''Mirror Mirror'' is a 2012 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. ...

comedy film based on the fairy tale "

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

" collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

. It is directed by

Tarsem Singh Tarsem Singh Dhandwar (born 26 May 1961), known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian director who has worked on films, music videos, and commercials. He directed '' The Cell'' (2000), '' The Fall'' (2006, also screenwriter and producer), '' ...

and produced by

Ryan Kavanaugh Ryan Kavanaugh (born 1974) is an American film financier. He co-founded and served as CEO of Relativity Media, where he brokered deals between Wall Street investors and major film studios. He credited his risk-assessment algorithm with Relati ...

, Bernie Goldmann,

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, '' The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and '' Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several fil ...

and

Kevin Misher Kevin Misher is an American movie and television producer via his Los Angeles-based production company, Misher Films. Early life Misher was born in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and raised in Queens, New York. He earned a Bachelor's degree in ec ...

. It was written by Marc Klein and

Jason Keller Jason Keller (born April 23, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing driver. Previously, he was a mainstay in NASCAR's second-tier series, competing in 519 Nationwide Series races between 1991 and 2010. On May 15, 2010, Keller made his ...

, with music by

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), '' ...

. It stars

Lily Collins Lily Jane Collins (born 18 March 1989) is a British and American actress and model who is known for her work in several films, including ''Stuck in Love'' (2012), ''The English Teacher'' (2013), and '' Love, Rosie'' (2014), comedy '' Rules D ...

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and thr ...

Armie Hammer Armand Douglas Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Hammer began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film '' Billy: The Early Years'', and ...

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

Mare Winningham A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

, Michael Lerner, and

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire a ...

. It was released theatrically by

Relativity Media Relativity Media is an American media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company was commercially s ...

on March 30, 2012. The film received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Costume Design and earned $183 million on an $85–100 million budget but received generally mixed reviews from critics. ''Mirror Mirror'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of stori ...

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

on June 26, 2012.

Plot

A widowed king marries an evil enchantress named Clementianna, who is the most beautiful woman in the land. One day, the king leaves to fight a great evil that has invaded the land, but never returns. Clementianna becomes Queen and rules in his absence, while confining her young stepdaughter, Snow White, to the palace. Ten years later, Snow White, now a young lady, desires to explore the kingdom and sneaks out. Walking through the forest, she meets the visiting Prince Andrew Alcott, a prince from the Kingdom of Valencia, who has been robbed by a band of Dwarves; she and the prince are instantly smitten with each other. Snow White arrives in the town, and finds the people are destitute due to the Queen's heavy taxation. Meanwhile, Clementianna is introduced to Alcott and plans to marry him for his wealth. Clementianna throws a ball to woo the Prince, and Snow White secretly attends, planning to ask the prince to help her restore the kingdom. Clementianna notices Snow White and the prince dancing and orders her manservant Brighton to take the princess into the forest and feed her to the beast. Brighton leaves Snow White in the forest, but she runs away from the beast, collapsing at the door to the dwarves' hideout. The dwarves take her in and introduce themselves as Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuck. When Brighton collects more taxes levied by the queen to pay for her expensive parties, the dwarves rob him. Snow White takes the money and returns it to the townspeople, crediting the dwarves, whom the people hail as heroes. Clementianna informs Alcott that Snow White is dead. When the prince finds out that the bandits have robbed Brighton, he goes after them. In the forest, Alcott discovers that Snow White is alive and in league with the dwarves, who have trained her in combat. Each believing the other to be in the wrong, Snow White and Alcott duel. Alcott returns to the palace defeated and informs the queen that Snow White is alive. Clementianna enters her Mirror House, within which lives her reflection, the Mirror Queen. Clementianna has the Mirror Queen temporarily turn Brighton into a cockroach, and requests a love potion so she can make the prince fall in love with her. The potion turns out to be a 'puppy love' potion and the prince becomes devoted to her like a puppy dog. Under this spell, the prince agrees to marry her. Using

dark magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 145 ...

