Rob Marshall Directing Into the Woods Film For Disney- Page 9

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 4:51pm

If you want to be really wild and break down the conventions of cinematic storytelling at that point, you could have the characters fire the director, editor, and special effects men, too. That would really "stop" everything and leave them to their own devices.

(it would also make for one hell of a freaky movie)

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:18pm

I love that idea. Best12, or have them fire marshall through it.. As for godlike or keebler elf that's actually what i'm going for, it makes an interesting religous point in that way if you think about it, and given stephens fixtation on trees in his lyrics.

[bobbybaby85]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:28pm

Updated On: 2/20/18 at 05:28 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:45pm

I find your post odd. Why shouldn't we speculate here?

And why do you want us to look at previous adaptations that ultimately weren't made, by people who aren't involved now?

Maybe some of those changes will be incorporated, and maybe not. Clearly they are open to revamping the material and making changes. But ultimately, these adaptations ended up shelved for one reason or another. The studios involved said no and they didn't go into production.

... which may happen again. Who knows? But there's nothing "wrong" with speculating or offering up opinions as to what could, should (or couldn't, shouldn't) change.

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 05:45 PM

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:49pm

Disney will make the narrator into an anthropomorphic animal, along with turning the slippers as pure as gold into glass ones. Guaranteed.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:53pm

I laughed at that first part ... but you may very well be right about "glass slippers."

Just like they HAD to make the shoes "ruby" in the Wizard of Oz sequel "Return To Oz."

They think the audience will expect them. I can see them thinking they won't "get" why Cinderella is wearing shoes "as pure as gold."

Of course that screws up some rhymes as well. Not that studio execs care about rhymes ...

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 05:53 PM

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 5:59pm

DIsney Exec 1: Wait, I just realized something! The slippers are GOLD here, people. This will confuse people!
Disney Exec 2: We can't mess with our animated canon! How will we appeal to the lowest common denominator?
Disney Exec 1: Quick, what rhymes with glass?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:02pm

Perfect. And true.

My worst nightmare (no, not really for the smarm out there), since it's Disney, is that they throw some of their own Disneyfied characters into it, which I can also hear some exec spouting off about ...

"Can we work Ariel and Belle into this? Come on! That's what they want to see!"

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 06:02 PM

[Bluelark]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:09pm

What are the odds that they try to make some of the characters (Cinderella, Rapunzel, the Princes) look like the Disney versions?

And while people are debating whether it would have a voice-over narrator or an on-screen one, I wonder whether it's possible that they could use a combination of both?

In 'The NeverEnding Story' they managed to have an outside narrator character who gets pulled into the story at the end. Anyone in the audience who remembers that might find this more unsettling when it all goes horribly wrong.

At the beginning they could show the narrator opening a book (like you have in some traditional Disney fairytale films), and then he'd take a back-seat during the first act as he narrates the story off-screen (or perhaps every so often being shown on-screen as an unseen spectator in the background). Then, after the happy ending, they could suggest that some time elapses for the narrator in his world (the 'real' one?) before he returns to the book to see what happens next. In the second act, he could suddenly find himself perceived by the characters and forced to be involved in the story, just like the boy in 'The NeverEnding Story'.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:14pm

Ladies and Gentleman We Have A WINNER!!!!!!!

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:30pm

If they cut out the princes' cheating nature, I will burn the studio to the ground. anyone want to join me?

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:33pm

NotHSM i'm sure disney knows what they're doing accquired woods, in fact they also proably know there best move is to NOT tone it down, and if they've employed marshall and lapine they've made it clear that they proably will keep the plot as is.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 6:57pm

The truth is, probably none of the insane, inane changes will be made.

But the truth is also that they will probably ALL be brought up in studio meetings.

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:00pm

random person- Yeah, I guess so. I love DIsney, but all their fairytale adaptions have been significantly watered down. Take for example, Hercules ( one of my all time favorite Disney movies). They cut out Zeus' cheating, incest, Hera trying to kill Hercules, and Hercules murdering Megara and their children. It all depends on which banner they want to release it under. I hope they do it under Touchstone, so Disney has less involvement.

In other matters, do you think they'll make an Into The Woods ride at Disney World/Land/Etc?

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:03pm

A ride? LOL

Only if you're greeted by a robot Sondheim outside.

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:17pm

Robot Sondheim FTW! We could replace Bush in the Hall of Presidents with him! I'm trying to think of merchandise. Milky-White plush toys? Little Red hoodies? Chunks of Stepsister Foot?

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:19pm

NoHSM explain how including the cheating, incest, and hera killing him would have helped the story in a movie format? For what they wanted to do which was make an animated movie, the changes were approiate. Into the woods is a planned live action film, that's what i'm anticipating at least. Second, the times they are a'changing. Disney is being threatened by burgeoning competitor dreamworks, who has made a name for themselves through reimaging fairy tales. A trend that has also leaked into books, and tv shows. Third, disney has been going deeper in recent years with some of their tellings, and even yes slightly darker. What a better way to compete and best their rival, than a propery like woods, that can appeal to a wide demographic, (parents as well as their children.), and get them the critical and industry respect they have lacked for many years. (By this i namely mean the oscars, who have long had a very lukewarm relationship with the powerhouse. As well as many big name actors not participating in their movies.) Woods can turn this on its head, and revitalize disney, in a world where the newer disney movies open to smaller box office than their rivals. (the heavily promoted princess and the frog $26,045,756 in wide release that's nowhere close to the 90s numbers. While Dreamworks movie Monsters vs. Aliens released in the same year grossed $383,466,166. The classic formula clearly isn't working anymore.) In short they know what there doing with woods, it's in their best intrest not to mess with or change woods. This can revitalize them, if they do it right, and if they don't they continue to fade in the movie department, and be shortly surpassed by former partner pixar, and dreamworks.

