First Look – Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Here is our first look at Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, starring Jeremy Renner as Hansel, and Gemma Arterton as Gretel.

The story is a revisionist take on the classic fairy tale, and a trailer should be out this week.

Arterton recently spoke about the film and revealed that the tone of the film is a mix of Pulp Fiction and fairly tale.How does this movie incorporate the original Brothers Grimm tale? Is that story kind of a prologue?

Yes, it continues it. You see a series of flashbacks with their experience of killing that first witch, which is brilliant. I remember being on set for the final few days of that. The candy house, and the witches are really repulsive and quite frightening. The make-up is out of this world. It’s this bone-chilling scene. Very dark. The girl who plays my character is brilliant, with the horrified expression she has.

Folk-tales like this have been told over and over again, changing every time.

What’s the constant that your movie picks up?

They resonate with your fears, that’s how these fairy tales worked. They scared you into behaving. This one in particular is about abandonment and being lost and parents leaving you. The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, really.

What would Hansel and Gretel be in 15 years time?

Though it’s comedic, deep down it’s about abused kids becoming kind of hyper-responsible?
But it’s also very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really.

Interesting. So instead of Jules and Vincent, we have Hansel and Gretel. And beyond being killers, they’re siblings who feel they need to protect each other?

We spent a lot of time thinking about that and behaving like brother and sister, making it detailed so it wasn’t just two actors kicking butt, really. Thget boring. In our minds, these are two people who grew up with no parents and they only have each other and the bond they have, and with the complexities of that, some resentment.

You can catch Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters in theaters on March 2, 2012.

“Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” Coming Together

Jeremy Renner, most known for his role in “The Hurt Locker” and “The Town” will now assume a much different role. Renner has been tagged as Hansel.

His lovely counterpart Gretel will be played by Gemma Arterton star of “Prince of Persia” and “Quantum Solace.”

So who is the witch they will have to chase you may ask?

Why the lovely Famke Janssen of course!

Janssen who has a dark edge to her in almost all of her roles should fill the shoes of the head witch very well.

Fear not, this isn’t the old Hansel and Gretel you read as a little kid, this will be much different.

The movie takes place 15 years after the classic fairytale, and sees Hansel and Gretel become bounty hunters charged with searching for the witches who tried to kill them.

Sounds interesting, there is a 2011 release date scheduled but nothing concrete as of yet.