'Into The Woods' of Walt Disney Pictures', is a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name which in turn was based on some of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, will hit the theaters on December 25, 2014,.
The film intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several other Grimm characters. When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed childless by a Witch, they must go into the woods to look for the objects required to break the spell and begin a family. The film is knotted together to the original story of the baker and his wife, their interaction with the Witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey. Begins a lively irreverent fantasy musical that in time becomes a meaningful tale about responsibility, the harms that come from wishes, and the legacy that we leave our children.
The movie is directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay by James Lapine. Starring James Corden as the Baker with Emily Blunt as his Wife. Meryl Streep is play the Witch, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince, Johnny Depp as the Wolf, Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood, Daniel Huttlestone as Jack, Tracy Ullman as Jack's Mother, Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother, Mackenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel, Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince, Tammy Blanchard as Cinderella's stepsister Florinda, Lucy Punch as Cinderella's stepsister Lucinda, Richar Glover as the Steward, Frances de la Tour as the Giant's Wife, Simon Russel Beale as the Baker's father, Joanna Riding as Cinderella's mother, and Annette Crosby as Little Red Riding Hood's Grandmother.
This is an all-singing film production, which will recall Sondheim's music and lyrics for the Broadway musical along with two additional new songs, of which one is entitled "Rainbows" and another is something which he wrote particularly for Streep's movie character.
In June 2014, Stephen Sondheim announced that Disney decided to make some major plot changes to the film, to make it more family-friendly. For instance, he told The New Yorker that in the film the relationship between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood would not be "sexual", "Rapunzel does not get killed, and the prince does not sleep with the baker's wife."
In an interview with EW.com, director Rob Marshall revealed the changes about the musical movie 'Into the Woods'. "Ever After," the first act finale song that "ties all the fairytale threads together in a momentary happy ending" according to Playbill, will only be played in an instrumental version in the Disney film. He also revealed that "The plot of the musical's second act has also been condensed for screen time".
While the song 'Rainbows', which was "penned for an earlier screen treatment of Into the Woods and had been long thought to be part of the upcoming Disney version", according to Playbill, is not part of Lapine's screenplay, said by Marshall.
And as revealed before, the song wrote especially by Stephen Sondheim for Meryl Streep to sing in 'Into the Woods' has been cut from the movie. To calm the fans, Rob Marshall announces that Meryl Streep singing was "beautiful and spectacular," but stated that the film was stronger without the added piece.
