Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 American dark fantasy action film starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the siblings from the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel", who are now grown up and work together to exterminate witches for hire. The supporting cast includes Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare. It was written and directed by Tommy Wirkola.
In late 2010, after being approached by Gary Sanchez Productions, Wirkola pitched the film to Paramount Pictures. Renner was cast as Hansel in September 2010 whilst the role of Gretel was planned for Noomi Rapace before Arterton's casting in January 2011. Principal photography began in March 2011 at Babelsberg Studio in Germany, and concluded in June. Originally scheduled for release in March 2012, the film was delayed to allow additional time to shoot a post-credits scene with Renner.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters was theatrically released in the United States on January 25, 2013. It received generally negative reviews from critics for its weak script and gratuitous violence. It was a box-office success, grossing $226 million against a production budget of $50 million.
Plot As in the original fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel as children are abandoned by their father in a forest, where they come across a house made of candy. Upon entering it, they are captured by a cannibalistic witch, who makes Gretel prepare the oven while forcing Hansel to continuously eat sweets to fatten him up. The children outsmart her before she could eat them, incinerating her in the oven.
Over the following many years, Hansel and Gretel, now in their adolescence, have become famed witch hunters, slaying many witches without succumbing to harmful spells and curses of the witchcraft; although the incident in the gingerbread house has left Hansel with a magic-induced form of diabetes and he needs to inject himself with a shot of insulin every few hours.
Hansel and Gretel arrive in the town of Augsburg in time to prevent Sheriff Berringer from executing the young woman Mina for witchcraft. Mayor Engleman has hired the siblings to rescue the town's missing children, who are presumed abducted by witches. Berringer hires trackers for the same mission, hoping to disgrace the mayor and cementing his power. Hansel and Gretel capture the horned witch and discover that the witches are preparing for the coming Blood Moon, where they plan to sacrifice twelve children to gain immunity to fire, their greatest weakness. The mayor assigns Jackson, a local resident and tracker, to assist them in navigating the forest but they wait until morning before setting out.
The grand dark witch Muriel attacks the town with her army and abducts the twelfth child. She attacks Gretel who is rescued by Ben, a local teenager and avid fan of theirs who plans to become a witch hunter himself. Jackson is slain in the fight by Muriel after attempting to assist Gretel. Hansel falls from a witch's broomstick and is lost in the forest.
The next morning, Mina finds him stuck in a tree and takes him to a nearby spring, where she heals his wounds and they make love in the healing waters of the spring. Gretel is attacked by Sheriff Berringer and his posse, who beat her before being stopped by Muriel's troll Edward. He kills all of the men and tells Gretel that he helped her because trolls serve witches. Hansel and Gretel discover an abandoned cabin that they learn is a witch's lair and their childhood home. Muriel tells them the truth of their past.
Hansel and Gretel's mother was the great white witch Adrianna who married a farmer. On the night of the last Blood Moon, Muriel planned to complete the fire-protective potion, key to which is the heart of a grand white witch. As Adrianna's white magic was more powerful than Muriel's black magic, Muriel decided to use Gretel's heart instead. To get rid of Adrianna, she revealed to the townspeople that she was a witch. The angry mob burned her alive and hanged Hansel and Gretel's father, who had left them in the forest to protect them. Although Adrianna was a powerful witch, she'd never use her white magic against humans, even in self-defense.
The siblings fight Muriel before she stabs Hansel and abducts Gretel to complete her long-overdue ceremony. Hansel wakes up with Mina, who reveals herself to be a white witch. She heals him again and uses Adrianna's grimoire to bless his arsenal of weapons.
Hansel, Mina, and Ben disrupt the witches' Sabbath. Mina slaughters the witches with a Gatling gun while Hansel frees the children. Edward defies Muriel and releases Gretel. Muriel throws Edward off a cliff. Gretel finds Edward's lifeless body and manages to resuscitate him. Hansel, Ben, and Mina follow Muriel's trail to the original gingerbread house, now dilapidated and run-down. Muriel kills Mina before Hansel shoots her. The siblings engage her in a brutal fight that ends with them decapitating her with a shovel.
Hansel and Gretel burn Muriel's body on a pyre and collect their reward for rescuing the children. They head out on their next witch hunt, now accompanied by Ben and Edward.
Cast
Production Development
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is the first English language film and the first big studio production of Norwegian writer and director Wirkola, up to this point best known for his 2009 Nazi zombie-themed, independent, horror, and comedy film Dead Snow. Wirkola said he was contacted by producer Kevin Messick from Gary Sanchez Productions after the screening of Dead Snow at the Sundance Film Festival: "So my first meeting, my first day in Los Angeles] was with those guys and I pitched Hansel and Gretel and they loved it. And they took me to Paramount two days after and we sold it." In 2013, Wirkola said "I'm still surprised that they went for it, because it's a crazy, rock n' roll script. It's full throttle, there's lots of blood and gore and bad language, I often wonder how I got this movie made. It's all across the world now. But people really seem to respond to it, which is what we hoped, that people would enjoy this ride."
