MOVIES: Into the Woods Pictures and Questions of Form and Style

I was going to save this post for a little later, but there are a whole slew of pictures from filming Into the Woods that have just come out on Broadwayworld.com.

Many are of Cinderella's wedding with Prince, Cinderella, Stepmother and a non-Lucy-Punch Stepsister action:

Cinderella's dress is beautiful!! And Chris Pine definitely looks charming, if maybe not sincere.

And then we get my beloved James Corden as the Baker and Emily Blunt as a preggers Baker's Wife:

This actually brings home something I was going to write about. I was jarred when I saw this tweet from Anna Kendrick a few weeks ago: "Voice lessons, horse riding lessons, corset fittings. It’s like I’m in finishing school except I’ll be back in sweats by Xmas #IntoTheWoods."

I saw "horse riding lessons" and the weight of Into the Woods as a movie really hit home. For me, much of the charm of Into the Woods is the style, the obviously fake cow that eats a shoe, the flat cut out trees that are layered, the strong conceit that we are watching a fairy tale story being told by a storyteller, the Narrator. The idea that Cinderella would be riding a real horse, through presumably a real forest was difficult to swallow.

It brings up the question: how much of what we love about Into the Woods is the content, and how much of it is the form? Can it translate to real trees and real horses and real cows, or will we loose a lot of what we loved about this complex story told in this deceptively simple and homespun environment? 

Along similar lines, I have noticed that they do not have a Narrator listed in the IMDB credits. They do have a Baker's Father, but no Narrator. This may mean they have not cast the role yet. It could mean that, like the film of Sweeney Todd, they chose to get rid of the highly theatrical narrative structure that made the play special. You could certainly tell the content of Into the Woods without the Narrator, all you would need to do is cut one joke. But you would loose the style. 

In addition, I feel that the style and the content are not mutually exclusive. The Narrator sets up your typical fairy tale with his narration, which makes it all the more astonishing when the characters decided to break out of their roles, when the story becomes all too real, when stories begin to have weight and truth that you never realized before: that "children will listen." If the story is told straight out, without the idea that you listening to someone tell you a familiar story, that you are entering into this "Once Upon a Time" world where you know all the comforting rhythms, we will lose much of the weight of Act II.

What do you think? Do the images so far, including the one below, represent what you loved about Into the Woods? I must admit, they made me excited. Here's hoping that we do not loose the style, or the movie is able to create a new style that serves the form and the story. 

Rapunzel's Tower Under Construction

MOVIES: Into the Woods Update

I did not include this in my general movie overview earlier this month because I felt it deserved its own post.

First, there was a huge uproar when we found out that Disney had cast Sophia Grace Brownlee as Little Red Riding Hood, opposite Johnny Depp's wolf. (see Io9's post as well)

1) People were concerned that it was stunt casting, because Sophia Grace is not an actress, but a child celebrity singer. 2) Sophia Grace is 10. I, like many of my colleagues on the internet, had interpreted the "Hello Little Girl" scene between the Wolf and Little Red, and her subsequent song "I Know Things Now," to be about sexual experience. "Hello Little Girl" uses culinary and sexual imagery in the same breath: "Think of that scrumptious carnality twice in one day." "I Know Things Now" describes how she got "excited and scared" when he "drew me close and he swallowed me down down a dark slimy path where lie secrets that I never want to know." It did not help that the wolf costume in the original Broadway production had a phallus, and that Robert Westenburg was highly suggestive:

On the other hand, in his interview for BroadwayWorld in 2011, Sondheim states that the theme of the play is about parents and children. As one of the two active children in the play, having Little Red as an actual child would enhance that theme. Depending on the interpretation, I could see this song played purely as a "beware of strangers" cautionary tale. I hoped that is the direction they were heading when they cast a 10 year old. 

HOWEVER.

Disney recently swapped Little Reds, replacing 10 year old Sophia Grace with 12 year old Lilla Crawford, a stage actor with several Broadway shows under her belt. 

This certainly addresses the first concern: stunt casting. Yet, however mature Lilla may be, 2 years (though an important 2 years) is not a huge difference. We can safely assume that Disney will not emphasize the sexual nature of the scene, but judging from the change, they are apparently taking the public's concerns into consideration. 

