Indie Short Film 'Charming' Looks Completely, Well, Charming!

Prince Charming recounts his disastrous search for true love in a re-imagining of classic Grimms’ fairytales with a contemporary touch.

This, very charming (it's difficult to find another word that suits as well), under-the-radar, indie film, is busy adding yet more laurels to its already-loaded list of accolades (and poster).

Sydney Indie Fest (Australia), just announced Charming as an award winner, something which is becoming a regular announcement from this team. (Congrats Charming crew!)


It should be noted, that the journey to those awards was long and difficult, including many years battling the Hollywood process, only to give up and work outside it. With help from crowd funding (via Indiegogo), it turns out, working around the studio system, might have been the smartest move to get their film made and seen around the world, and, hopefully, open the door for larger, projects down the road.

But what is this film about you ask? It's a lovely premise. Here's an extract from the Director's statement.

"Who is Prince Charming? As a kid, I always remembered him as the guy who swept in at the end of my sister’s favorite movies to kiss the princess, save the day, and ride off into the sunset, leaving everyone to live happily ever after. But why was he kissing all these princesses? What happened after the prince and princess rode off into the sunset? Can everyone really live happily ever after? 

So began Charming. My friend, Christopher Jones, and I wrote a feature length screenplay telling the untold story of Prince Charming’s search for true love by weaving together existing fairy tales with familiar characters. We optioned Charming to Inferno Entertainment (Killing Them Softly, The Grey) in 2012. After over a year of rewrites, Hollywood turmoil and our story languishing in the shadows, we received back the script’s rights and soon re-envisioned Charming into a twenty page short film containing the feature’s theme, tone and characters so that we might bring the story to life ourselves. 

Will Hawkes as "The King", Tom Albanese as "Charming", Mary Bonney as "Sleeping Beauty", Marian Frizelle as "The Queen" in CHARMING.

..So, after all those years of my mind wrapped in fantastic dreams and fairy tales, who is Prince Charming? Some hero valiantly fighting off dragons, saving the princess, and falling in love? No. I think he’s us. Just a guy doing his best… hoping one day he might live happily ever after."
-- Tom Albanese, Writer & Director

And here's the sweet teaser trailer:

Despite the general groans emitted when it was announced Hollywood was making a Charming film of their own (based on Cinderella's Charming), this approach, by Director Tom Albanese, gives us the absolute opposite reaction. The teaser makes you want to see the rest of the story, doesn't it?

Here's a little more insider info via a WeAreMovingStories.com interview with Albanese:

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?The universally beloved ’fairy tale’ characters created by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault, etc. were firmly planted into pop culture after Disney immortalized them. “Charming” takes these characters and their various stories and weaves them into Prince Charming’s own, original story that hasn’t been told. It answers the question, “Why was Prince Charming kissing all those princesses?”
Besides that, it’s funny, cute, and teaches you a thing or two about that funky thing “true love”.

Beatriz Mendonca as "Snow White" in CHARMING

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?I’m fascinated with relationships. Why some work out and why some don’t. We’ve all had our hearts broken and most of us have been in love at some point (or at least thought we were). I’ve had many situations where I’ve wanted a relationship to work out but it ultimately wasn’t meant to be. You can’t make someone fall in love with you and “You Can’t Hurry Love” as the Supremes once said. “Charming” takes our hopes of finding true love and and applies it to these classic characters who ultimately want the same thing — to live “happily ever after”.
Sometimes the prince and princess might not actually be good for each other, despite all appearances and what’s on paper. Maybe “true love” doesn’t happen the way we’ve always been told it does.

Charming has also just been announced as part of the official selection at the Zamoxis Film Showcase, being held in Santa Monica Film Center (California), in mid-November, so it's likely we'll hear even more buzz about them shortly.

As the awards continue to roll in, we look forward to the end-of-year plan to make this film available to the public.

We could all use a feel-good, Shrek-meets-Pretty Woman type of story, with a more realistic, yet still hopeful, portrayal of 'true love', to share with all those young boys overwhelmed by Princess Culture, and our families.

Ask Baba Yaga: How Can I Live Through These Waves Of Grief?

The House on Chicken Feet by Caitlin Rose, from 'Baba Yaga House: Thunder and Writing', by Polonius Ficklebottom

Today's question comes from a place of such pain. 

If you've had great loss, please choose carefully, regarding whether you wish to keep reading.

Here's today's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

Our hearts go out to the woman who asked.

We're not sure there is a comforting answer to such a dilemma. All we know is that there are more who have lost greatly, as this woman has, walking among us, just trying to keep one foot in front of the other, than most of us are aware. 

Be kind. Live your day compassionately.

SPECIAL REMINDER: Baba Yaga's advice will be collected into a book, Ask Baba Yaga, to be published in Fall of 2017. Her oracle, Taisia, is looking for questions from our Once Upon A Blog readers that she can answer for special inclusion in the book- right now. Although there's no guarantee which ones will make print, the earlier the question, the more likely you will get Baba's attention and see your anonymous question - and answer! - in print. Although Taisia hopes she will be able to continue as Baba Yaga's oracle, it is uncertain this will be possible at this time, so consider this your chance to get those burning questions answered by our favorite crone. Don't delay - send that question today!

(And remember, IF we hear that Baba Yaga has had a good amount of questions from readers here, we will hold a special giveaway when the book is published! Now go: write those words!)

This is the email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

Breaking News: EW Puts 'Beauty and the Beast' on the Cover & Shares 9 New Stills

All aboard the roller coaster ride to the release of Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast!

About an hour ago, Entertainment Weekly shared the cover for their upcoming cover, which has exclusive photos and cast interviews on the movie. Already going viral, the EW website has shared nine stills from the movie, giving fans the best taste to-date of what the film will be like.

From EW:

 For this week’s cover story, EW visited the film’s U.K. set and spoke with [the cast], as well as director Bill Condon and costume designer Jacqueline Durran, who talked about creating the new version of the iconic yellow dress Belle wears in the original film’s ballroom scene. In addition, we chatted with Ewan McGregor, who voices the enchanted, “Be Our Guest”-performing candelabra Lumière, and Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the clock Cogsworth and was apparently desperate to get his own big production number. “I kept singing what I thought would be a rather good addition to the score,” says the X-Men franchise star. “‘My name is Cogsworth!/ And I’m a clock!/Ticktock!’ But I didn’t get my own song.” 

Readers can also find out about the film’s new songs — penned by Alan Menken and Tim Rice — and feast their eyes on an array of exclusive photos featuring all of the aforementioned characters as well as Belle’s father, Maurice (Kevin Kline), Mrs Potts. (Emma Thompson), and Plumette (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).

Clark Collis, Senior Editor for Entertainment Weekly, gave a brief and entertaining interview, talking about writing the cover story for the upcoming issue, which you can see (along with sneak peeks) below:

G-nome. Heh.

Okay then.

Are you ready for the images? 

Here they are:

We have no doubt there are fans out there in happy tears right now, while others are still scratching their heads over those enchanted objects. Overall, it doesn't appear to be a great departure from the animated classic at all. Our one query is that it seems a bit dark with lots of browns and dark, moody lighting, but then, these are production stills, and they can often look quite different in tone from the movie. Either way, everyone in the office here has announced they'd happily cough up for silver screen tickets.

Bustle grabbed this preview from the video shared above, a cropped shot of one of the spreads from the upcoming EW issue, specifically discussing costuming and design. If you look closely you can see comments about that famous yellow dress.

The one we like best is:

“For Emma, it was important that the dress was light and that it had a lot of movement… In Emma’s reinterpretation, Belle is an active princess. She did not want a dress that was corseted or that would impede her in any way.”

To see more you'll need to pick up a copy of Entertainment Weekly, which will be on stands this Friday, and/or subscribe for the exclusive access features.

The current Twitter header for Entertainment Weekly. You can see a larger version, showing all the nuances in expressions, HERE.

Update at 1:16pm, same day: We have just learned that Emma Watson has been participating in the Books in the Underground movement, leaving copies of books they love, all around the London Tube. The BBC reported:

“The star left the novels as part of the Books On The Underground movement which sees ‘book fairies’ leave their favourite reads for people to enjoy. Watson left about 100 books with some including a hand-written note….Books on the Underground started in 2012 and leave about 150 books in stations across London each week.”

Emma Watson is a book fairy! Can we like this woman any more?

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Ever wonder who was Linda Woolverton's inspiration for writing Belle as she did? (Woolverton was screenwriter of Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast.)

EW and Bustle shared some behind the scenes on this earlier in May this year, which we're now sharing some of below:

Entertainment Weekly... interviewed the legendary screenwriter behind the movie, Linda Woolverton, to ask her about Belle's development as a character — and, in turn, to uncover one big thing about Beauty and the Beast that even hardcore fans don't know... Probably the most unexpected part of the interview centers on how Hollywood back then was dominated by "the whole idea of the heroine-victim" — something hard to imagine post tough-Disney heroines like Princess Jasmine, Mulan, and Merida. Woolverton discovered her own background in the feminist movement in the '60s and '70s meant she "definitely couldn’t buy that this smart, attractive young girl, Belle, would be sitting around and waiting for her prince to come."

"That she was someone who suffers in silence and only wants a pure rose? That she takes all this abuse but is still good at heart? I had a hard time with that," she told EW.

And then she revealed her inspiration: Katherine Hepburn in 1933's Little Women (playing Jo).

When EW asked Woolverton about her having said she modeled the character after Katharine Hepburn in Little Women, the screenwriter responded:

Yes. That was a real depiction of womanhood. I think you can take on current issues of today through fairy tales or the mythic. And so that was my fight, always saying, 'The audience is just not gonna buy this anymore.'

It's not difficult to see some parallels between Belle and Hepburn/Jo, like the wandering, book reading and love of outdoors, is it? We think she made a good choice.

Update on 'Wicked' the Movie

Wicked is most definitely on it's way to the big screen. After so very long, (and not a few fan petitions), a movie version of Wicked is finally happening and building momentum. Although we expected to hear more on the casting front at this point in time, it's clear there has still been steady work on this since the official announcement in July this year, so we should expect to hear some more interesting news from this neck of the production woods very soon...

Here's what we know so far:

• The movie is being handled by Universal and Stephen Daldry is directing. (Daldry is currently well into season two on the much anticipated Netflix series The Crown, though the first season has yet to air).
• Wicked (the movie) has been officially scheduled for release on December 20, 2019.
• That's the same release date as a yet-to-be-revealed Disney live action fairy tale movie.
• Marc Platt is producing (he's also producing the Broadway version of the show, as well as a number of Disney movies, including the just announced live action remake of Snow White).
• Winnie Holzman, who wrote the original adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel for Broadway, is handling the screenplay, and will also be working with the musical's original composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
• There will be four new songs in the movie, in addition to the Broadway favorites, such as Defying Gravity.
• No casting has yet been announced or hinted at.

From the Newsweek exclusive, this past weekend:

Daldry says he is scheduled to film the movie in 2018 but there has been no talk as yet about who will play the film’s leads, the unlikely friends Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba. “We haven’t done casting yet... but it’ll be great,” the director promises.

What do you think? Are you excited for Wicked the movie? Or will you wait to see the casting before deciding?

Breaking News: Disney Adds First Fairy Tale Hit, 'Snow White', to Live Action Remake List

Rachel Weisz as Snow White by Annie Leibovitz for Disney Dream Parks promotions

Oh. My. Goodness.

We knew it was coming. It was inevitable. But now it's official: Disney's first animated film of 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is being remade into a live action fairy tale film. And it's a musical. And it will have additional songs...

Behind the Snow White-Leibovitz shoot 1

And yes, this is a separate - NEW - movie from the Rose Red film (apparently exploring the story of "Snow White's sister") that Disney also has in development. This is the live action version of the film that started it all for Walt Disney.

We admit, the Once Upon A Blog newsroom has widely differing opinions about this news. Our lead fairy tale newshound cites this tale as the one that started it all for her - a calling that only got stronger, after she saw the film in the theater, a few years into her self-propelled fairy tale studies as a girl - so feelings ran high at this announcement. We have to wonder how this adaptation will reflect on the first Disney feature film... (pun intended). It's tempting to speculate. (Ok, we'll stop. For now.)

There are other factors to take into account, however, not the least of which is, that the screenplay is likely to be handled by the woman who penned the current hit movie adaptation The Girl On The Train, Erin Cressida (currently in talks - yet to be official).

An iconic Snow White scene, with Erin Cressida at bottom right

Deadline first announced the news less than 24 hours ago, citing "a live-action musical feature film" and also announced that the songwriters from La La Land, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, will be writing the additional musical additions. (If there must be additions, we are glad these two are being given the task. La La Land was far better than expected on the musical front!)

There are no actors or a directors attached just yet.

Behind the Snow White-Leibovitz shoot 2

Marc Platt is on board to produce. He must have the Mouse House's confidence, as his other projects for Disney currently are the live action Little Mermaid, and Mary Poppins Returns.

If we were being extremely optimistic, we could hope they would feel the need to create another seven mini-Oscars, but that feels a little like a fairytale* at this point.

Behind the Snow White-Leibovitz shoot 3

Note: You can see more behind-the-scenes of the Disney Dream Parks photo shoots with Annie Leibovitz HERE.

*Fairytale - one word.
  Definition: unrealistic expectations. 
  As opposed to fairy tale -two words.
  Definition: a Wonder story.

Decemberists' 'The Crane Wife' 10th Anniversary Special Re-release

Can you believe it's been ten years since The Decemberists released their album, based on Japanese fairy tale The Crane Wife? There's a whole new special re-issue box-set for enthusiasts being released on December 9th, 2016, and for Decemberist fans, sounds like it's more than worth adding to your collection.

For those wondering what The Crane Wife album, and upcoming box set, has to do with the fairy tale, here's a couple of excerpts from a long interview with Pitchfork, explaining the influence of the story, the importance of stories and narrative and how it was the central thread for this definitive album, which many critics hail as being The Decemberists best work:

Pitchfork: Can you amplify the symbolism of the crane wife? Not the album, but the actual story. 

CM: It's a story about a peasant living in, I assume, rural Japan, it being a Japanese folk tale. He finds a wounded crane on the road as he's walking one night. It has an arrow in its wing, and he pulls out the arrow and revives the crane. A couple of days later this mysterious woman shows up at his door and he brings her in. Eventually, they fall in love and are married. Although they're poor-- she's a seamstress, a weaver-- she suggests that she can make this cloth that he could sell and make money. But the one condition is that when she's weaving he can't look into the room at her weaving. This goes on for awhile, until eventually the peasant's curiosity gets the best of him and he looks in. It turns out that the woman is a crane, and she's pulling feathers from her wings and putting them into the cloth, which is what makes it so beautiful and soft. Apparently, having looked in at her breaks the spell and she turns permanently back into a crane and flies away. 

Pitchfork: Wow. That's almost identical to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, isn't it? Where he's leading her out of Hades and he's not allowed to look back, and finally his doubt and curiosity get the best of him, and he looks, and she fades away forever. It's the same narrative arc unfurling in a different culture. 

CM: Yeah, and having read the crane wife story, it's tough to pull a lesson out of it. It has something to do with greed, or curiosity, but why his looking in at her breaks the spell is a little ambiguous. The thing that I could tie it to was the Greek myth. It's interesting how they can be divided by centuries and continents, and these stories still manage to say these same things. It just shows you the universality of certain stories. 

Pitchfork: You seem as interested in the basic forms of storytelling, the way narrative elements play out toward an inevitable denouement, as you are the stories and characters themselves. Do you think the two constructs-- stories and how they're told-- can even be bifurcated that way, or are they inextricable?
CM: As important as it is, in novels or short stories, to have well-developed characters, it's just as important to abide by a strong narrative arc, where you have development and crisis and conflict and resolution. I think it's just another universality, that people like to have their stories given to them that way. So yes, the way the story is told is really important, because I think the story then dictates the lives of the characters. 

Pitchfork: Are you interested in classical tale cycles as well, the tales-within-tales thing? I'm thinking of things like Boccaccio's Decameron and the 1001 Arabian Nights. It seems to have a lot of utility for records like The Crane Wife, being filled with trapdoors that plunge you deeper and deeper into the story.
CM: Yeah, I read that stuff in school; I don't know if I've gone back to it. But I think it's a nice literary concept. 

Pitchfork: The Crane Wife also features a reappearance of what seems to be one of your favorite themes-- the doomed, star-crossed lovers divided by class and fate, who wind up horribly. What is it you find so resonant about this very Shakespearean concept? 

CM: I don't know, it's just a universal idea that's lasted over time. It's an archetypal storyline, so it means a lot; it carries a lot of baggage. You can draw a line through it to a hundred other stories. I've always been attracted to that sort of tragedy. 

Pitchfork: It seems that this is really where your interest lies-- these archetypes that are timeless and cut across cultures, occurring in different formats with the same narrative arc. 

CM: And hopefully that's what makes it something people can relate to. Because it's programmed into our heads to relate to these stories in certain ways.

Music folk will be interested in the whole article, which you can find HERE.

