Red With A Twist Makes "Top 10" Best Designed Movie Posters

The movie is "Hard Candy", the year was 2006 and features our beloved Red - sort of. It's a psychological thriller (as you might have guessed from the poster) and it doesn't take much to see why this design is so good.

From Total Film:

... the best thing about this poster is that it throws us a complete curveball – our immediate assumption that this kid is in for a torrid time, but then we look again and notice, hey, she isn’t actually caught in that trap...

You can read the rest of the poster review HERE.If you're interested, you can learn more about the movie on Wikipedia HERE but please note: this movie (or its description) is not for the faint of heart. The review excerpt above has given you a clue...

Red Riding Hood in Blue

Yep. Red Riding Hood is wearing blue - at least in the photos we've seen so far. Cast-in-costume photos shot behind-the-scenes of the movie-currently being shot in Vancouver, Canada, include pics of co-stars Virginia Madsen (Red’s mom), Gary Oldman, Cole Heppell, Jen Halley, Billy Burke and Lukas Haas.

(Yes, that's the on-screen love interest, played by Shiloh Fernandez.)

You can see all 17 photos HERE.

But that's not all.

All sites posting and commenting on the photos agree the costuming for Amanda Seyfried, who plays the title role in The Girl With the Red Riding Hood (working title), isn't sporting the iconic Red Riding look. But I suggest you take a closer look.

Maybe I'm reading much more into this than is intended but is anybody else looking at the virgin blue, the red threads woven in, the 'horny' headdress and thinking that maybe the costume is perhaps closer to a red hood than it first appears? Of course I could totally be reading into it. I do love symbology and have a tendency to see it everywhere but if this isn't intentional I'll be very surprised. Any costume designer worth their salt builds story into their characters' costumes, even if it's story that's never directly addressed. This appears a little less subtle than that to me, but it's effective, nevertheless.

The plot remains largely a mystery at this point other than "a Gothic retelling of Red Riding Hood" (actually it would be 'Little Red Cap' as 'Hood' is the Perrault version) and the IMDB one sentence synopsis:

Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family's displeasure.

... but the dress, particularly the one with the horned headdress (which would logically appear to follow the 'walking in blue with boots' one at the head of this post), says a lot. Particularly about transformation, magic, blood magic, lust (and hormones) and innocence.

Until the script and story come to light speculation is king but so far I haven't seen anyone connect the dots like in this particular way. iO9 mentions magic but even the 'sexy superstar' sites haven't twigged to the horned = lust = sexual maturation aspect of Red that I've seen.

Just my take.

Of course, you didn't really think they would do a 'Red' film completely minus the hood, did you? I found the other half to the top photo. Take a look at what Amanda's harried assistant (dresser?) is holding over her arm.
Note: Additional horned headdress costume images via HERE and Amanda-plus-assistant photo found HERE.

Story of Snow White - Art by "12x07"

DeviantArtist "12x07" had her Snow White image featured on the site recently with this recommendation:

story of snow white by ~12x07... some juicy, energetic pop art to quench one's hunger for bold colours, masterful execution, and tantalisingly awesome loose structuring, with an endearing subject matter in addition to all... how could one resist?

Watercolor with white gouache and, if I'm not mistaken, a little Klimt influence in there too. Even with the traditional 'girl holds apple' presentation of the character it still brings some fresh perspective to the story.

You can see more of "12x07"s dark work on her deviantArt gallery HERE.

Fairies in Lampshades & A Forest of Forks - Meet Compagnie Akselere's Sleeping Beauty

This would have to be the most unusual theatrical retelling of The Sleeping Beauty I've seen in some time. Perrault is credited as the source author while Liverpool-born, French artist and puppeteer Colette Garriger is the creator & main performer. The show is just arriving in the US now after an lengthy international tour, with performances scheduled from September 2010 on.
Here's the official blurb:

At her birth they call her "Princess." Her fate is sealed. Left to her own devices and brilliant imagination, this modern day Princess pays off her debts and takes her skeletons out of the cupboard once and for all. Now arriving in the United States after an international tour comes a creative retelling of the Briar Rose tale joining shadow puppetry, object theater, and passionate monologue into a hard-hitting story filled with dark humor.Created by Liverpool-born, French-transplant artist and puppeteer Colette Garrigan.

