Chicago re-done with fairy tale characters).

The lyrics have been adjusted for each character and the Queen of Hearts' plea of "not guilty" is priceless.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, The Spell Block Tango.

Enjoy.

Kind of genius, really. I can't wait to see what Todrick Hall will do next!

* A former American Idol finalist turned actor and filmmaker, Hall has become known for his YouTube videos that combine show tunes or Top-40 hits with popular culture, such as his video "Cinderonce", which told the story of Cinderella using only Beyoncé songs.
* Source

Article: Fairy Tale Villains (from Worlds Rise)

I have been keeping this tab open at Worlds Rise for the longest time to make sure I go back and read this post! And I'm so glad I did. It's a great breakdown of villain types and very inspiring for story types to get their heads around. Without further ado, I will give you a teaser then send you over to Worlds Rise to keep reading:

Note: I had some major issues in trying to copy over a portion of the text so resorted to a screencap for a teaser. The text at Worlds Rise is normal text you could use as a resource for writing if needed.

The other villain archetypes discussed are:

- The Rampaging Villain
- The Deceived Villain
- The Devil
- The Rude and Lazy Villain
 -Evil Stepmother and Domestic Witch

You can read about all these and the complementary post on Hero Types over at Worlds Rise HERE.

Disney to Reboot Classic With "The Beast"

Disney's Beauty and the Beast statue & writer Joe Ahearne in the upper right

Let's see, so far as Beauty & the Beast goes, either currently in production or on the small screen, we have: 

Fan made "wish" poster for del Toro's B&tB

• Christophe Gans' luscious looking French live action Beauty and the Beast (based on the original) with a release date of February 12 (or maybe 14), 2014.
• There's the Guillermo del Toro live action version with Emma Watson confirmed as attached to play the female lead (the only news is that production won't happen this year as planned but at Cannes Ms. Watson confirmed that it IS going ahead in early 2014).*
• And don't forget the CW's  hit Beauty & the Beast drama which is heading to ComicCon soon with spoilers & treats while gearing up for a second season (starting Monday, October 7 @ 9/8C)
• Or the Belle/Rumple-beast ongoing story line of ABCs (also Disney) Once Upon A Time.

These are, of course, just the versions currently playing or in production and note I'm just counting reboots here - not replays of classics, or Broadway shows. Or books. Or art... (Is this one beloved tale or what, right now?!)

The CW's drama Beauty & the Beast

But would you like one more?
How about The Beast? By Disney.

Yes. You may have heard rumors about this earlier in the year but there's definitely going to be a Disney live-action reboot of the beloved animated film franchise. Although there isn't a whole lot of news just yet we have a few clues as to how this is going to go. The writer (still unconfirmed) in talks with Disney is Joe Ahearne, whose recent credits include the thriller, Trance. 

From First Showing:

The title alone (The Beast) seems to throw the fairytale nature of the story aside, and bringing on a writer like Ahearne seems to indicate this will be a bit darker. Of course, this is Disney, and they just had a clash with Mark Romanek over his take on Cinderella which was said to be a little too dark for the studio, so they won't be going too crazy with a revisionist take on the story. This just goes to show you that the fairytale revamp trend isn't going anywhere...

And from Slashfilm:

From cartoon to life by Jirka Väätäinen

In short, live-action fairy tale reboots have been good business for Disney so far. So they’re keeping a good thing going by putting yet another one in the pipeline. This new one will be a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast called The Beast, and there’s some indication that it could get a little dark. The studio is currently in talks with writer Joe Ahearne, whose last script was Danny Boyle’s rather twisted-looking Trance.
Deadline reports that The Beast is likely to be in 3D. No plot details have been given at this time, but the title suggests that it’ll center around the Beast, rather than Beauty as traditional tellings usually do. Maybe we can finally get a good explanation as to why the witch in Disney’s 1991 cartoon thought cursing an entire household, servants and all, was an appropriate punishment for a young boy’s momentary rudeness.

Have you noticed one thing? They're all supposed to be "darker than Disney". All. Of. Them. Even the Disney one. (Although, perhaps not quite in the goth update manner shown below...)

As always the big concern is: "WHY?" If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? But people can't get enough of this story right now (as proven in the list above) and if Disney want to do another, they should go right ahead. There's been a trend of rebooting franchises over the past few years (Batman, Man of Steel, Captain America, Spiderman, The Avengers etc) and it's been met with a roaring success from the crowds - the same crowds that swore any attempt at retooling the stories was going to ruin it all forever. So it IS possible to do a good - and fresh - reboot of something people love (for the most part) and not stuff it up. (Not completely anyway.)  ;)

And, it turns out, Disney has a good chance of getting it right on this one too because there's another bit of interesting information quietly out there as far as Disney being interested in retelling THEIR Beauty and the Beast story...

Author Serena Valentino, who has a publishing contract with Disney and wrote the truly wonderful Fairest of All (a retelling of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from the perspective of the Wicked Queen) is working on a retelling of Disney's Beauty & the Beast, titled The Beast Within. Ms. Valentino really knows her fairy tales and is a very gifted writer. To be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Disney having someone retell their blockbuster Snow White from the villains perspective but I was blown away by how Ms. Valentino handled it. (I can't say enough good things about all her writing and stories! I think she must have a "olde" fairy godmother muse with a dark sense of humor and some deep roots in myth. You can read my blog entry on that book, with samples included to give you a taste, HERE.)

Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast

As a result I've been waiting for this book, The Beast Within,  ever since reading Fairest.