An announcement of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters sparked a production of several other "Hansel and Gretel"–based films made by different studios, including The Asylum's mockbuster Hansel & Gretel, Syfy's Witchslayer Gretl, and Lionsgate Home Entertainment's Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft. The film was a part of an overall Hollywood trend of witch-themed films, including Beautiful Creatures (which stars Thomas Mann) and Oz the Great and Powerful, set to be released that same season.2013 Movie Preview: Season of the Witch , CineMovie, 18 December 2012 The project was given a budget of $50 million, co-financed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).Finke, Nikki & Fleming, Mike (February 17, 2011). "Paramount Schedules 'Hansel & Gretel 3D' For March 2, 2012; MGM Co-Financing" . Deadline.
Concept and design
Wirkola said,
I have a strong memory from my childhood of just how dark and gruesome their tale was and I wondered what would have happened to the two of them when they grew up? They had this dark past and this intense hatred of witches. So as I thought about it, it made sense to me that of course they would be fated to become great witch hunters. We wanted it to feel like this could be happening 300 years ago but at the same time, there is a modern spin on all the action, characters and weaponry. It was a fun way to make a classical world feel fresh.
Wirkola said that he originally came up with that idea in 2007 while studying film and television at Bond University in Australia, when he wanted to make it as just a short film, and that the film school director Simon Hunter advised him: "Tom, don't ever speak of the idea again until you are in front of a Hollywood producer and I guarantee you will sell it."Peter Michell, A crum of an idea led to Hansel & Gretel hit film , theage.com.au, January 29, 2013
Gary Sanchez Productions' Adam McKay said in 2010, "The idea is, they've grown up and they hunt witches. It's a hybrid sort of old-timey feeling, yet there's pump-action shotguns. Modern technology but in an old style. We heard it and we were just like, 'That's a freakin' franchise! You could make three of those!'"Billington, Alex (2009-04-30). "Tommy Wirkola Tackling Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" . FirstShowing.net. Dante Harper was hired to rewrite the script, aimed for "having a gory-but-funny Shaun of the Dead vibe." McKay said inspirations included Sam Raimi's early horror comedy films like Army of Darkness but also "John Carpenter's movies, which we all love [and] we're all hugely influenced by the first Matrix—obviously a really big one—also the Bourne Supremacy movies and the way Oliver Wood shot those. You kind of throw in all those, mix 'em up in a pot and that's what you get." Wirkola also credited Quentin Tarantino for influencing him "in many ways"Jonathon Natsis, Extreme Vision , FilmInk, January 30, 2013 and singled out Peter Jackson's Braindead for having been "a game-changer" for him.
Messick said they designed "a fairy tale, mythological fantasy world" that feels like it happened long time ago but is not set in any particular time period.Kevin Messick 'Hansel And Gretel' Interview , ScreenTeamMedia, 29 January 2013 Marlene Stewart created the film's costumes, using traditional leather and linen but without an antique look. Its steampunk-like, retro-futuristic weapons were created by the weapon designer Simon Boucherie and Wirkola, who said they wanted Hansel and Gretel's weapons to look as if the characters hand-made them. Wirkola stated he "just wanted this crazy, mashed-up world where you can't pinpoint where it is, or when it is" and the modern elements are there to "add to the fun and tone of the film."William Bibbiani, Extreme Version: Tommy Wirkola on Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters , CraveOnline, January 31, 2013 He said, "We wanted the movie to feel timeless and for the movie to feel like a fairy tale, but still grounded. It was a lot of fun coming up with the different weapon designs and ways of killing witches. We mixed old and new elements. But no matter how modern some of the weapons are, they all have an old-fashioned feel and look like they could fit into this world."Daniel Rutledge, From Nazi zombies to Hansel & Gretel - Tommy Wirkola interview , 3 News, 31 Jan 2013
The Stone Circle witches' looks were designed by Twilight Creations (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). According to McKay, "the witches are awesome in it. Nasty, mean witches, and we'll get some great actresses for them as well."Ditzian, Eric (2010-03-05). "EXCLUSIVE: 'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' Producer Had Early Talks With 'Twilight' Cast" . MTV Movies Blog. Wirkola said he wanted to reinvent witches as villains: "I do love Witches of Eastwick. We wanted to try to avoid the classical witch with the long nose stirring the pot. I really wanted them to be ... dangerous, fast – they're stronger than Hansel and Gretel ... It's a good basis for a villain." He recalled that "the most fun was finding their look and sound. For the main witches, we found one animal to represent all of them, like Muriel is a wolf. It just helped us find the witches. In some ways, it feels like they're the spawn of the dark places of nature. It should feel animalistic." Asked if he was worried about "this perception that it might be interpreted as sexist", Wirkola said, "For me, that's a classical villain from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Yeah, I never worried about that, to be honest." He added, "People forget how truly dark and twisted those stories are. [The original "Hansel & Gretel"] talks about a witch burning alive in an oven, screaming and scratching." Ulrich Zeidler's concept art for some of the witches was released on the Internet.Meredith Woerner, The grotesque witch concept art from Hansel & Gretel will probably turn you on , io9, February 9, 2013
Casting and characters