Julia Roberts: Evil Queen In 'Snow White' Film

Julia Roberts has had a fairy tale career, playing the heroine and good girl, but now, she's set to turn that reputation on its head in perhaps the most famous fairy tale of all.

The Oscar winner and "Eat Pray Love" star has been officially cast as the Evil Queen in a new film adaptation of "Snow White," the film's producers, Relativity Media, confirmed on Tuesday.

The story won't be all mirror-mirror and frills and tiny dwarves, however. Relativity said that the movie "will eschew the traditional story in favor of a more modern tale full of comedy and adventure."

The casting has long been in the works, as it was reported in December that she was up for the role. Roberts won't be the only Evil Queen hitting theaters soon, either. Charlize Theron was recently cast in the same role in another adaptation, "Snow White And The Huntsmen," while Disney is planning their own adaptation.

A truncated version of the press release from Relativity, via The Wrap, follows:

Relativity Media has closed a deal with Oscar®-winner Julia Roberts to play the Queen in its upcoming untitled Snow White feature, based on the Brothers Grimm story, directed by Tarsem Singh (Immortals, The Cell).

Pre-production has begun, and principal photography will start in April. The theatrical release date is set for June 29, 2012.

Relativity's Snow White, a retelling of one of the most beloved fables of all-time, will eschew the traditional story in favor of a more modern tale full of comedy and adventure. After her evil stepmother kills her father and destroys the kingdom, Snow White bands together with a gang of seven quarrelsome dwarfs to reclaim what is rightly hers. The script was written by Melissa Wallack (Meet Bill) and Jason Keller (Machine Gun Preacher).

The film's producers are Ryan Kavanaugh (The Fighter), Bernie Goldmann (300) and Brett Ratner (Rush Hour franchise). The executive producers are Tucker Tooley (The Fighter), Jeff Waxman (Immortals), Tommy Turtle (Immortals), Jamie Marshall (Immortals), Josh Pate (Friday Night Lights) and John Cheng (Horrible Bosses).

Relativity's CEO Ryan Kavanaugh commented, "Julia was our first and only choice to play the Queen. She is an icon, and we know that she will make this role her own in a way that no one else could."

Comments

[MikeDu]

02:25 PM on 02/10/2011

Uh oh, sounds like the role may involve more than just acting like 'Julia Roberts' for the camera. Roberts is not exact;ly known for disappearing into her character.

[emperance]

12:39 PM on 02/10/2011

What happened to the Pretty Woman?

She's lost some of her looks; sad.

[zest]

12:00 PM on 02/10/2011

I like Julia. I can't imagine this project being a success but what the heck to I know. Just kind of strikes me as "The Brothers Grimm".

[Holypat777]

09:34 AM on 02/10/2011

Sounds fitting . . .

[bluhare]

01:17 PM on 02/10/2011

I clicked on this just so I could post "typecasting", but you beat me to it!

[Holypat777]

01:34 PM on 02/10/2011

Actually, I like yours better.

[bbertaud]

12:20 AM on 02/10/2011

At the end Snow White will leave the prince and go back to her dwarfs because she realizes than 7 dwarfs are more fun that just one prince

[lippp]

10:56 AM on 02/10/2011

That has not been my experience. :)

[Untitled]

07:22 PM on 02/09/2011

"Relativity said that the movie 'will eschew the traditional story in favor of a more modern tale full of comedy and adventure.'"

Oh joy. It's all the fun of Snow White without actually being Snow White.

[lippp]

10:59 AM on 02/10/2011

Truth is, and hopefully they will portray this in this new film, Snow White was not knocked out by eating an apple. No. It was all that blow she inhaled. Hence her name.

[tuff guy]

07:06 PM on 02/09/2011

i just look at who the director is, then read about how they're going to do the film, and can tell that it's going to be straight to dvd for this one.

[Phxgwen]

06:36 PM on 02/09/2011

That won't be a reach for her.

[LLNYRN]

06:19 PM on 02/09/2011

If Tarsem's directing,
I'm interested.

His resume's small.
But the Dude's pretty visionary.

[BlueZoo]

05:30 PM on 02/09/2011

WTH are "dwarves?" The plural of "dwarf" is "dwarfs" as in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!" It's no wonder we're behind the rest of the world in education! Geez! Tolkien may have used "dwarves" but his usage of this and other words was specific to the old world and his style of telling it.

[Marturia]

05:24 PM on 02/09/2011

That iconic smile can be deceiving. Cover everything but her eyes and you'll see that wicked look. Bwahahaha!

[Aesthete]

04:48 PM on 02/09/2011

...sounds like a fun role.

[BroadwayJoe]

04:39 PM on 02/09/2011

Come on. Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen? Will she out a big, hearty laugh and act like a goofball?

[dorzic]

04:11 PM on 02/09/2011

the movie remake guff was almost empty, but now all movies & cartoons are eligible for remakes, thanks to 3d.

[jaslyn]

03:53 PM on 02/09/2011

hope it's better than Eat, Pray, Love, a real disappointment.