CAST Into the Woods Movie- Page 7

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 1:21am

And Mariah Carrey as Little Red.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 2:33am

Diana Ross as Cinderella.

[PopAria]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 2:36am

Johnny Depp!!! idk where, just put him in there somewhere.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 6:44am

I have no idea where you all got the idea that zeta jones got raves, she was very mixed.

[HouGuy77002]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 7:51am

Paris and Nicki Hilton for the Step Sisters.

Bette Midler for Jack's Mother.

Jimmy Fallon for Baker.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:21am

Little Red Riding Hood should not be an actual little girl. She never was one on stage either, as has been said, which made the wolf's seduction much more palatable. That was only supposed to convey the lightest suggestion of carnality, in the sexual sense, skirting a very thin line line between vaudeville and virtual child abuse. Casting her with a young actress who doesn't read prepubescent - someone like Abigail Breslin, or even someone older who can play youthful, like Anna Kendrick - would be the way to go. Danielle Ferland was 16 in the original production and a very mature one at that. We are generally dealing here with fairy tale realities, where we should be able to suspend disbelief very easily - similarly so with the Witch's transormation to youth and beauty (she can still be played by an actress of ac ertain age who can pull it off the glamor, a Streep or a Pfeiffer, maybe even Close)

Similarly, I can see Eddie Redmayne or Rory O'Malley as Jack. Although there, since one doesn't have the sex to worry about, it could be played by someone much younger.

Hell/btw even Amanda Seyfried played Red in the recent movie, no relation to ITW of course.

On another note, Lin Manuel Miranda, though not a name outside NY, might also be good as The Baker.

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 11:21 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:26am

Kathy Bates for Jacks Mother

[finebydesign]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:33am

Kathy Bates would be awesome. I would love to have seen Roseanne's performance. Hmmm maybe Catherine Tate.

I'm not a fan of Kristin Wig but she would make an awesome shrill Rapunzel.

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:46am

I think Denis O'Hare would be perfect for the Baker, but probably not a big enough star. Also, Catherine O'Hara would be terrific as Jack's mother.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:54am

The Baker should not be in his fifties!

[artscallion]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 11:57am

Denis O'Hare would make a great Baker. I think he'd also make a great wolf. He could give us that perfect combination of vaudeville camp that's dangerously creepy underneath.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:05pm

How about Tilda Swinton as the Witch?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:12pm

^ That would give it a darker overtone just from the casting (and I like it).

[TheLadyoftheWood]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:13pm

I thought about Tilda Swinton as the Witch also but she doesn't seem gorgeous enough. I like Jordan's comment about Michelle Pfeiffer playing the part. I think she would do the show a great deal in the beauty aspect. We have already seen what she can look like in makeup as an old hag. I doubt she could sing it in the original keys so just bring on the Vanessa Williams keys. (Love that woman though just hated the keys she sang in.)

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:16pm

I guess the "gorgeous" part is critical to the script. It's her whole motivation.

And who would give up all of their incredible magic powers and struggle for years to win back their beauty ... just to look like Tilda Swinton?

LOL

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 12:16 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:18pm

And if Les Miz does well, you can bet Amanda Seyfried will be offered Cinderella.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:29pm

I think Tilda is a total chameleon and if not conventionally pretty she can definitely be glamourous and what I like about her is that has the dark authoritative quality that is equally important to the part.

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 12:29 PM

[TheLadyoftheWood]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:44pm

I guess every time i see her it makes me think of the Deep End. Not a good film for her if we are talking about beautiful women. That photo might have won me over. I also just remembered she did play the Ice Queen in Narnia so she has the dark bitchy undertones needed for the part.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 12:44pm

I don't think you can say the witch sacrifices everything for an "interesting look" or "striking features." It's supposed to be for total conventional beauty. That would be the moral of her tale---showing how it's not worth it.

But I think she'd play the part well, although you'd have to dub the hell out of her.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 1:23pm

Well I certainly wouldn't call Peters, Cleo Laine, Phylicia Rashad, Nancy Dussault or Ellen Foley conventionally beautiful either. I actually think that terms is pretty hard to define. Michelle Pfeiffer is a conventional beauty. I will give you that.

One name that hasn't been mentioned that perhaps should be is Angelina Jolie - who is stunning, but not conventionally beautiful either.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 1:34pm

Jolie is still considered a beauty, without a doubt. So is Catherine Zeta-Jones, still my first choice for the part. She can be ravishing and also capture the dark side of the character. She could be frightening as well as frighteningly beautiful in the part.

As for Tilda, I do think she's fascinating-looking. She has one of those faces that can either be beautiful or rather ugly. Catch her in the wrong light or at the wrong angle, and she looks like Jeffrey Jones's twin sister. Catch her in the right light, and she can take your breath away (in a good way). Angelica Huston is like that. So is Toni Collette. So was Katharine Hepburn, for that matter. Personally, those faces are far more interesting to me as actresses.

But I would cast someone that "the world at large" (whatever that means, but actually you KNOW exactly what that means) finds beautiful. Jolie, Kidman (before her wax lips), Zeta-Jones, etc. Not cookie-cutter Barbie looks, but "world renowned beauties," just the same. If it weren't a major plot point, I don't think it would be as important to find a "world renowned beauty."

As for the stage actresses, you have a different hurdle there. You need a star ... who can sing ... and is beautiful "enough" to play the part.

This ain't the stage any more. It's funny you can't see outside of the stage casting as far as children go and as far as the beauty being parts of the script. You think I'm confined in my thinking, but that's exactly what you are now. Confined to the limitations and conventions of the previous stage casts.

It's a movie now. The thought process will be very different.

Updated On: 1/13/12 at 01:34 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 1:39pm

I wonder if there's a place in this for Madonna...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 2:00pm

Best12, I'm not confined in my thinking - I've just suggested that in terms of the script you are perhaps reading more into the printed word than the authors intended. Jack and Red (and Tobias to that end) weren't cast with mature looking teenagers or adult actors on stage because of child labor laws; their casting was, in my view, a creative conceit for the overall material - that is now being adapted here for the film.

I agree that for film the Witch needs to be stunning. Stunning in an ability to seduce and use her appearance as a weapon of power. for me, that is not necessarily the same as being conventional beautiful.

I do think Zeta Jones fits the conventional mold of what we'd most expect the Witch to be, but when I look at the choice I also kind of think she'd be less interesting than some of the other (less beautiful) women suggested here.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 2:02pm

Madonna would probably give me chills with "I'm the witch, you're the world!"

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/13/12 at 2:03pm

Madonna is cold as ice. That would work for the Witch.