Anyway, you can now see the completed cast list here, which includes most of the people we have seen before, but with one exciting addition: Annette Crosby (the sassy fairy godmother in Slipper and the Rose) will play Little Red's Granny. I am also ecstatic about Lucy Punch playing an evil stepsister, as she seems to have made a living in fairy tale films playing exactly that (and Sally Shepherdess from 10th Kingdom). It also includes character descriptions so you can get a glimpse of what they deem to be the essence of the character.

Fairy Tale Roundup: Casting News for Cinderella and Into the Woods, a "Fairy Tale Wedding," and the International Percy Jackson Trailer

Quick round up! LOTS of casting news coming out of the next two fairy tale films, and I have to say I am pretty excited about this:

Disney's Cinderella Movie
The Cinderella cast for Kenneth Branagh's live action Disney movie is now as follows: Lilly James (Downton Abbey) as Cinderella, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones' Rob Stark) as the Prince, Cate Blanchett as the Wicked Stepmother and now introducing Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother! While I feel it is a little awkward to cast the person whom you cheated on your wife with in yet another movie, casting Helena seems to be a good sign for Cinderella. You will get a very specific kind of fairy godmother out of her. Once Upon a Blog has some great commentary about it, and how, perhaps she will be like our mutual favorite fairy godmother of all time, Annette Crosby in The Slipper and the Rose. She also directed us to The Hero Complex' commentary regarding the casting:

"Though the fairy godmother in the 1950 animated feature was a grandmotherly dumpling, Bonham Carter’s casting would suggest that the updated “Cinderella” might be embracing a darker tone; the actress is known for playing offbeat, exaggerated roles, including the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange in the “Harry Potter” films, the twisted Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” and clownish thief Madame Thénardier in “Les Misérables.”...It’s too early to say whether the film will follow in the whimsical, color-saturated footsteps of “Alice in Wonderland,” or whether it will take a more classic approach, but producers have said they want the film to feel “modern.”"

The cast will also include Sophie McShera (Downton Abby) and Holliday Grainger (The Borgias) as the stepsisters. This movie appears to be using the 1950s Disney movie as their basis, because they call the Stepmother Lady Tremaine, and Sophie McShera's stepsister as Drizella. Not sure how I feel about that. It seems like...I don't want to say "masturbation" when it comes to a Disney movie, but I can't really think of another word for it. [EDIT: Thank goodness for small mercies. Once Upon a Blog has discovered from Variety that Sophie McShera's stepsister name is Noemi.] According to Io9 yesterday, the movie will come out  March 13, 2015.

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Into the Woods Movie 
Once Upon a Blog has been scrambling to pin down the cast of Into the Woods, and her research, plus Io9's post this morning has confirmed that Anna Kendrick (squee!) is in talks to be Cinderella. She would be joining James Cordon as the Baker, Emily Blunt as the Baker's Wife, Meryl Streep as the Witch, Johnny Depp as the Wolf, Jake Gyllenhaal as Cinderella's Prince, Chris Pine as Rapunzel's Prince, Tracy Ullman as Jack's mom, and Christine Baranski as the Stepmother. This is a crackerjack cast. Granted Once Upon a Mattress in 2005 had a crackerjack cast too and it went splat, but finger's crossed!

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(from Asshole Disney)

The Concept of the Fairy Tale Wedding
Tales of Faerie reflects on the idea of Fairy Tale Weddings. What does that really mean?

The "fairy tale wedding" is, in theory, the couple's ideal, dream wedding. This coming from the misconception that fairy tales themselves are ideal. And in one sense, the happy endings do generally tend to be ideal, but they're more of a well-deserved rest for the main characters who have been through hell (sometimes literally) and back. But even then, you don't hear much detail about what makes it so happy, or the wedding itself, even though many fairy tales do end with a wedding. Some folktales end with a line about being invited to the wedding, and eating their fill and having wine run over their beards (see my beyond happily ever after post), but I highly doubt this is what bridal stores have in mind when they use the phrase "fairy tale wedding." 

Oh the truthiness of this.