From Serena Valentino's website:

I am currently writing a new novel for Disney Publishing based on the Beast from Disney’s film Beauty and the Beast. I am very excited to explore the Beast’s past and what he did to become cursed, while weaving in my own sensibilities, and drawing upon inspirations from Jean Cocteau’s version and a bit of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray for good measure.

I will be interviewing Ms. Valentino shortly so don't want to say too much more right now, but clearly this has been an idea in the works for Disney for quite some time - ever since Fairest Of All was released in mid-2009 at the least, and I'm fairly certain they were looking at a number of movies 9SleepingBeauty included) for the potential to make into "something else" as well. (Hello Maleficent!)

 It's been quite a while now so I had forgotten about Ms. Valentino's pending release until the news that Disney was looking at rebooting their version popped back up. I can't help wonder if the ideas (of book from the Beast's POV and the proposed movie) are related in any way and if Mr. Ahearne will be chatting to Ms. Valentino about his version...

Even if these two (very different) writers don't get to talk about The Beast, the fact that Disney would consider retellings like Fairest of All, under their brand name at all, along with some of the very different things they've allowed on Once Upon A Time, shows me they more open to true retellings** and are branching out beyond being just a sequel studio or repackaging past successes. So I'm just going to sit back and see what they do. (Besides, I like good surprises.)

Belle & the chipped cup from ABC's Once Upon A Time

And of course, everyone will be wondering: Are we going to get a Once Upon A Time movie version of visuals (see above)?

Or a live action version of the animated visuals? 

(Like the Annie Liebovitz version here.)

Or will we be treated to something entirely new? (Note: the Valentino design below is one of a series of "princess dress designs" based on the Disney movies and although you can see Disney in there, more than a few of them are beautifully original "reboots" which I wouldn't mind seeing on a screen.)

My other question is, Cocteau having bodiless, silent candlestick servants is a (very much darker) world away from singing cutlery. I wonder how they're going to handle that?

As far as the movie goes, there is no director attached yet or any rumors of stars being considered for roles but if I hear anything otherwise I'll let you know!

* We do know that del Toro's work load is rather... loaded! He already had multiple projects all further along in development or filming when B&tB was announced so we're not expecting to see anything for a while yet. The next fairy tale we'll see from him will likely be Pinocchio.
** It doesn't mean I like everything they're doing that different - obviously. I have a lot of issues with Once Upon A Time, for example but at the same time, I'm so very pleased to see types being stretched (and combined) beyond what has been typical of Disney in the past.

Kate Bernheimer Interview on "The Complete Tales of Merry Gold"

I came across this interview with Kate Bernheimer last week, discussing fairy tales and her book "The Complete Tales of Merry Gold" and thought I'd share.

Ms. Bernheimer shares some of her thoughts on fairy tales as well as gives some interesting insights to the characters from her 'trilogy' of Gold sister books - things I don't think I've read anywhere else.

Here's an excerpt from her response to the question "Why is Merry [the main character] so sadistic? She seems more like the villain of a fairy tale than the main character [who tends to be innocent]?":

..meanness is a very important trope in many of the fairy tales that fascinate me. It’s true that while American popular culture has canonized female fairy-tale characters with hearts of gold, in fact the “main characters” of fairy tales are extremely varied: as many stupid, clumsy, boring, mean, ugly, plain, deficient, weird, pathetic, and sad characters as there are “good” ones. So actually, the “main characters” of many fairy tales are cruel. One example, easy to find on the shelves, is Hans Christian Andersen’s story “The Girl Who Trod on A Loaf” where the young hero’s hobby is to pull wings off of flies. She suffers in the end, but she is still the story’s beautiful, troubled cold center. She is the bright star in a terrifying and sublime drama. Countless examples of mean girls at the center of story exist in fairy tales from around the world, just as they do in the junior high classroom or [fill in the blank], but in fairy tales they are a lot more interesting to know. I would entreat readers to look at the many, many available translated collections of tales from around the world, to see the existential variety in them.

You can find the whole interview HERE.

As always, Ms. Bernheimer's comments are thought provoking and interesting for anyone who loves fairy tales.

You can find another interview which gives further insight to her style of writing and how and why she prefers to use fairy tales that aren't well known, HERE.

The books mentioned are:
The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold
The Complete Tales of Merry Gold
The Complete Tales of Lucy Gold (yet to be published)All three make use of German, Yiddish and Russian tales that are not well known but those who read a lot of fairy tales will at least recognize some of the tropes, if not some of the inspirations.

You can see a previous post on Ms. Bernheimer's journal Fairy Tale Review HERE.

I should mention also that the two collections she put together and edited ("Mirror, Mirror On the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales" and "Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men On Fairy Tales") remain two books of my favorites. I return to read them often and get something new out of them every time.

Disney's The Princess and the Frog - Conjuring the Villain NEW Featurette

Just a little something that popped up today - getting a behind-the-scenes look at what went into creating the villain in the Princess and the Frog.

Have you ever noticed that in fairy tales the greatest villains are the humans? It's not the witches, the Baba Yaga's etc - they're just forces of nature. Dangerous, yes - if you meet a wolf you'd better know how wolves behave in order to survive the encounter - but these individuals are rarely downright evil. It's the humans like Vassilisa's stepmother, scheming to make life miserable (occasionally aiming to kill their family members), that are the truly scary characters in a story. Give these malicious people access to a little magic and, well, let's just say it's a lot harder to escape their clutches.

In Disney's The Princess and the Frog, Dr Facilier is a smooth-talking, scheming, nasty piece of a human, who also happens to be a witch doctor - one who really know his voodoo. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at his creation, courtesy of Cartoon Brew: