Before ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” brought our favorite fairytale characters together in one world, the 1987 musical “Into the Woods,” taught us to be careful what we wish for.
The popular musical won three Tony Awards after it premiered on Broadway and features songs by the legendary Stephen Sondheim. Disney’s new film adaptation of the story, which opens Christmas Day, is directed by Rob Marshall, the director of “Chicago” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”
“Into the Woods” tells the story of a baker and his wife, played by James Corden and Emily Blunt, who wish more than anything to have a child. In their quest to make their wish come true, they cross paths with Rapunzel, Jack, Little Red Riding Hood and a witch, played by Meryl Streep.
They also encounter Cinderella and her prince, who are played by Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine.
Kendrick said that the fairytale is for parents and children.
“I think that thematically the whole piece is really about parents and children and the disappointments of parents and the failings of parents, and it’s based on stories that parents have told their children for generations,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick feels the story tells parents that they have to be careful what they tell their children.
“Children take lessons to heart and it’s sort of about understanding that they’re listening to us even if doesn’t feel that way, and it’s our responsibility to prepare them for the realities of the world,” Kendrick said.
For their own roles, Pine and Kendrick both enjoyed making the classic characters their own. Pine said that while the other characters go through complex journeys and experience joy, heartache, sorrow and grief, his character is “wonderfully self-absorbed.”
“I had a lot of fun bringing some levity to the picture, or tried to,” Pine said. “There’s a bit of a buffoon in the prince. Cinderella gives him the chance to really feel and to really connect with her, and I think he does for a brief second, but then does make the choice to kind of go back and run off and relive over and over and over again this storybook life that he is so accustomed to. But, I had a lot of fun making the prince kind of buffoonish.”
On Kendrick’s part, the director allowed her to be “a sort of over-thinking, over-logical, neurotic princess.”
“I think the great thing was that Rob Marshall really embraced a modern sensibility for all the characters, because since these stories kind of belong to the ages, it makes sense that in some ways we update them every generation.”
Kendrick’s Cinderella mirrors modern women who Kendrick said tend to overthink and look at everything from every angle to make the right decision. Her character’s turning point comes at a moment of crisis for the characters when she realizes what’s really important.
“She sort of she says to the prince, ‘Do you understand me? Do we understand each other? Do we even live in the same emotional world?’” Kendrick said. “And when the answer is no, it’s very easy for her to say, ‘I choose the unknown. Even though you represent security and a better life, I choose the unknown.’”
Pine and Kendrick have both sung in films before. Kendrick was nominated for a Tony for her role in “High Society,” but starring in a musical was new for Pine, who sang the country song “Someday Came Today” in “Small Town Saturday Night.”
“The musical theater genre is very specific and the sound that you’re going for is obviously quite different from something like the country music I did before,” Pine said. “But I had a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of the technique of the genre, and I had a lot of incredibly talented people who had worked in this medium before, from Anna to Meryl Streep and Christine Baranski. So I had a lot of good company around me.”
For Kendrick, the musical was a departure from the pop melodies she crooned in “Pitch Perfect” and the upcoming sequel. Kendrick said it was harder to film “Into the Woods.”
“I was petrified and excited,” Kendrick said. “It was an unbelievable challenge, but obviously singing Sondheim is so rewarding and fulfilling and it was just a dream come true.”
The cast rehearsed for a month before beginning filming. With such a large cast, not everyone had a chance to work together, but, Pine said, they did get to see what everyone was doing.
“I think that [rehearsing] really helped infuse the project with a sense of community and that we’re all kind of on the same page,” Pine said. “I think you’ll hopefully feel that great feeling in the film.”
After opening day, check The Current’s website at nsucurrent.nova.edu for a full review.
Photo Credit: teaser-trailer.com