Here are the special 10th anniversary box-set details:

The Decemberists will reissue their fourth album, and major label debut, The Crane Wife, as a five-disc vinyl set packed with B-sides and demos, and featuring essays from Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rolling Stone's David Fricke....The set will collect the original 2006 album on two LPs, while the other three discs will feature B-sides, bonus tracks, unreleased outtakes, alternative versions and frontman Colin Meloy's solo acoustic demos. Among 
those demos is a version of the three-part "The Crane Wife" together as a single song in its original sequence.An accompanying 20-page booklet will feature Miranda's essay alongside new liner notes from Fricke. The collection will also include a Blu-ray featuring the Decemberists' 2006 concert at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club, which was filmed for NPR's second-ever webcast and had previously not been given an official release. 

The Crane Wife 10th anniversary box set is available to pre-order now via the Decemberists' website. The band is also offering a special version pressed on marbled red vinyl, limited to 500 copies. 

You can read the extensive track list for the five albums HERE.

There's also a short trailer showcasing the new package and some of the artwork. Enjoy:

Ask Baba Yaga: How Can I Stop Craving Male Attention?

James Jean

Today's answer will apply equally to any group of people you find yourself trying hard to please, and be noticed by...

Here's today's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

"Yr shawl is covered in mirrors.." How does Baba Yaga spin such succinct and vivid descriptions? Yes. Must remember this. It would apply very well to one person as well as many. Thanks Baba Yaga!

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

This is the email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

Disney's 'Frozen' - & Making Of - Airing in December

Frozen fan art - artist unconfirmed (Rella?)

It's a first - Frozen being aired on TV, that is - but we don't know if this will be a big event, since every enthusiastic family already likely has word through multiple DVDs of Frozen, is on their 3rd and already knows it all by heart (not to mention would be annoyed by ad breaks). But perhaps Disney has a fresh spin on why it will be worth staying up for. Perhaps teasers closer to the time will illuminate us. In the meantime:

Never Let It Go - Heather Theurer

Disney's animated film blockbuster Frozen will make its network TV premiere on ABC-TV’s Wonderful World of Disney December 11 at 8 PM ET, followed by the documentary The Making of “Frozen”: A Return to Arendelle at 10:04 PM ET. (source)

... that includes an exclusive sneak peek of the yet-untitled, all-new 'Frozen' special, coming to ABC Holiday 2017. (source)

We're only curious to see if the new making of - or Frozen special - actually addresses the story behind the story and other fairy tale inspirations. Neither the Blu-ray, nor the Making of Book was exactly forthcoming on any of that. In fact the content for both was pretty sparse and very light on actual information - very disappointing, especially considering the very long and detailed history of Disney trying to make Snow Queen. We don't have high hopes, but we're keeping tabs because when you least expect it, there are those gems..

Virginia Lee's 'The Frog Bride'

The AFTS Member Ezine Issue 02: The Frog King, or Iron Henry, is out!

Note: If you are a registered member of the Australian Fairy Tale Society (ie your membership fees are paid up to date), and haven't yet received notice via email, along with the link and secret password, please contact the AFTS via Facebook private message HERE or email them directly at austfairytales@gmail.com. They'll hop-to-it and get your goodies to you ASAP.

We've had frog kings, frog princes and frog princesses on the brain for weeks now and in celebration of completing a great compilation of new frog-themed fairy tale works, packaged into the unique fairy tale magazine, we thought we'd share mythic artist, Virgina Lee's lovely, lovely book The Frog Bride, based on the Russian tale The Frog Tsarevna - a story we love and wish we could have explored much more in the last issue.

Here are her notes (from a couple of years ago) on her first children's book, published in 2008:

My first children’s book ‘The Frog Bride’, undertaken 7 years ago, is a shortened version of The Tsarevna Frog, a traditional Russian folk tale retold here by Antonia Barber. It features a slightly camp Prince Ivan with Princess Vassilisa, who has to take her frogskin off and put it on again, rather a lot. In this quest for true love and acceptance, Vassilisa tirelessly tries to impress and capture the hearts of the prince and the royal court by performing her magic and revealing her innate beauty, when all she really desires is to be fully accepted for her less desirable appearances and habits, frogskin and all. 

 I didn't actually write it myself but it was my choice of story. I chose it mainly because I wanted to illustrate a girl taking off a frog skin. I'm always drawn to the physical transformations in stories and what they symbolize. 

Virginia Lee put a lot of love and artistic skill into the illustrations in this book and it could use some more attention (ie. sales) to boost the demand for more gorgeous illustrated books like it.

Enjoy! (And then go grab yourself a copy, if you haven't already.)

Don't you just love the hung-up frog skin in the wardrobe? Such a lovely touch!

Note: the paperback version has this cover below.