Universal Pictures is continuing to pursue a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman in the wake of Kristen Stewart's affair with the film's director, Rupert Sanders. Universal's co-chairman Donna Langley said in a statement that they are "currently exploring all options to continue the franchise" and that reports of Stewart's exit "are false".
A beleaguered Stewart got a public defence last week by Jodie Foster, who co-starred with then 11-year-old Stewart in the 2001 move Panic Room.
Foster wrote an essay for The Daily Beast in which she blasted the "gladiator sport of celebrity culture", and claimed that if she were a young actor today she would quit before she started. "If I had to grow up in this media culture, I don't think I could survive it emotionally," she writes. "We've all seen the headlines at the checkout counter. 'Kristen Stewart Caught'. Lift up beautiful young people like gods and then pull them down to earth to gaze at their seams."
Of life as a target of the paparazzi and criticism, she added: "We seldom consider the childhoods we unknowingly destroy in the process."
Stewart and the 41-year-old Sanders have publicly apologised for the affair.
The future of Snow White remains uncertain, especially since the film was intended to launch a franchise. The Hollywood Reporter said last week that the sequel would focus on the Huntsman character, played by Chris Hemsworth. The report claimed that Stewart was being dropped.