Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 190

That blog post is probably one of the more laughable things I've read about the movie... and I'm counting posts in this very thread in that.

I mean, this is an actual quote from that blog post:

"If “fans” are so easily accepting these changes, then who knows what may lie in store for us when the Pippin, In The Heights or Wicked movies are eventually released."


It all boils down to "they changed the property I liked so now it sucks." That's it. That's the majority of the fan criticism that I've seen.

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I went back today. Emily Blunt's performance was even more lovely than I remembered and I also enjoyed Anna Kendrick's performance even more. I also noticed that the Wolf had candy in his jacket when trying to convince Little Red Riding Hood to leave the path. I could not tell what it was the first time I saw the movie. I also thought that Meryl's singing was more powerful during this screening.

^ I've been asking that myself. Do we know?

I'm surprised the creators haven't given us some light on that topic, or have they before? I do love the line in the musical: "Because the Baker had lost his mother and father in a baking accident—or so he believed." Tom Aldredge's delivery of that line was perfection.

But to go off-topic. Some exciting chart updates.

The soundtrack has hit the iTunes top 5 at #5. It's still #5 on Amazon's top 100 in music chart, and is #7 on Amazon's paid MP3 albums chart.

Updated On: 1/3/15 at 12:39 AM

He can meet her in the sequel. That's why she lived.

Sure, "Agony" might be the most popular (and one of of my favorites) on the album, but it's not even on the iTunes top 100 songs. The overall success of the album hitting the top 5 is much more noteworthy than the popularity of "Agony." Given that so many people are purchasing the album, they are certainly being exposed to a lot more than "Agony."

Updated On: 1/3/15 at 01:06 AM

It's vague in both the musical in the movie. The dad in the movie looked super old already back when he stole the beans, so maybe he just died of natural causes. Maybe he was trying to do right by his son after losing his wife and daughter, but the strain was too much. Maybe he went out to get baking supplies and dropped dead one day and the Baker never knew.

In the musical, he merely abandons his son though he was told his father died in a baking accident. He does come back into his life as the Mysterious Man and has some interactions with the Baker and aids him in dispelling the curse. Toward the end of Act I the Witch reveals him to be the Baker's long-lost father, and then he drops dead on the spot. So in the stage show, at least, he looks after his on from afar.

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"Yeah, Sondheim has never struck me as a strict non-compromiser. All of his early lessons came from longtime industry professionals who taught him the necessity and value of compromise, starting with Oscar Hammerstein. He's a realist. Realists can be great artists, too."

From the trivia section of Sweeney's movie in imdb:

"Composer Stephen Sondheim, notoriously protective of his stage works, long resisted offers to film this story. When Tim Burton expressed interest, however, Sondheim relented when pleased with Burton's vision for the project and on the condition that the composer would maintain casting approval. Burton would only agree to direct with Johnny Depp in the lead, and though Sondheim feared Depp's vocals would be too "rock oriented," the composer approved the actor after a vocal audition. To approve the casting of Helena Bonham Carter, and to combat any rumor of nepotism (as Carter and Burton were romantically involved), the actress sent Sondheim no less than twelve audition tapes of her singing. Very impressed with her vocals, Sondheim immediately approved the actress. Also, in his recent book about his career as a songwriter, "Finishing the Hat" Sondheim states that this is the only adaptation of one of his works for the screen that he approves of."

Also, Sondheim has never allowed any production of Company to turn Robert gay, even involving lawyers in it from what I've read.

So, he IS protective of his work.

As I posted on the imdb forums, it seems to me from the interviews that Sondheim was a lot more satisfied with Sweeney's movie. He kept saying how Sweeney was the first true adapted musical movie, instead of a film version of the stage version. On the ITW's interviews however, he says stuff like "It's a lovely cast", says great things about Meryl and Marsh, but never says or implies that he liked the movie or not, he simply doesn't mention it. What do you guys think?

It's hard to believe he liked Sweeney when he let Burton horribly direct Helena.

Lol

So quick question in a long post: I saw the film the day after Christmas and really loved it. I came home and read the script, which can be found legally here as part of Disney's awards campaign.
https://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/downloads/into-the-woods-screenplay.pdf
The final scene with Rapunzel, her prince and the Witch, happens in the script as so.
R’S PRINCE
My darling. Are you all right? Why did
you run off?
RAPUNZEL
I was afraid.
R-PRINCE
You never have to be afraid. Now come
with me.
WITCH
She’s not going with you!
(To RAPUNZEL)
You will come with me.

Now, I didn't remember the line "You never have to be afraid." as being in the movie. When I saw the film again last night, it was, infact, gone. But I have to wonder, why? I like it. It's even used here in this social media image.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/New-You-Never-Have-To-Be-Afraid-INTO-THE-WOODS-Social-Media-Image-20141228

It is not a big deal, I was just curious as to why it may have been cut? Any ideas?

Actually, Maddie, I wondered the same thing. The only conclusion I can come to is that the script was only a guide and the lines weren't said verbatim.

To me this is OK, because the verbatim dialogue written for Rapunzel and her prince contains a lot of "My darling"s and other sort of contrived lines. Their dialogue in the movie seemed a lot more natural, what little there was of it.

Billy seemed to ad lib a lot - his lines "Bad idea!!" as he's rappeling down Rapunzel's hair, in addition to "Your hair! I like it!" aren't in the script either).

That said, I sort of wish they had used the line too - I like that Rapunzel's prince would say this to her, since it evokes a sincere concern that's the complete opposite of Cinderella's prince's phoniness.

But, my guess is that when they shot the scene Billy just didn't say the line and Rob Marshall liked what he got, so it wasn't used. As you say, it's really odd considering that's the line that got used in his character poster, but that's the way it goes. Rapunzel's prince doesn't actually have any other lines in the movie that would have worked, I don't think. Aside from "Agony", he has maybe half a dozen lines tops.

Updated On: 1/3/15 at 12:16 PM