The Huntsman: Winter’s War - 9 Things We Learned On Set

Yahoo Movies visited the set of ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’, the prequel to 2012 blockbuster ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’.

Chris Hemsworth is once again the Huntsman while Charlize Theron reprises her role as the evil Queen Ravenna. Joining the cast is Emily Blunt, who plays Ravenna’s good sister Freya, Jessica Chastain – starring as warrior/love interest Sara - and Rob Brydon as Gryff, a debt-collecting Dwarf.

We spoke to the cast and crew on set in Stockwood, Somerset, who shared some secrets from the production.

Chris Hemsworth wanted “more fun” this time around

Chris Hemsworth said he wanted ‘The Huntsman’ to be more fun than the first movie. He told us: “I was really proud of the first film, but I think tonally, if we were coming back and having another go at it, I wanted to do something different with it, as did Cedric [Nicolas-Troyan, the director]. I think a lot of us wanted it to be lighter and more fun, with more sense of adventure.

“I’m proud of ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’, but it was pretty heavy and serious and dark, so we’re getting away from that, and the script is funnier and lighter. The visuals, the colours and the aesthetic is brighter. It reminds me of ‘Willow’, with a little of an ‘Indiana Jones’ feel to it, hopefully.”

Jessica Chastain was also inspired by ‘Willow’

Hemsworth was not the only cast member inspired by 80s cult fantasy flick ‘Willow’. Chastain told us the Warwick Davis film was one of her main inspirations for taking on the role.

She said: “They sent me a picture of the character first, before I got the script, and I’ve never had that. It was like a sketch, and she looked awesome. There’s also a movie from my childhood that I loved – ‘Willow’ - and I remember that redhead badass warrior Sorsha, and I loved her dynamic with Madmartigan when I was a little girl. I always wanted to be Sorsha, so it was like this is my chance!”

Dwarf College

The actors who played the dwarves in the story – Rob Brydon, Nick Frost, Sheridan Smith and Alexandra Roach – had to attend what they called ‘Dwarf College’ for a MONTH to learn how to convincingly play their characters.

Smith said: “It was hilarious. It was about learning how to move. It’s amazing, really – things you don’t think about. Like, you can’t just bend down and pick something up; you have to put one hand down and pick it up with the other.

“We had to go dwarf classes and graduate dwarf school before we even started getting all the prosthetics on… We’ve been in hysterics a lot of the time.”

Sheridan Smith was like “a competition winner” on-set

Sheridan Smith is one of the most well-known and beloved actors on UK TV, but she admitted that she was overwhelmed by the scale of ‘The Huntsman’.

“Rob [Brydon] keeps calling me a competition winner,” she laughed. “He says, ‘be cooler, be cooler.’ Because I’m just like, ‘It’s amazing. It’s amazing!’ But I’m finding it really fascinating – it’s a whole new scale, for me. There’s so many people that do so many jobs, we’ve taken over every hotel while we’re here.”

The Dwarves were created with mostly practical effects

Surprisingly, many of the shots featuring the actors playing dwarves were created using traditional practical effects rather than CGI.

Nick Frost, who reprises his role as Nion from the first film, told us: “I think Cedric [the director] did most of that legwork on the first film, and it’s kind of the same thing now. Every now and again we’ll use risers so they’re on rostrums and we walk next to them, and it works. I think Cedric’s theory is that the human eye can be fooled pretty easily using doubles like that in-camera. And if the shot’s wide enough, you just never know it’s not us.”

Brydon added: “There’s a scene where Sheridan and I are disposing of a body – of a guard – and it starts off with our doubles dragging it through a corridor and when you come round to the close-up it’ll be us. I watched it on the monitor and I was amazed, because they’re wearing masks and in a long shot you would have said, “Yeah, that’s me.” So it’s a really interesting combination of state-of-the-art stuff and also, as Nick said, it’s as simple as being on a lower chair. And, I think, as long as you establish the parameters you go along with it, you accept it.”

Hemsworth accidently hit a cast member on set with an axe

On ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’ Kristen Stewart infamously punched co-star Chris Hemsworth during filming. This time around it was Hemsworth accidentally attacking his fellow actors.

He told us: “Charlize said the other day, ‘I can’t wait for the press tour, because I heard all about how Kristen [Stewart] punched you in the face and I can’t wait to tell people how you hit me with an axe.’ So she can tell you the details of that. I’d like to say she messed the choreography up! But that could be a lie.”

The director of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ almost helmed ‘The Huntsman’

At one point Frank Darabont, the director of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’ was set to direct ‘The Huntsman’, according to Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. He told us how he ended up replacing Darabont:

“It took me by surprise; I was not involved with this movie at all. I was involved in the first movie, of course [he was the Second Unit Director], and then there was a moment when we were talking about a ‘Snow White 2’. And I was involved at this point, but I hadn’t been hired by Universal. I’d done a presentation on what a ‘Snow White 2’ could be like – or could look like. And it was another script, and another project, and that project didn’t work out.

“So, then Frank Darabont got hired for ‘The Huntsman’ and I wasn’t really involved, but when he stepped down they knew what I was going to do for another iteration of this movie and this world. I guess from working with Joe Roth (the producer) before, they thought, ‘Wow, maybe he can do it.’ So, literally, Joe called me up and said, ‘Look, Cedric, Frank is going to step down and I want you to direct the picture, if you want to do it.’”

Snow White could return to the series

Kristen Stewart played Snow White in the previous film but was not involved this time. However, Nicolas-Troyan said her character could potentially return for a future film.

“Yeah, absolutely. Something is happening to her in this movie, off screen. It’s not in this movie, but she is a part of it. There’s something about Snow White that is parallel to this story. Sam [Claflin] comes back because there is another past.”

The cast and crew are thinking about sequels

The team behind ‘The Huntsman’ are already planning further installments. Nicolas-Troyan told us that “[sequels are] always in the works.”

“We’ve been tooling with other ideas,” he said. “That’s why we’re mentioning Snow White.”

Jessica Chastain also opened the door to returning to the franchises, telling us: “I’d sure love to play this character again.”

‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ is in cinemas now. Watch the trailer below.

Image credits: Universal