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

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.

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.

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

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 ...

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

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!"

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

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

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.

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?

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- 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.

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....."

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")?

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

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.

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