BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
Chicago and Nine director Rob Marshall is the right person to bring this complex Broadway musical to the big screen. Assembling a variety of famous characters from Grimm Brothers fairy tales, the story sends them into the forbidding woods and explores what drives their actions. A few changes from the original have been made, but nothing big; this is still an adult experience, with undertones of even darker things than what we see on screen, with Johnny Depp as a creepy wolf/pedophile. Uneven, mostly because few of the songs are real standouts, but intelligent and gorgeously staged. A good cast, especially Meryl Streep as the witch.
2014-U.S. 124 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by John DeLuca, Rob Marshall, Callum McDougall, Marc Platt. Directed by Rob Marshall. Screenplay, Book: James Lapine. Songs: Stephen Sondheim (“Into the Woods”, “No One Is Alone”). Cinematography: Dion Beebe. Production Design: Dennis Gassner. Costume Design: Colleen Atwood. Cast: Meryl Streep (The Witch), Emily Blunt (The Baker’s Wife), James Corden (The Baker), Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman… Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp.
Trivia: Emma Stone was allegedly considered for a role.
Last word: “It was always something I always had in the back of my mind, but I wanted to make sure it was the right time. It was in 2011, it was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I was watching President Obama speak to the families of the victims on television. He said to them, ‘You are not alone. No one is alone.’ I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. What an important message for children of today.’ Obviously, it’s the sort of penultimate song in ‘Into the Woods.’ It was that moment that I thought, ‘This might be the right time to do this.’ I called James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim and said, ‘Can I have this to do?’ They were thrilled. So it was a nice beginning.” (Marshall, Coming Soon)