Disney finally unveiled their Christmas Oscar bid “Into the Woods” over the weekend with a bi-coastal screening, which played to audiences in both New York City and at Disney Studios in Burbank. Rob Marshall’s screen adaptation of Stephen Sonheim’s beloved fairytale musical played like gangbusters with the crowd in New York’s Directors Guild of America theater (where I saw it), with the audience applauding loudly after almost every musical number (and there are a lot of them). Meryl Streep — who steals scenes as The Witch who sets the plot into motion — received additional applause every time her character vanished into the air (which also happened often).
Following the raucous screening, the New York audience was treated to an in-person Q&A with Marshall, screenwriter James Lapine and some of the film’s key cast members (Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Christine Baransky, Chris Pine and Tracey Ullman), moderated by the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Deputy Director (and Indiewire co-founder) Eugene Hernandez.
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Below are the top highlights in addition to a full video of the 50-minute chat.
Anna Kendrick on singing for the stage vs. the screen:
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