Gemma Arterton has signed on to play Gretel opposite
Jeremy Renner's Hansel
according to THR, in a sequel of sorts to the classic German fairytale titled
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. This time, as the title trumpets, we follow Hansel and Gretel all grown up, hunting down evil witches and the like in a dark action film, (not a gingerbread house in sight) to be directed by Norwegian
Tommy Wirkola, who landed the gig after directing 2009's low budget zombie Nazi flick
Dead Snow. Arterton is not the first would be Gretel though with
Diane Kruger,
Eva Green and ubiquitous Swede
Noomi Rapace, all previously considered to join Renner who
has been attached since last summer. Reports are that
Paramount has fast-tracked this one in an effort to reach theatres before
Timur Bekmambetov's similar genre-bending style
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter makes it's bow in the summer of next year. Perhaps they fear that this revisionist action hero fad will be a fleeting one with audiences and I guess there's a chance it could even make an October release this year as filming is slated to begin in Berlin this March inbetween Renner's stints on Mission impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Avengers.
Renner and Arterton sound like an appealing pairing and I think Wirkola has a chance to really make this material work. He sounds like he's approaching it in the right way however, every time I think of how the end product may turn out, memories of
Terry Gilliam's
Brothers Grimm immediately spring to mind. Lets hope for something better.