A Few Words with Caroline Thompson
Making 'Snow White'
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Snow White on DVD
Caroline Thompson remembers curling up in front of "The Wonderful World
of Disney" on Sunday nights as a child, and so she felt both nostalgia
and trepidation when her Snow White project melted away from NBC and
ended up featured on that ABC show. She would be, in a sense, competing
with Walt Disney's classic 1937 animated film, but starting fresh with
darker, more personal elements.
"I love fairy tales. To me fairy tales have a kind of mythic
dimensionality that is -- they tell us about ourselves without being
overly moralistic. They're little glimpses into human nature. It's
telling you about yourself without you knowing."
At age 44, Thompson immediately understood the drive of the tale --
fear. "It's about these two women, one not wanting to grow up and the
other not wanting to grow old."
"The disappointing thing about getting old is that you feel stupid. I
think little kids are born knowing everything, and aging is a process of
forgetting. I as a kid just adored the macabre elements."
She still does, as evidenced by her screenplays for Edward
Scissorhands, The Addams Family and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
She made her directorial debut in 1994 with Black Beauty, and Snow
White marks her third time in the director's chair.
Using her unique perspective, Thompson presents Snow White
simultaneously from Snow White and the Wicked Queen's points of view,
inspired by words of wisdom from one of the cast members of Edward
Scissorhands.
"Vincent Price once told me that everybody from their own perspective is
doing the right thing."
June 12, 2002
