Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 62

"I always forget that Sondheim allowed Tim Burton to clean all of the real gore out of Fleet Street and replace it with whisper singing and CGI blood."

This is interesting -- whatever else can be said about Burton's film of SWEENEY TODD, I don't see that it skimps on the gore. The blood comes spraying out of those severed throats, the bodies land at the bottom of that chute in a right ugly mess, Mrs. Lovett's final moments are ugly in the extreme, and what Todd does to Judge Turpin quite outdoes anything I ever saw done onstage for sheer bloody bloodiness.

---

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 11:10 AM

Looks like I Know Things Now will be replaced by Super Bass

"Marshall is very well known for a very hard, very intense LONG rehearsal process. He did it with CHICAGO and look how that tuned out."

I'd have liked to see how it turned out, but Marshall's Attention Deficit Editing Style pretty well trashed any chance for me to see how any of that turned out. Seldom have so many worked so hard to so little effect.

Of course, he did tone it down for the execrable NINE, and well, look how that turned out. One of the major critical and financial disasters of the new millennium.

Any word on how Marshall's going to turn all of the INTO THE WOODS songs into fantasies or dreams? And how is he going to handle the finale, with all those dead characters standing around, offering advice?

Badly, no doubt, if past history is any indication, and with Rob Marshall it most definitely is.

I'm more appalled at Sondheim allowing Rob Marshall to befoul his work at all than I was at anything he allowed Tim Burton to do.

---

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 11:35 AM

Mister Matt, I agree. That ticked me off to no end.

---

Her acting seemed pretty decent. Wasn't too impressed with her singing.
Can she tone down her accent or will everyone else sound British?

I don't care if the sexual subtext (that I think people are giving way too much weight) gets diluted, but I really do find the choice of Sophia Grace grating. But people act like the wolf is supposed to fingerbang her or something.

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 04:40 PM

Oh wow, had no idea who that girl was but God is she insanely annoying in all those clips. I guess we should trust Marshall? Not a fan of the kid from LES MIS, but this one is just a very WTF choice. We'll see how it turns out: Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine......and Sophia Grace? I don't think so. Oh well, it's not like there's anything that would keep me from watching (and probably loving) this movie.

---

Jungle Red---that excuse makes no sense, and it's not true. Burton says on the DVD and Blu-ray extras exactly why he cut all the choral singing. He hates it. Doesn't think it's "realistic" for people to be saying or thinking the exact same thing at once.

Okay, Tim Scissorhands Burton. Sure.

What they did have to cut, due to Depp's absence and a rearranging of the production schedule, was the filming of the three "ghosts" singing (solo lines, not "chorus") for some of the Ballad of Sweeney Todd. Anthony Head was one of those ghosts. Now he just has one spoken line in the film.

But there was never a plan to have any choral singing in the Sweeney movie once Burton signed on to direct it.

As for the "left field" selection of Sophia Grace ... this reminds me of how everybody freaked out when Fergie was cast in Nine with all those Oscar-winning heavy-hitters ... and she was arguably the best thing about the film.

---

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 05:53 PM

Fergie actually has a pedigree in musicals going back to her pre-kindergarten days. That she did well in NINE was not a surprise to anyone who knew about her before the Black Eyed Peas hitched their wagon to her star.

What credits does this Sophia Grace chick have? One horrible, auto-tuned YouTube video that has only gone viral because people like laughing at a slow-moving trainwreck, and a few talk show appearances where she bounced around with all the dignity and comportment of a roll of Mentos in a 2 liter of Diet Coke? About the only positive thing I can say about this casting is that I have no doubts whatsoever that this Little Red Ridinghood could tear through an entire basket of baked goods by herself.

Thank goodness Rob Marshall didn't end up directing THE HUNGER GAMES...we'd all still be reeling over Rebecca Black as Katniss Everdeen.

@hyperbole Are you serious? What is your problem?

She's a child. It's not that serious, you'll get over it.

Updated On: 8/7/13 at 07:46 PM

"Into the Woods" is based on the writings of Bruno Bettleheim who wrote about the confusing, pre-pubescent sexuality inherent in fairy tales (and in children). Now, I don't know if its wrong to portray this in a film, but the emerging sexual longing of a tween or teenager is NOT what Bettleheim was writing about. And neither were Sondheim and Lapine. I'm guessing on stage, a more metaphoric medium, a young woman playing a child is easier to pull off. But Little Red IS a ten year old girl (or perhaps younger) in the stage show as well, she's just always been played by someone much older.

I don't know, Owen22. The wolf in the original production had quite a package...
Seriously though, I'm not crazy about the choice for Little Red either, always having assumed there were some sexual undertones in "Hello, Little Girl", but we'll see how it turns out. I'm more concerned with them destroying the music.

---