'Into the Woods': How the movie does fairy tales with a twist
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
While some musical movie adaptations can fall flat (we鈥檙e looking at you, 鈥淭he Phantom of the Opera鈥� and 鈥淭he Producers鈥�), others like 鈥�Les Mis茅rables鈥� and 鈥�Dreamgirls鈥� can turn into big business for Hollywood. So this year, Tinseltown is adapting the Stephen Sondheim classic show 鈥淚nto the Woods鈥� for the big screen.聽
鈥淲oods鈥� is essentially a fairy tale mash-up story. The original characters of a baker (soon-to-be 鈥淟ate Late Show鈥� host James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt of 鈥淓dge of Tomorrow鈥�) must break a curse that was placed on them by a malevolent Witch (Meryl Streep) and is causing them to be unable to have children. In order to break the curse, they must find a cow 鈥渁s white as milk,鈥� a cape 鈥渁s red as blood,鈥� hair 鈥渁s yellow as corn,鈥� and a slipper 鈥渁s pure as gold.鈥� It turns out such fairy tale characters as Jack of the beanstalk fairy tale (Daniel Huttlestone), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick of 鈥�Pitch Perfect鈥�), and Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) have what they need. The pair also encounters Cinderella鈥檚 Prince (鈥�Star Trek Into Darkness鈥� actor Chris Pine) and a Wolf (Johnny Depp), among others. Rob Marshall, who helmed the 2002 movie 鈥�Chicago,鈥� is directing.
You鈥檒l find no spoilers here, but in the original musical, the first act consists of a fairly harmless tale in which the baker and his wife are trying to find those objects. But in the second act, the consequences of what they did to get them 鈥� and what characters such as Cinderella and Jack did to make their wishes come true 鈥撀燾ome back to haunt them. Suffice to say: do not be fooled by its fairy tale origins.聽
Streep told the that she saw the show on Broadway and was herself surprised by the dark direction in which the story went.
鈥淚t was so unexpected,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow it turned was sort of shocking.鈥�
While the movie focuses on fairy tale characters, the actress said she found some aspects of her character, such as the Witch鈥檚 protectiveness of her foster daughter Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy), to be relatable.聽
鈥淎ll I'm doing is trying to keep her safe,鈥� Streep said. 鈥淭hat was something that ... didn't feel heightened or weird."聽
鈥淲oods鈥� is in theaters now.