* Funded in part by a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter's Grant (2010)

And excerpted from a review on Australian Stage:

This version of Sleeping Beauty is closer to a nightmare than a fairytale. A girl grows up in a poor family in Liverpool, England. She is the youngest of seven. Her father dies. She gets farmed out to her grandmother who locks her in the cupboard under the stairs. She steals and thinks it is so exciting to be going in a police car that she waves to all the people she knows. She meets boys who lead her astray. And she knows she is a princess and that prince charming will arrive - even if it is in the form of a medical miracle.From the mind of creator and puppeteer Colette Garrigan comes a passionate monologue with shadow puppets about the loss of innocence and reality versus fairytale.... Garrigan is very much centre stage, and creates the shadow puppets primarily from herself and various unusual objects on the table in the centre of the stage. Forks become a forest, a toaster rack a shopping centre, all projected onto the white semi transparent screen hung at the back. This is not puppetry as most would know it, with only one brief scene using small hand operated puppets that are ingeniously fitted into a lampshade.

You can read the whole article HERE and see more performance photos from the company site HERE.

Kelley Lubsen's 'The Seven Swans' and Other Fairy Tale Art

A recent lovely fairy tale discovery on deviantArt, this picture of the Seven Swans is so beautiful I wish I could get a copy for my wall (one of all-time my favorite tales and I grew up with a single book with '7' swans as opposed to the six or twelve that were included in the fairy tale collections). You can see a much larger version with deviantArt stamp HERE.

You can definitely see the Trina Schart Hyman influence (one of my favorite illustrators and apparently one of hers,according to her bio on deviantArt) and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. In fact, more please!

The artist, Kelley Lubsen, known as FAyliN on deviantArt, is a recent graduate of University of the Arts (May 2010) and while she doesn't have a huge gallery on deviantArt it's worth taking a look all the same (click HERE). Fortunately, she also has an online gallery with her latest work HERE including some pieces from the Three Little Pigs and Peter Pan (see small examples at left & a HUGE version HERE, noting you'll have to scroll down a long way to find them). It's a little brighter and still lovely (though I adore the muted tones myself) and the truly gorgeous colored pencil work continues.

I do hope she continues to pursue fairy tale illustration and wish her the best of luck in her career.

Mermaids and Oil Spills

OPINION ALERT!
Plus controversial images and story below:

Vogue Italia has shot a controversial 'oil spill inspired' fashion editorial, complete with models (in their very expensive oil-covered clothes) simulating animals in distress. The image below in particular made me think this is what mermaids might look like (albeit it 'glamorized' in horrible positions) if they were real and having to cope with the recent oil spill tragedy. There are many other images, one which I found rather disturbing (which kind of looked like a mermaid coughing up oil) so I'll just stick with the cover and the one above for the blog.

You may ask why I'm posting this, especially since I was bothered by the spread, and my answer is this: I think it's an important issue to think about. Not all stories are nice - not the real ones, not fairy tales - but they're still something we should consider. Imagine the little mermaid's journey complicated by such a disaster. It's not so far fetched from what's actually been happening. Stories can help us work through issues that are too difficult in real life to properly face and to consider the mermaid angle is, I think, good brain food. Does it distance the tragedy? Or does it make us more passionate in our efforts to protect the environment and the earth's creatures? Perhaps putting a human (albeit mermaid here) face on the victims* may make us more conscious of our actions in future. [*Note: the victims do in fact include humans - many have lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the disaster, not to mention the initial tragedy of workers killed.]

I won't make any more personal comments except to say I completely get the controversy over this.

You can go HERE see the entire spread via Refinery29.com and make sure to read the short post. Also note the links to help clean up and the comments written below by different points of view (neither are affiliated with Vogue Italia).

Via Super Punch.

Rapunzel in Legos

For Lego enthusiasts, please note the concentric rings used in this construction (wow!). Seriously awesome brick building and tale telling all in one go.

From The Brothers Brick:

Jordan Schwartz (Sir Nadroj) built a very bright interpretation of Rapunzel’s tower. The technique of stacking concentric rings to create a conical tower is very clever, and the effect is one of a kind. The creation looks deceptively smaller than its actual size, which is actually 3 feet tall.

The top level of the tower is modeled after the Peles Castle in Romania while the round part of the tower was based on a Lego design by Deborah Higden (you can see the Rapunzel tower designer's initial questions about the ring construction in the comments).

This 'MOC' (standing for 'My Own [Lego ] Creation') also got a write-up in Issue 10 of the official BrickJournal magazine, meaning the creator (and the fairy tale creation) were both recognized for the feat of 'brick engineering' it is.

You can see more detailed images HERE and see more creations by 17 year old 'Brick Master' Jordan Schwartz (pictured above) HERE.

Fairy Tale Art by Pat Brennan

Goldilocks and the Bears

For your viewing pleasure I'm posting just a few of the fairy tale themed work by digital artist/illustrator Pat Brennan (on deviantArt as moonmomma). The Goldilocks one at the head of the post remains one of my favorites, since seeing it a few years ago.

The Piper

Cinders in the Limelight

The Princess and the Pea

Yuki Onna

Undine

She has a LOT of gorgeous work in her deviantArt gallery, mostly fantasy based (lots of fairies and mermaids) so be sure to visit, take a look and leave a nice comment (and maybe hint how great it would be to see even more fairy tale pieces.. hint, hint). You can also visit her website HERE and her Flickr account HERE.

The talent must run in the family. Her daughter, Rebecca Parker, is just breaking into the book cover illustration biz too.

I'd love to see Pat work on a specific fairy tale project for a book herself though. She has such a lovely touch. While she does do commissions I gather she's very busy, so if you want to work with her be persistent in trying to contact her and let me know if you work together.

Zachary Levi Quotes "The Little Mermaid"

This one is for Disney fairy tale fans.

Zachary Levi (who is the voice of Flynn in Disney's upcoming fairy tale film Tangled) talks about what to expect on the 3rd Season of ABC's Chuck and ends up quoting The Little Mermaid...

(Note: email subscribers, you will need to go to the website to see the video)

Cinderella Gets A Live-Action 'Reboot' (& More)

The writer of The Devil Wears Prada recently had her live-action Cinderella pitch bought by Disney.

From The Wrap:

Using the working title "Cinderella," the film is expected to deviate from the original fairy tale, although it's unclear how, or whether the new version will be released in 3D like the studio's reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland," which has grossed more than a billion dollars since it was released in March.

(You can read the whole article HERE.)

Amanda Seyfried-Raymond (of Mama Mia, who is currently at work with Twilight director on another fairy tale, The Girl with the Red Riding Hood) is rumored to be the star. (see article HERE and IMDB's article HERE).

You'll also see rumors in the articles linked to above regarding Angeline Jolie's rumored attachment to play the lead in Disney's other live-action fairy tale revisit, Maleficent - a live-action Sleeping Beauty.

But that's not all. Snow White is looking at a live-action revisit with the seven dwarves being cast as robbers once again, plus a dragon (not by Disney but a company called Relativity Media). The Wizard of Oz is looking at a revisit too by both Warner Brothers and Disney once again.

[Sidenote: if you enjoy speculating on actresses playing other Disney princesses and why they may - or may not - fit, have a look at this faux casting couch HERE.]

And yes - this is all due to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, so you can thank (or blame) him. ;)