, the queen attacks Snow White and the dwarves with two giant

marionettes A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

; but Snow White defeats them by finding and cutting their strings. On the day of her wedding, Clementianna arrives to find that Snow White and the dwarves have robbed the party and abducted the Prince; for her inability to handle bandits and for lying about Snow White's death, the aristocrats demand the queen be deposed. Back in the forest, Snow White manages to break the spell on Alcott with true love's kiss. Snow White encounters Clementianna, who sends the beast after her. Prince Alcott tries to save Snow White, but the Beast captures her. However, the beast hesitates in killing her and Snow White sees that it wears a necklace with a moon charm on it similar to the one the queen wears. Snow White cuts the necklace off, breaking Clementianna’s spell, and restoring the beast to its true form: Snow White’s father. Clementianna begins to age rapidly and the Mirror Queen explains this is her punishment for using dark magic. Grateful to Alcott for his assistance, the king agrees to let him marry Snow White. At the wedding, an old hag appears and offers Snow White an apple as a wedding gift. At first, Snow White accepts the apple; but, as she is about to bite it, she realizes that the old hag is Clementianna. Snow White cuts a piece from the apple with her father's dagger and gives it to Clementianna, who reluctantly accepts it. The Mirror House shatters declaring it Snow White's story after all. Snow White, Prince Alcott, the King and the dwarves live happily ever after.

Cast

as Princess Snow White *

as Queen Clementianna, Snow White's evil stepmother. *

as Prince Andrew Alcott, the Prince of Valencia. *

as Brighton, the Queen's executive bootlicker. *

as Margaret, the royal

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

who was Snow White's friend since childhood. * Michael Lerner as

the Baron Baron is a title of nobility. Baron, The Baron or Barons may also refer to: Places * Barons, Alberta, Canada * Baron, Gard, France * Baron, Gironde, France * Baron, Oise, France * Baron, Saône-et-Loire, France * Baron-sur-Odon, France * B ...

, an elite member of the kingdom who is often recommended for Queen Clementianna to get engaged to. *

as the King, the father of Snow White, who went missing. *

Danny Woodburn Daniel Charles Woodburn (born July 26, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and activist for the disability rights movement linked to his dwarfism. He played Mickey Abbott on the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. He has more than 150 television and 30 fil ...

as Will Grimm, the leader of the Seven Dwarfs. He is named after the

. *

Martin Klebba Martin Klebba (born June 23, 1969) is an American actor and stunt performer. He has a form of dwarfism called acromicric dysplasia; he is . Klebba is best known for his role as Marty in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' franchise. Personal life ...

as Butcher, a dwarf who used to work as a

butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

. * Sebastian Saraceno as Wolf, a dwarf in a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

-skin cape. * Jordan Prentice as Napoleon, a dwarf who wears a hat similar to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's. *

Mark Povinelli Mark Povinelli (born August 9, 1971) is an American stage, television and movie actor who also does occasional stunt work. Povinelli is also a noted social activist advocating for the rights of others with dwarfism. In June 2017 Povinelli was el ...

as Half Pint, a dwarf who has a crush on Snow White. * Joe Gnoffo as Grub, a dwarf who is always eating. * Ronald Lee Clark as Chuckles, a dwarf who chuckles a lot. * Lisa Roberts Gillan as Mirror Queen, the reflection of Queen Clementianna who is much wiser, kinder, and somewhat younger than her. ** Gillan's image is replaced with the digital likeness of Julia Roberts who voices the mirror. * Robert Emms as Charles Renbock, Prince Alcott's faithful

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "valet ...

and confidant. * Alex Ivanovici as Town Magistrate, the magistrate of the town that collects the taxes for Brighton. *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as the voice of the Beast, a chimeric creature with a lion/

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...

-like head, the antlers of a

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the rei ...

, chicken leg-like arms, the wings of an

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, and the body and tail of a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints ...

with a tail-claw at the end of the tail. ** Welker also provides the vocal effects of the giant puppets.

Production

Development

Roberts was the first to be cast, because very early on Tarsem Singh wanted an

Evil Queen The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent ...

with whom audiences could relate. He stated that in the film, the queen is not evil, but rather insecure. He also suggested that the Queen's true ugliness may be revealed at the very end of the film. Originally

Saoirse Ronan Saoirse Una Ronan ( , ; born 12 April 1994) is an American-born Irish actress. Primarily known for her work in period dramas since adolescence, she has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations fo ...

was considered for the role of Snow White but the age difference between her and Armie Hammer was too large (he was 25 and she was 17).

Felicity Jones Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is a British actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tel ...

was offered the part but turned it down. Collins was eventually cast in the role. Collins said in an interview that her casting happened in 24 hours after she met Tarsem Singh and read for him. Hammer was cast as the prince who is at first drawn towards the Queen and then towards Snow White. He beat out

James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes ...

and

Alex Pettyfer Alexander Richard Pettyfer (born 10 April 1990) is a British actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of '' Stormbreaker''. Pettyfer was nominate ...

for the role.

