Into the Woods Movie Reading Cast...- Page 6

[bobs3]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 12:10pm

Well let's see, Streep is arguably the greatest film actress of all time and for the past 7 or 8 years she has become a box office draw for the first time in her career. Her last 7 films had over $1.5 Billion in worldwide grosses.

That could explain why she gets cast in film adaptations of the best Broadway roles.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 12:19pm

That's all well and good. I still won't be going to the movies to see August: Osage or this if she does it. I rented DOUBT on Netflix.

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:01pm

bobs-"the greatest film actress of all time". Katherine Hepburn would give Streep a run for her money there. And so would several other actresses of that era. (Hepburn I think has the edge though.) Yes, I think Streep is talented. The greatest EVER? A bit of a hyperbole.

[bobs3]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:12pm

Katharine Hepburn always played Katharine Hepburn.

Meryl Streep is a character actress who invests herself in whichever character she is playing.

Try to imagine Katharine Hepburn playing the lead roles in Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark, Death Becomes Her, The Devil Wears Prada, Silkwood, Ironweed, etc.

Try to imagine Hepburn playing Margaret Thatcher. (I-I-I-I have spe-e-e-nt my entir-r-r-r-e lif-f-f-e in ba-t-t-t-le!)

Updated On: 10/3/12 at 01:12 PM

[dreaming]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:16pm

I think Meryl Streep plays Meryl Streep playing the role. And she does it well.

I could most definitely see Katherine Hepburn in "Out of Africa", "The Devil Wears Prada" and could imagine her in several other roles.

We won't agree on this, however, as entitled as you are to your opinion, I am to mine. I find Streep overrated and overexposed. As I keep saying, it's a saturation point.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:19pm

This obsession with big movie names. Aren't movies supposed to create stars as well as perpetuate them? If big names were mandatory in movie musicals we would never have had Topol's Tevye, Brynner's King, Hudson's Effie, Moody's Fagin, Wallace's Nancy, Moreno's Anita, Chakiris's Bernardo, and Grey's Emcee.

And we might very well have had Andrews's Eliza and Lansbury's Mame.



Updated On: 10/3/12 at 01:19 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:32pm

Yes, but those were days when Broadway still mattered, and the public cared about it. Nowadays, people like musicals and musicals culture- not so much Broadway or Broadway names. Doing an all-Broadway, no star cast like the reading cast might very well create a divine Into the Woods film, or a horrible one but it wouldn't matter- no one would see it.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 1:38pm

"Katharine Hepburn always played Katharine Hepburn."

In what universe are Tracy Lord and Susan in Bringing Up Baby vaguely the same person? Or Rose Sayer and Ethel Thayer? Or Violet Venable and Amanda Bonner? Or Alice Adams and Eleanor of Aquitaine? Or Christina Drayton and Mary Tyrone?

Compare two young stagestruck New York actresses played by Hepburn. Terry Randall (Stage Door) and Eva Lovelace (Morning Glory). I'd be very surprised if you find them to be very similar, except of course they are being played by a very talented woman bringing herself to her roles as all great actors do.

Updated On: 10/3/12 at 01:38 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 2:26pm

Yeah, sadly I think it's a sign of the times. And it's not just musicals--if a play, even a hit play, does well on stage, invariably now when it's adapted, they have to attach some big Hollywood names to it (maybe even to get funding--Proof, Doubt and the upcoming Osage all come to mind). Granted, these roles probably appeal to the stars cast in the first place who want to do the role, but...

Henrik, your point is valid, but as mentioned that was more a thing of the era, and even back then they usually wanted to attach at least one star to the adaptation. There are exceptions--love it or hate it but I'm not sure any of the leads of the Phantom movie really are, or were at the time, A list "stars"--they probably thought they could sell the movie on the well known title alone (the way they did in the 1950s with Oklahoma! for example). While Phantom ended up making a profit and scoring over $150 when international gross is counted, it was seen as an underperformer.

Of course Rock of Ages and Nine prove that these "all star" casts ultimately don't seem to mean all that much if people simply aren't interested in the movie. It's kinda too bad in the case of Into the Woods, as I think the movie doesn't lend itself to so many big names--at least with something like Nine you were kinda justified due to the fact they were largely meant to be movie stars. I think ITW is fine with the Witch and maybe some other roles being cast with stars (IMHO preferably some of the more cameo roles like Jack's mother)--but if everyone is a recognized name, I just find it kinda distracting.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 2:50pm

darkguek and Eric that is certainly the conventional wisdom. I'm just not sure, like much else in Hollywood, that it's correct. I happen to think that if Marshall had made Chicago the way he did - very well and by and large well cast - with lesser known but equally good performers it would have been a huge success as well. In comparison, Phantom was not a particularly good movie, although I happen to think it probably couldn't have been much better given that the show isn't that great, but hey, a lot of people disagree so who am I to say.