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Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters International Trailer
In keeping with my attempt to integrate myth into my blog, here is the international Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters trailer:

I have a confession. I have not read the books. I only saw the first movie in a hotel room because nothing was on....and I LOVED IT. I am ridiculously excited about this movie (partially b/c Nathan Fillion is Hermes). Aside from the storytelling, the main reason I am excited is because the author of the books created the series to break open mythology for teens. To introduce them to the stories and characters. He has Rick Rirodan has another series about Egyptian Mythology, and he is currently writing a series on Norse Mythology. Maybe we can make myths the new popular genre! 

Fairy Tale Catch Up: Bizarre Adaptations and Meryl Streep

Wow, guys. I have been in a black hole of putting up a play (come see The Pirate Laureate of Port Town if you are in the DC area!) We have finally opened, and now I can catch up on all the fairy tale news and ephemera that has been cropping up lately!


Hansel & Gretel Is the Platonic Form of “So Bad It’s Good”
Io9 thinks Hansel and Gretel: Witchhunters is silly and fun! "If you're looking for a serious reinterpretation of the Hansel and Gretel story, this movie isn't going to cut it. Even the "dark" bits where the siblings try to figure out why their father left them alone in the woods are plain ridiculous. But if you want to laugh your ass off and see some witchslapping, it's the perfect thing. Gemma Arterton as Gretel is particularly adept at chewing the scenery in the most awesome way possible. What I'm saying is that you should turn your brain off and mainline some fairytale this weekend." I have yet to see it, but I must admit, I love the idea that Hansel now has diabetes from the witch candy and needs insulin shots. Honestly, I will see it for the fairy tale ass-kicking alone!


10 of the Most Bizarre Fairy Tale Adaptations
Flavorwire gave us a facinating list of strange fairy tale adaptations: Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (set in the Wild West, and written by an amazing writer!), I Was A Rat!, Philip Pullman (about Cinderella's rat footman who didn't get turned back at midnight), The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival, Louise Murphy (Hansel and Gretel set in WWII), and more! Most of them seem pretty mainstream to avid fairy tale adaptation fans (like Anne Sexton's Transformations, and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter), but as widely read as those are, yeah, they are weird.



Adorable Gender-Swapped Fairy Tale Princes by Yudi Chen
Flavorwire, yet again, gave us this beautiful series of gender-swapped fairy tale art: a long-bearded Rapunzel, a merman saving an Inuit princess from drowning, a beastly beauty, a king jealous of his stepson, and several others that display a fresh look at fairy tales with surprisingly unforced tenderness.



Meryl Streep is a huge Witch in the Into the Woods movie
WHAT? Amazing. She is simply in talks for the role, and this is by no means final, but Meryl Streep would play a fantastic witch in the Into the Woods movie. While I am still nervous about Disney doing my absolute favorite musical of all time, this seems to be a step in the right direction.

Performance: Into the Woods at CenterStage in Baltimore

 

Into the Woods

by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine

directed by Mark Lamos

Mar 7–Apr 15, 2012 at CenterStage in Baltimore

"What happens after Happily Ever After, after all? In Sondheim and Lapine’s beloved musical retelling of the Grimm classics, a parade of familiar folktale figures find their way “Into the Woods” and try to get home before dark—under the guidance of Mark Lamos, who dazzled us with A Little Night Music in 2008."

The Big Picture and the Close Up wrote a lovely review of the show and the nature of fairy tales:

"Into the Woods (in revival at Center Stage in a co-production with Connecticut’s Westport Country Playhouse) is one of that handful of musicals that can truly be called profound.  And small surprise, because its subject, the folklore passed on from parents to children under the deceptively superficial name of fairy tales, is equally profound.  Fairy tales are timeless because the kitchen drudge who yearns to become a princess, the little girl vanquishing a wolf encountered on the way to grandmother’s house, the simpleton who sells the family cow for a handful of magic beans, and their kindred, are archetypes of each of us, at various moments in the trajectories of our lives.  As such, there is actually nothing superficial about them.  By mashing up these stories, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book author James Lapine demonstrate the common dynamics in these tales that enable them to speak so powerfully to us." (Full Review)

Watch the beautiful trailer:

 

This will always be one of my favorite musicals, though I am often confused as to what they are trying to say at the end. I will do a full review of the Bernadette Peters version in due course, but I wanted to post this in case anyone in the Baltimore area was hankering for some live fairy tales!