Filming

Filming for ''Mirror Mirror'' began on June 20, 2011, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen ...

, under the working title ''Untitled Snow White Project''. Production on the film wrapped in mid-September. The film was officially titled ''Mirror Mirror'' on November 4, 2011. The first trailer was released on November 30, 2011, in partnership with Relativity Media and Trailer Park. The teaser poster was released the same day. ''Mirror Mirror'' was the last film which Tarsem's regular costume designer,

Eiko Ishioka was a Japanese art director, costume designer, and graphic designer known for her work in stage, screen, advertising, and print media. Noted for her advertising campaigns for the Japanese boutique chain Parco, she collaborated with sportswear ...

, worked on before her death. The visual effects were designed by Tom Wood and executed by Wayne Brinton, Tim Carras, Sébastien Moreau and Amanda Dyar.

announced the movie's final cost as being $85 million, though an article in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said the true budget was closer to $100 million.

Release

The film was released in theaters on March 30, 2012.

Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a rating of 50% with an average score of 5.60/10 based on reviews from 197 critics. The site's general consensus is that "Like most of Tarsem Singh's films, ''Mirror Mirror'' is undeniably beautiful – but its treatment of the age-old Snow White fable lacks enough depth or originality to set it apart from the countless other adaptations of the tale." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 46 from the 34 reviews, which indicates "Mixed or average reviews". Robbie Collin from British newspaper '' The Telegraph'' gave the film four stars describing it as "an exuberantly charming fairy story that owes as much to the gnarled folk tale illustrations of

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

as the stagey, saturated lunacy of that half-loved, half-feared East German fantasy ''

The Singing Ringing Tree ''The Singing Ringing Tree'' (german: Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) is a 1957 children's fantasy film from East German studio DEFA. Directed by Francesco Stefani, the screenplay by Anne Geelhaar is based on a variation of "Hurleburlebutz" ...

''. It's a Grimm piece of work, but far from a grim one: without rehashing the seminal Disney animated version, it radiates gorgeousness and good humour with a near-nuclear intensity." Collin praised costume designer

's work, saying "every outfit in ''Mirror Mirror'' is a masterpiece". He concluded the film is "the opposite of

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

's brash, chaotic, dispiritingly popular ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...

'': here, the artistry of the cast and crew leaps off the screen, not 3D computer graphics."

Box office

On its opening day, ''Mirror Mirror'' made $5.8 million, coming in at the No. 3 spot behind ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 64 ...

'' and ''

Wrath of the Titans ''Wrath of the Titans'' is a 2012 action fantasy film and a sequel to the 2010 film '' Clash of the Titans''. The film stars Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Édgar Ramírez, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson ...

''. For its opening weekend, the film earned $18.1 million while holding onto the No. 3 spot at the box office. During its theatrical run, ''Mirror Mirror'' grossed $64.9 million in North America and $118.1 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $183 million.

Home media

''Mirror Mirror'' was released on

and

on June 26, 2012.

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The song "I Believe in Love" was originally written in 1970 by Nina Hart, a singer-song writer and stage and TV actress (then working at New York City music-publishing company, Golden Bough Productions.) The song was one of several written by Hart for director

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...

to consider for his film '' Taking Off''. She performed the song in Forman's film, playing a character at an audition; Hart's recording was a hit in Italy and was later covered by Iranian singer

Googoosh Faegheh Atashin ( fa, فائقه آتشین; born 5 May 1950), known professionally as Googoosh ( fa, گوگوش, ), is an Iranian singer and former actress. One of the most popular and prolific entertainers in Iran, her career has spanned over ...

. Tarsem Singh—who was unaware that it had previously been used in a film—chose the song for the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

-style musical finale of ''Mirror Mirror'' because his daughter had enjoyed the song when he had played it for her the previous year. * I Believe In Love (Mirror Mirror Mix) – Performed by

* All Music – Written and composed by

References

External links

* * * *
Opening Sequence Animation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirror Mirror 2012 films 2012 fantasy films 2012 romantic comedy films 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s fantasy comedy films American adventure comedy films American fantasy adventure films American fantasy comedy films American romantic comedy films American children's comedy films American children's fantasy films Films about dwarfs Films about royalty Films about witchcraft Films based on Snow White Films directed by Tarsem Singh Films scored by Alan Menken Films shot in Montreal Films using motion capture Relativity Media films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films