The fallout over the Snow White and The Huntsman (SWATH) tryst heard round the world continues. Liberty Ross has filed for divorce from SWATH director, Rupert Saunders after he was caught cheating on the former model with the much younger star of the film, Kristen Stewart. At the time, Stewart was also in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson.
When pictures of the secret rendezvous between Stewart and Saunders surfaced in July 2012, all heck broke loose. Ross who played Stewart’s mother in SWATH, tweeted, “Wow” before deleting her twitter account. Both Saunders and the usually discreet Stewart issued separate public statements apologizing to their significant others for their indiscretion.
While Pattinson and Stewart split briefly, Saunders and Ross remained together, drawing all of the attention to Pattinson, Stewart and the November 2012 release of their final Twilight film together, Breaking Dawn Part 2.
No one knows for sure if the young lovebirds have reconciled but speculation that they have has been widely reported. Pattinson is currently in Australia filming The Rover and while Stewart has not visited him, a source tells E! News that, “all is good,” between the two.
As for Ross and Saunders, Ross has petitioned for joint custody of their two children, ages 7 and 5. According to TMZ, Ross has also requested spousal support and payment of her legal fees.
This is the latest in the list of woes for Saunders. SWATH 2 is currently in development and both Chris Hemsworth and Stewart are returning for the second installment. Saunders is rumored to direct but nothing has been confirmed. There has been no word on Ross but it’s a safe bet to assume that she will not reprise her role as Snow White’s mother even if it is in a flashback.
The film, itself, has the possibility to do well on its own with or without Saunders. Another fairytale film, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters won the Friday box office, bringing in $6 million dollars. SWATH already has a solid following and was generally well received so pulling in fans a second time shouldn't be a problem.
As for Saunders, his real-life movie is becoming more dramatic by the day and that might be a deterrent for producers of the film looking to make a quick buck with the least amount of negative attention.
Conversely, the off-screen drama could translate into big bucks. There is an old saying that there’s no such thing as bad press and this off-screen narrative could actually draw patrons eager to see how the off-screen drama translated to the silver screen. Still, most would agree that box office numbers pale in comparison to the disillusionment of a once seemingly happy family unit.
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