Marc Webb is being eyed to direct Disney’s live-action Snow White remake. After years of trying to launch new live-action franchises with movies like TRON: Legacy and John Carter, the Mouse House has doubled its efforts on re-imagining its animated films in live-action instead. And while there have been recent exceptions to that rule (like A Wrinkle in Time and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms), pretty much every other major live-action Mouse House release since 2015 has been connected to one of the studio’s classic animated features, one way or another.
That trend will continue in the foreseeable future, with live-action remakes of The Lion King and Mulan scheduled to arrive within the next year alone. Disney has even more live-action retellings in some form of development at the moment, including remakes based on their first two animated films ever, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). The latter project hit a snag earlier this year, when director Paul King stepped down. Meanwhile, it appears Snow White is still chugging along and is gearing up to take the next step forward.
Variety is reporting that Webb has entered talks to direct Disney’s live-action Snow White retelling. The deal isn’t done yet, but the filmmaker - perhaps best known for helming The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 - is said to be the studio’s top choice for the job. The outlet also says that Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) is in negotiations to write the movie’s script, with Oscar-winning La La Land and Greatest Showman duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul onboard to write the film’s new songs, as previously reported. Also known as Pasek & Paul, the pair are fresh off having written the original tune “Speechless” (which Alan Menken co-wrote) for Disney’s live-action Aladdin.
This isn’t the first live-action Snow White project Disney’s worked on in the last decade, either. Back in the early 2010s, the studio developed a martial arts-style Snow White retelling (titled Snow and the Seven or Order of the Seven) and even attached Saoirse Ronan to star, before the film was cancelled during pre-production. Similarly, word got out in 2016 that Disney was considering a live-action spinoff about Snow White’s sister titled Rose Red. Brie Larson was rumored to be in discussions for the project last year, but there hasn’t been a substantial update on the situation since then.
Hollywood, of course, hasn’t been hurting for live-action Snow White retellings of late. In fact, there were a pair of them released in 2012 alone, in the forms of Snow White and the Huntsman (starring Kristen Stewart) and Mirror Mirror (starring Lily Collins). It’s a story that’s been told, re-told, and re-contextualized in so many different ways onscreen by now that it’s hard for any single retelling to bring anything fresh to the table. Webb, for his part, has typically fared best when he’s directing original, character-driven films like (500) Days of Summer and Gifted, as opposed to IPs like Spider-Man and Snow White. Still, since it’s safe to assume Disney’s going to make this movie one way or another, here’s hoping Webb - or whoever ultimately signs on to direct - finds a way of making this particular fairy tale re-imagining feel like something special.
Source: Variety
