Tommy Wirkola Talks ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’
Posted by Robin Ruinsky (robin@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 19, 2009
When last we left Hansel and Gretel in the evil witch’s unsavory hut, she was planning on turning Hansel into a savory stew. However she was thwarted by the children and her poor eyesight. Has anyone wondered what happened to the pair of lost children after they returned home? Did they recover? How did their ordeal change their lives? Did they require years of intense therapy to overcome their newly acquired hatred of witches? Or did they strike back?
Norwegian writer/director Tommy Wirkola has not only thought about these questions but is giving the answers the big screen treatment in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. It’s Wirkola’s first US project which he landed as a result of showing his zombie film Dead Snow at the 2009 Sundance film festival. After a screening of his film he picked up American representation. That led to Paramount and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions to offer his new Hansel and Gretel film a place to land.
Wirkola described the film to ShockTillYouDrop:
“It’s an action-adventure horror movie that finds Hansel and Gretel fifteen years [after their first witch incident] and they’ve grown up to become merciless witch hunters. Blood and gore and action, all the stuff that I love. I’m working on the first draft now so it’s a little ways off, but it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s definitely an R-rated movie, the first draft has a lot of blood and guts. First and foremost, it’s an action movie, I think, with horror elements. And of course some dark humor as well. But the action and horror are the most import feelings I want.”
When Wirkola finishes Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters the director is contemplating a sequel to his hit Norwegian Zombie horror film Dead Snow. Opening in a limited release we’ll see if the film is a hit in America.
How does Hansel and Gretel as a pair of with hunters sound to you? Do you want to see the pair kick some witch ass?
Read more articles by Robin Ruinsky
