The Hollywood Reporter: When Stephen Sondheim summons, you answer the call.
And so it was that in the spring of 2013, Meryl Streep found herself arriving at the 84-year-old composer's five-story Manhattan townhouse. She'd just been cast as the Witch in the big-screen version of Into the Woods, Sondheim's darkly twisted musical about fractured fairy tales. Rob Marshall, who would direct Streep in the film — opening Christmas Day — also was called to the town house, as was James Lapine, who wrote the book for the play. But none of them had any idea why they had been bidden.
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This was a pretty interesting read after having just seen the film myself. I, too, thought this was an interesting time to release a movie version of the show, for as the article states, there have been quite a few Cinderella installments lately, including both the live action film and the Broadway version. I wonder about quite a few of the choices Rob Marshall made on this movie. I think a number of things were brilliant- the casting of Little Red (and just the fact that she wasn't Sophia Grace), the Baker, and the Baker's Wife; the true-to-show moments; and the overall energy of the performance. I thought that most of the actors in this film gave strong performances (I was also a big fan of Jack's mother), but I'm afraid I was fairly disappointed in Meryl Streep as The Witch. I say this a lot when I am coaching students in speech/competitive acting, but I was seeing too much Meryl, not enough Witch. Yes, yes, she was in ugly makeup and had bad teeth, but the *character* wasn't there. Perhaps I am comparing her a little too much to Bernadette Peters (how can you not?), but her interpretation, to me, was a little flat. My heart didn't break when she realized her daughter hated her for all she had done to keep her safe. I never felt she held any sort of influence over the other characters. I never felt her wrath at the Baker's father for his thievery. It's really too bad, I was hoping for something special in her, but what are you going to do. There have been a lot of complaints, including in this article, about the creepy, child-molester vibe we get from Johnny Depp as the wolf, but for this I applaud Disney! This is exactly the dark kind of thing I expected to be left out or cheated in the movie, but instead I was completely and totally uncomfortable- which is perfect. (Side note: the scene when we enter the wolf's belly was weird. That's all.)
MORE THAN ANYTHING, I cannot believe that Marshall decided to exclude the Narrator from this film. To me, the Narrator provided an amazing commentary on the use of a storyteller, and the incredible ways the story changes without someone to guide it. How else would the Baker's Wife, faithful and kind, end up in the arms of a prince? What reason is there for the entire story to fall apart other than the loss of its leader? Fans were apparently outraged by the loss of one song, but how about the character that drives (or rather, doesn't drive) the action of the entire second act? That was definitely the greatest disappointment for me.
Having said all of this, I did really enjoy the film and I am glad that the team was able to bring it to fruition. I think, as a movie, it is certainly a fun tale of stories turned upside down, and will definitely be fun for children to see something that isn't so candy-coated as the other fairytale movies that have been coming out.
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