Rest assured, the (leaked) screenplay is incredibly faithful to the source material. It has been tightened and edited to quicken the pace and bridge the gaps cinematically, but no drastic, major shifts in tone or plot were made.
After reading it, I had (and have) very high hopes on that level.
The bigger question for me is can they pull it off?
And we shall see!
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
'Oz the Great & Powerful's budget was actually $215 million. I corrected it in my post. I previously confused its budget for 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian', which had a budget of $225 million.
Thanks guys for the heads up about the leaked script. Sorry I was late to the party on that one. I didn't know it leaked. It seems like an early draft, but I have to say I am pretty surprised. We did lose an important song (in my humble opinion) but I understand why they decided to cut it. The original tone is intact. So I'm happy.
Yes Bars, the million dollar question now is- Can they pull this off?
One initial thought I had after reading this is "Meryl is too old." Take it or leave it, that's what I thought.
Didn't she already play a witch who drank a potion for eternal youth? Oh wait, that was Death Becomes Her. My bad. :-P
He's so dreamy. Loved getting to hear him sing a bit of "Your Fault." I hope this role turns him into a bonafide star, it's still nuts that he was able to land the role, good for him.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I'm really happy that Rob Marshall (and producers) realized that the casting of this role was so important to the entire tone and perspective of the movie. If you get the Baker (and his wife) wrong, you lose everything else, no matter how good they all are.
The Baker has to maintain that sense of wonder, a bit playful and buoyant, sometimes silly and snarky, but also he has to be able to be thoughtful and pensive and humble at times. It's not something that can just be "acted." You need the right personality in the role to take the audience on the journey.
Corden is just right for it. They could have cast bigger names (and apparently considered quite a few movie stars if you believe the IMDb.com pages). And not taking anything away from Corden's own achievements or notoriety, but there are other bigger film names who could have snagged the role if the producers and director had been nervous about it.
I'm glad they realized the importance of getting this right.
Fingers crossed here that he rises to the occasion, but I have no doubt in my mind that chose wisely. Very excited to see him in this!
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Meryl Streep has a brilliant Oscar & Emmy award winning hair and make-up artist named Roy Helland (he has worked with her for 39 years) and it is always included in her contract that he does her hair and make-up. I'm sure he will make sure she looks absolutely stunning after the transformation.
So I just heard the 30 seconds or so of "Children Will Listen" and liked it. Meryl sounds like really was working on her voice so I'm looking forward to more leaking out!
That clip made me cry. No joke. Call me a weirdo or whatever, but the fact that INTO THE WOODS is finally being made, with Meryl Streep (who could play Batman and make it work) playing an emotionally complex character such as the Witch is making me wish that December would just get here.
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
It's so hard to tell anything when it's fed through a toilet bowl and a tin can while being smothered under a blanket ... but it definitely sounds like she's singing in-character as a witch, and that's no surprise. And it's a good thing.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22