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:43pm

random person- I know, I know. We all should be happy, but everyone's bitching.

Can we track down Ben Wright? I know he was in the Sondheim Citi Center gala, but I cannot find a photo of this.

[random person 112]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 7:48pm

NoHSM-I know, and about casting its understandable, about disney changing to much it's not.

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 9:17pm

NoHSM,
There were a few other changes. Zeus' child is named Heracles, not Hercules. Heracles' momma is not Hera. and Hera wasn't too fond of Heracles. About the only thing left is "there's a guy who's the son of Zeus and he's really strong".

But back to on topic - I have no idea what ITW is going to look like. I would keep the gold slippers - but perhaps use the Disney costumes - the first act should feel oddly familiar to begin with and then as the film progresses, the differences from the Disney and cleaned up fairy tales expand and the costumes change, and the backgrounds change. I'm trying to envision the Act I finale however - cross-cutting seems right but also confusing especially given the narrator involvement. Presumably, instead of "to be continued" the narrator will say "wait! Don't leave the theatre or get more popcorn, there's more to the story. Sometime later....."

[NoHSMisNotAMusical]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 9:34pm

Hercules is the Romanized version of his name. Heracles literally means "Hera's wrath." However they used the Greek versions of everyone else's names.

Why are we talking about Greek mythology again? Lol.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 10:40pm

Hey besty,

I'm curious to hear about how you'd like to see the transition of Act I to Act II handled.

I was thinking about that, myself, the other day.

Obviously there are many musicals in which much time passes between acts but it'd obviously be VERY odd to see "Ever After" and then immediately jump into the Act II Prologue.

I'm assuming that's why you suggested cutting the number completely and doing it mostly in dialogue.

I was also curious about how you saw the narrator. Obviously he needs to be present. Do you see him on screen as a resident of the "fantasy world" or do you see him more separated? (Lack of a better example: The storytelling in "Princess Bride")?

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 10:40 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 11:07pm

This is why I really think the narrator should be on screen (occasionally, and certainly at the beginning), telling the story to someone. Maybe a kid or a group of kids. Yes, you can say that's very "Princess Bride," but it was also done in "The Point" for TV and many other instances of a parent or grandparent reading a bedtime story to a kid. Maybe this time it's a small group of kids. Maybe it's a teacher in a classroom, reading to students.

Anyway ... at the end of Act I, the Narrator closes the book. He could even stand up and go to put it away. Then the kid (or a kid in the group) says, "That's it? What happens next?" And the Narrator can hem and haw a bit. ("Are you sure you want to know? Nobody ever wants to know what happens next! They don't care. Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.")

Then he opens the book again and starts the Act II narration. You could use the music here, or you can just have an abridged version with narration and a few lines of the Act II opener, either way. But that's how you get back into the story.

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 11:07 PM

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 11:22pm

I like your ideas.

And, I didn't mean "Princess Bride" in a bad way. I think it's a great device. Sometimes done well ("Princess Bride") and sometimes not-so-well (the "Joseph...Dreamcoat" movie). But, that was more of a mash-up of filmed stage version and movie.

I'd personally thought of the narrator playing a librarian/teacher/something in that vein. A cute idea I had was to have students roaming through a library and you see them all picking out your usual tales "Cinderella," "Snow White," "Beauty and the Beast" (you know Disney will work in a nod to their films somewhere) and you see one lone child working his way through the aisles and stumble upon a copy of "Into The Woods." Very dusty and worn...probably at the bottom of a pile that no one's touched in a long time. And having the librarian read it to the crowd of kids.

Anywho, that was a rough idea of what I'd envisioned. Obviously I'm no screenwriter. But, I love the idea of starting from the "real world" and jumping into the "fantasy world" of the book. I think that would help drive the narration. True, Disney already did that with "Enchanted," but I think they could find a fresh way to do it.

And, hopefully, with Lapine and Sondheim in the mix and...for some reason I feel Jerry Bruckheimer will have something to do with this since him and Marshall probably met doing Pirates, the combination of creative input will keep the film on the right track.

I know NINE clearly didn't go over well critically but I do agree with whoever said there were still moments of the film that I found breathtaking. (I think that may have been you, besty.)

I feel like, after Chicago, Bob and Harvey let Marshall do his own thing without getting as involved. With the right team, I think Marshall could do this well.

Updated On: 1/15/12 at 11:22 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/15/12 at 11:28pm

I think it will be very important to figure out who the story is being told to. Is it appropriate to be told to a child? The writing is so sophisticated. Not that the material is inappropriate, but is the perspective too highbrow? Maybe not, but it should be planned carefully.

As far as selecting a story, I like your idea, but what if instead this person (or group of people) can't decide what story they wan't to hear. They want Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, and they hand the Narrator a stack of books all at the same time.

He then puts them all down and says that he has JUST the story for them.

"Once upon a time ..."