Into the Woods Coming Tuesday March 24th on Blu-ray and Digital HD
I recently was able to review Into the Woods on Blue-ray DVD. My family enjoyed watching it. It is a Fairy Tale Movie. If you enjoy Fairy Tales, you will enjoy this movie. I also went to see it at the theater. Now, I have added this to my collection. Make sure to get your own copy on March 24th.
To celebrate the release of Into the Woods next Tuesday on Blu-ray and Digital HD, we wanted to share two clips, a Q&A from star Christine Baranski, as well as some film stills.
The Cast
She’ll Be Back
BELOW are The Q&A’s from star Christine Baranski
CHRISTINE BARANSKI
Biography
One of the entertainment industry’s most honored actresses, CHRISTINE BARANSKI (Stepmother) has achieved acclaim in every medium in which she has performed. She is an Emmy®, two-time Tony®, Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Award winner. A native of Buffalo, Baranski attended the Juilliard School. She received her big break being cast in Tom Stoppard’s hit Broadway comedy “The Real Thing,” directed by Mike Nichols for which she won a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.
Baranski went on to earn a second Tony® Award for her performance in Neil Simon’s “Rumors” and a Drama Desk Award for “Lips Together Teeth Apart.” She also appeared in “Boeing-Boeing,” “Hurlyburly,” “The House of Blue Leaves,” “The Loman Family Picnic,” “Regrets Only,” Encores! Productions’ of “Follies,” “Promises, Promises” and “On Your Toes,” and the Kennedy Center productions of “Sweeney Todd” and “Mame.”
In addition to the Emmy® for the hit CBS comedy “Cybill,” Baranski received an American Comedy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy as well a Screen Actors Guild Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. She also received three additional Emmy and three Golden Globe® nominations. She was seen as a guest on “Frasier,” for which she received a fifth Emmy nomination. Baranski has appeared on multiple episodes of the CBS series “The Big Bang Theory,” and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in A Comedy Series twice. She is currently starring in the hit CBS series “The Good Wife,” for which she received five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Her film credits include “Mamma Mia!,” “Chicago,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Bowfinger,” “Bulworth,” “Cruel Intentions,” “The Birdcage,” “Reversal Of Fortune,” “Legal Eagles,” “The Ref,” “The Addams Family Values,” “Welcome To Mooseport,” “The Guru,” “9 ½ Weeks” and “Jeffrey.”
Q&A:
- What attracted you to the project?
- The story is a set of fairy tales we have all known and loved as interpreted and musicalized by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. There are many reasons to celebrate and be awed by this musical. To see those famous fairy tale characters, each with their own song and their own psychological journey to make, thrown together as their fates become intertwined. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. It is truly imaginative and so exciting to see it being made into a movie because we are dealing with a fairy tale universe which lends itself to fantastic visualization. It goes very deep into people’s cognitive lives and traumas and is really an amazing project.
- Tell us about working with Stephen Sondheim.
- I would say Stephen Sondheim is the single most brilliant person with whom I have ever worked in show business. To actually be in a movie musical of his work is just a once-in-a-life time extraordinary thing. He is an incredibly intelligent and literate man with wide frames of reference. All of his musicals are about deep human journeys, and yet they are so vastly entertaining. They are not just about depth of feeling. When you experience his work, you really have to listen to the music and lyrics. There is a complexity that makes you sit up and listen to what he is saying. He is a true genius of the musical theatre and has made such an incredible contribution, but I can’t imagine a more wonderful piece than “Into the Woods,” because it is so universal, imaginative and fabulous. You really need to be a true actor to do Sondheim. His work requires psychological exploration and he would be the first to say he writes for the acting, not the beauty of the music. That said, his music is wonderfully complex to sing, his intervals are often challenging. You need to draw on a lot of different aspects of your talent to do Sondheim. I’m always so happy, grateful and terrified when I do this work because I feel like I’m rising to his theatrical genius and it pushes me to measure up.
- Tell us about the caliber of the talent involved.
- When you look at the cast, it is the most extraordinary line-up of talent. It is a tribute to Rob Marshall and Stephen Sondheim that all these people would want to do this project. Why wouldn’t you want to work on a Sondheim musical in the hands of a wonderful director? However, you can be a great actor and not actually be quite able to do this piece. It is a heightened reality and you have to be very emotionally honest. You also need to have a sense of humor because it is very witty material. Sondheim is a devilishly, majestically witty lyricist, you must have that kind of theatrical intelligence to perform it and I believe we have the cast for that. Johnny Depp as the Wolf and Meryl Streep as the Witch are just perfection. Anna Kendrick as Cinderella is so beautifully cast; she has the most exquisite voice for the role and it is not an easy role vocally. Anna is able to hit all those beautiful high pitches effortlessly. She also has this fragility and sincerity that make her the perfect Cinderella for this piece. The more time I spend
3 With Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch, who play my daughters, the more I think they could actually be sisters. One is brunette and the other is blonde, but they both have this off-center quality that is genuinely odd, interesting and funny. They are both wonderful and are going to make a very strong, vivid impression.
- Tell us about working with costume designer Colleen Atwood.
- I couldn’t imagine a better designer for this project than Colleen. She is an astonishing talent. When I first talked to her, we both had the same take on the stepfamily. We felt, if they were a modern family, they would have their own reality TV show. They’re over the top, they’ve got money and they are very narcissistic, and are obsessed with their hair, make up and fashion. They are very shallow and don’t have a lot of real style or taste. Colleen came up with a costume that was eighteenth century meets Alexander McQueen meets the Kardashians.
- How was it working with Rob Marshall?
- Rob has the most exquisite directing style of anyone I’ve worked with. He is so graceful and specific with an impeccable eye in terms of what he wants from his actors. No matter how stressed out or exhausted he is, he always approaches you on the set with this lovely smile and a soft-spoken voice that makes you feel like it is just you and him. I’d do anything for Rob because I have such a great feeling for him. What more can I say? I love him.
10.8.14
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