Written by Kyle Slagley
There has long been a crossover between Hollywood and Broadway—whether it be actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Hugh Jackman, or most recently Tom Hanks jumping from the stage to the screen, or directors like Sam Mendes who flit from behind the curtain to behind the camera. Stories themselves also transcend mediums and anyone who knows anything about theatre can also rattle off a half a dozen shows that are also movies: Sound of Music, Lion King, Big Fish, Legally Blonde, Chicago, and yes, even Shrek.
Although it got very mixed reviews from critics and
theatergoers—which are pretty much the same thing since theatre fans are some
of the most critical people I know—the box office success of Les
Miserables has more than likely opened the floodgates from a steady trickle
to what will be a full-out tsunami of shows turned movies and movies turned shows.
One that I am looking forward to in particular is the Christmas
2014 release of Into the
Woods, which looks to have a powerhouse Hollywood cast lined up. The show
takes the storylines from Cinderella,
Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel and weaves them all together
using original characters The Baker and his wife, who are pitted against a
witch. I mean, you can’t have a good fairy tale without a witch, right?
So far, casting reports are that the following stars are in
some stage of negotiation: Johnny
Depp playing the Wolf, Chris
Pine and Jake
Gyllenhaal as the princes of Rapunzel and Cinderella, Emily
Blunt as The Baker’s Wife, James
Corden as The Baker, Meryl
Streep as The Witch, and Anna
Kendrick as Cinderella. Quite the lineup if you ask me! Also, Rob
Marshall, who directed the Oscar-winning film Chicago, is slated to direct.
It seems to me that films like this—ones that take a very
well-known musical with a hyper-devoted following and put it on screen—usually
appeal to only one audience, either the film crowd or the theatre crowd, but
rarely both. In order to make money at the box office, filmmakers are now
padding the cast with Hollywood A-listers. It seems to me that this will
further entice moviegoers to see it, but in the long run as the trend
continues, it will alienate the theatre crowd. Though there is obviously a lot
more money in getting movie buffs to the movies than getting theatre buffs to
the movies.
It remains to be seen how much of the original Stephen
Sondheim music from the stage production makes it into the film, or how much
the actors will sing. Rest assured, though, that if the film makes money (and
with a cast like that, it will), it’s only a matter of time before we see Russell
Brand taking on the role of Rum
Tum Tugger.
