Christine Slevil-Lewis-White - Production

Production

Simon Moore, writer of the screenplay, wondered about what happened after the Happily Ever After of old fairytales. His vision became The 10th Kingdom.

According to The New York Times "There are humorous allusions to familiar characters like the Seven Dwarfs and Rapunzel throughout the 10 hours and appearances by updated versions of Snow White (Camryn Manheim) and Cinderella (Ann-Margret)." Executive producer Robert Halmi Sr. explains, "'We wanted to take the flip side of these well-known characters...For instance, our Cinderella is now 200 years old. And Camryn took her part because she loved the idea that Snow White was now overweight.'" Camryn Manheim elaborates, "Well, I've been playing her in my bedroom for many years now, so I was ready for her. But it was wonderful, I grew up reading about Snow White and fantasizing about being the fairest of them all, and there I was...My manager told me that NBC had offered me the role of Snow White and I said, 'I'll take it.' I didn't read it ... and I agreed to do it even before reading the script because I was so thrilled that they were moving away from the conventional Snow White....I am playing Snow White, and we've come very far from that image when I grew up and we're getting all kinds of images of beauty...So it was really thrilling to get in that tight corset and be able to accentuate my assets, no pun intended and, yes, it was a throwback to my finer days." The fast production on television usually scares Kimberly Williams, and she prefers acting in film and theatre to television. Nevertheless, she accepted the offer to play Virginia Lewis

The Times reported that Virginia Lewis's portrayer, Kimberly Williams, "prefers to work in film and theatre rather than television. 'Because TV happens so fast, I feel a sense of panic,' she explains. Yet, despite the misgivings, she could not resist the offer to star in The 10th Kingdom alongside Dianne Wiest, Jimmy Nail and Rutger Hauer. 'Simon has woven together all the old fairytales and updated them, exploring what happened after Happily Ever After,' explains Williams, whose character Virginia is a New York waitress thrust into a parallel world inhabited by trolls, talking dogs and evil stepmothers.".