"Huntsman" Nabs Three New Dwarves

Heat Vision reports that Rob Brydon ("The Trip"), Alexandra Roach ("Cuban Fury") and Sheridan Smith ("Jonathan Creek") have all signed on to play three new dwarfs in The Huntsman--the prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman.

Deadline reported in late January that Nick Frost and Jones couldn't ink a deal to return about reprising their dwarf roles, and that Marsan is also not returning due to scheduling issues with cable series Ray Donovan. The site now reports that Frost and Universal Pictures "have worked it out" for him to return.

Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Ian McShane, Johnny Harris, Ray Winstone and Brian Gleeson played the other dwarfs in 'Snow White' and aren't expected back - though Jones and Marsan were said to have been contacted about the job.

Back in August 2012--it was revealed that Universal Pictures originally planned to continue the franchise by featuring two more films with Kristen Stewart as Snow White, then a spin-off with Chris Hemsworth alone. Due to Stewart's troubles for cheating on Robert Pattinson with original  Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders, the studio was scrapping the first draft for the sequel, and “exploring options to continue the franchise”–with or without Stewart, And at that time said that"no decision has been made."
We found out late last year that Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") vacated the job of calling action on the pic  Darabont was set to helm the project last June beating out Andy Muschietti ("Mama") and  Gavin O'Connor ("Warrior"). Darabont and the studio have reportedly separated on amicable terms, citing "creative differences" as the reason for the split.

Visual effects specialist Cedric Nicolas-Troyan is set to call the shots now-- He served as second unit director on the original movie and has been a visual effects guru on movies like the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. The 'Huntsman' would mark his his directorial debut, although he has been linked to other fantasy films including Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2 and the "Highlander" remake.

 Darabont, Craig Mazin and Evan Spiliotopoulos penned the most recent draft of the screenplay.

 Charlize Theron is expected to return as the evil Ravenna. Emily Blunt has been in talks for several weeks to join the project as another villain, though her deal isn't closed as yet.Jessica Chastain also stars

 Universal suits say that they plan to stay on track with the film and are keeping their April 22nd 2016 release date.