My other point is that movies should find talent and turn them into stars, and that if this didn't happen, then there would be no new stars.

I have no problem with Streep as the Witch, but I do think it would be nice if Hollywood were much more interested in fostering new stars.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 3:08pm

Oh, I agree that it's Hollywood playing it safe, and I wonder how much truth there is it too. As I mentioned Rock of Ages and Nine (besides not being great films) would prove that it doesn't work as well as Hollywood would like to think. It has gotten worse, but I still think it's always existed to some degree (Elia Kazan always disliked Vivien Leigh as Blanche and didn't want to cast her but was forced into casting one star--I am glad he did and I think her performance, and her different acting style from all the method actors around her makes it all the more effective, but till his death Kazan never came around). But like I said, I'm much more ok with them using one big name and surrounding them with lesser known actors--like the practice used to be more often than not.

I think major A level Hollywood pictures would simply rather stuff a movie with as many stars as possible (particularly for the increasingly important foreign market where it's seen as still b eing a big selling point), and then maybe "risk" casting a couple of up and comers around them, who have already proven themselves with award winning indie films, or tv work (where thanks to cable especially, a lot of actors are being discovered by the masses), etc.

Kad said: "God, I hope that the new opening number that Sondheim has written for the earlier incarnation of the film is not used. "

I believe when this was announced, there was some vague quote (from Lapine?) that material for the earlier film would not be used. Of course he could have just meant the jokey script...

Posted: 10/3/12 at 4:04pm

I'm thinking that they will cast this in a similar fashion to the Les Miserables film. The cast is so vast that they can afford to have unknowns (or theater vets, like a Samantha Barks or Aaron Tveit) playing some of the major roles. I think they need a star for the Witch for sure, but beyond that, I think they will mix and match

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 4:06pm

I don't understand how Katherine Hepburn (whom I generally love) is ever considered the greatest film actress of all time when it's a proven fact that Bette Davis indeed existed.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 5:37pm

^Change that to Anna Magnani and you've convinced me.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:17pm

I'm down with Magnani too. Magnani for the Witch!!

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:36pm

I think Streep is the worlds best living actress.

I love Lansbury, but nothing she's done recently has gripped me like she does in Gaslight or in A Picture of Dorian Gray.

I'm constantly surprised by Streep. Whether it's comedy or drama, she (usually) nails the part. (I say usually because let's all agree Mama Mia! was done as her own comedic relief, and not meant to be taken seriously.)

I missed some of the earlier pages but someone posted that s/he wasn't going to see AUGUST in theaters. He saw DOUBT on Netflix. I'm not sure, but I think he isn't going to see movies in theaters because box office revenue (etc, etc). Production companies still make money off Netflix, so it's not like you're doing something Holy.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 7:46pm

Elysian Fields Dinner Theatre

The Witch Anna Magnani
The Baker Charlie Chaplin
The Baker's Wife Judy Garland
Cinderella Marilyn Monroe
Cinderella's Prince/Wolf Marcello Mastroianni
Cinderella's Mother Birgitt Nilsson
Jack River Phoenix
Jack's Mother Thelma Ritter
Rapunzel Frances Farmer
The Mystery Man Claude Raines
Rapunzel's Prince Paul Newman
Florinda Madeline Kahn
Lucinda Anne Bancroft
Stepmother Agnes Moorehead
Red Riding Hood Alice Playten







Updated On: 10/4/12 at 07:46 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/12 at 8:26pm

Now *that's* a cast!

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 1:40am

...That would be a cast for the ages.

[bobs3]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 3:04am

"I'm constantly surprised by Streep. Whether it's comedy or drama, she (usually) nails the part. (I say usually because let's all agree Mama Mia! was done as her own comedic relief, and not meant to be taken seriously.)"

I think it was the film critic for LA Weekly who wrote "MAMMA MIA is the worst performance of Meryl Streep's career which means it is still pretty good."


Updated On: 10/4/12 at 03:04 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/4/12 at 8:52am

Sweets, this is ONLY a screenplay reading. These are done ALL the time and the reading cast has never even appeared in the final film.

I actually attended the reading for Rob Marshall's film adaptation of CHICAGO and Jennifer Aniston read Roxie Hart and Julianna Margulies read Velma Kelly. This should give you a hint.