The first role cast was also the wickedest: Queen Ravenna in Universal Picture’s Snow White and the Huntsman. The daughter of a sorceress, Ravenna slowly found her way to the dark side. Abducted by a vicious master when she was a girl, the only power Ravenna wielded was her astonishing beauty. Though her mother bestowed upon her an enchantment to protect her from the ravages of time, Ravenna is forced to maintain it by consuming the life force of young maidens. After she bewitched and killed Snow White’s father, King Magnus, Ravenna stalled her death and threw off the balance of life with an evil that spread like cancer across the kingdom. But her cruelty did not end there. To become truly immortal, Ravenna must consume the heart of Snow White…the moment her stepdaughter becomes the fairest in the land.
Reflects director Rupert Sanders on the power of this creature in our minds, as well as her role in this interpretation of the iconic story: “The Queen symbolizes death, and she is trying to stop her own from arriving. She is seeking immortality, so everything in the kingdom is thrown off balance. Oppositely, Snow White is the beating heart of life, and the Huntsman’s job is to take that life. If the Queen fails, life and death may fall back in sync and the kingdom will return to how it once was.”
