USA: Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as Hansel and Gretel in the revamped Hollywood version of the Grimm fairy tale

Record ID: 220988

  • Title: USA: Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as Hansel and Gretel in the revamped Hollywood version of the Grimm fairy tale
  • Date: 25th January 2013
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNTIED STATES (JANUARY 24, 2013) (REUTERS) GEMMA ARTERTON SPEAKING WITH REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS GEMMA ARTERTON, SAYING: "It does sort of just end, and there's no conclusion to it, and I'm quite amazed that nobody's thought of this idea before, I mean, there's no happily ever after, it's just these kids kill a witch, and our film is
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2013 12:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9G9TGSFKETBFAU6XV1A5589Z
  • Story Text: Classic Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel gets an bloodthirsty Hollywood revamping in a new action-packed flick starring Jeremy Renner and British actress Gemma Arterton.

    "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" promises the "classic tale with a new twist" as it imagines the next chapter in the lives of the two title characters made famous in German folklore. The film had its premiere Thursday (January 24) night at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, with co-stars Renner and Arterton, as well as actress Famke Janssen, executive producer Will Ferrell, and director Tommy Wirkola, in attendance.
    Recorded by brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, and first published in 1812, the fairy tale of "Hansel and Gretel" tells the story of a brother and sister who are abandoned in the woods by their parents, and take refuge in a house made of candy and cake, inhabited by a kind old woman who is a revealed as a wicked witch who hunts and eats children. Although the witch has plans to fatten up Hansel and Gretel and throw them in the oven, they make their escape and are reunited with their father. The talethere, leaving the rest of the lives of the children up to the imagination -- and that's where Hollywood comes in...

    "It takes the characters we know from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, and it takes them fifteen years later, and that's kind of what grabbed me, made me curious," says actor Jeremy Renner, who plays Hansel.

    "It does sort of just end, and there's no conclusion to it, and I'm quite amazed that nobody's thought of this idea before, I mean, there's no happily ever after, it's just these kids kill a witch, and our film is that, it's the 'what happened'," says Renner's "sister" Gretel, actress Gemma Arterton.
    In the film, the next chapter of the tale follows the adult siblings as they travel the countryside hunting witches in bloodthirsty vengeance, helping to save children abducted in small villages. The film is fast paced and entertaining, though it meant a lot of athletic shoots for Arterton and Renner, who is himself no stranger to action in movies,
    "I mean, it was just the idea of doing something fun, there was never any moment... I'm not trying to say that this is anything highbrow, by any means, this is pure entertainment, the idea of going to work and just having fun, as well, was just something exciting to me," says Renner, star of "The Hurt Locker," "Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol," and "Marvel's The Avengers."
    Dutch actress Famke Janssen says the film has the marked influence of a director famous for action and violence.

    "I think you have to do it a little bit tongue in cheek. I don't think you can take it too seriously, so it has a Tarantino-esque feel to it, and I think that's important because you know, it's different from what the fairy tale was for kids," says Janssen.
    It's a darker twist on an already dark tale, says Arterton, who believes that the best fairy tales are the ones that scare children: "That's why they were designed. And they play on your most sort of basic fears, and you know, this one in particular, abandonment, temptation, abandonment from your parents, it's terrible. But yeah, that's why they were designed, they have to have that scare factor in them," says Arterton.

    "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunter" will release in 3-D on January 25.
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