Rob Marshall Brings 'Into the Woods' to the Big Screen

I've finally caught up with Rob Marshall's adaptation of "Into the Woods" after months of dying to see it. The hype from that DGA screening made the last month a little unbearable, but I'm here to report that it was well worth the wait.

Anna Kendrick is Stuck On The Steps of the Palace

Take a look at an exclusive clip of Anna Kendrick as Cinderella in Disney's "Into The Woods".

Kendrick performs Cinderella's iconic "On the Steps of the Palace" and to say she nails it is an understatement.

Watch the video, and hear the audio of the full song below.

Final Into the Woods Trailer

This trailer is giving me everything I had hoped for from the adaptation... Now to wait and see if this translates as well into the film, which is still over a month away.

The music sounds spectacular, and we finally get to see some more of the actors in action, though Meryl is so obviously front and center (and she looks great).

Take a look below.

Go Into the Woods with a Sneak Peek Featurette

As discussed to almost ad-nausium, the marketing for Disney's "Into the Woods" has been curiously quiet; from that quiet, yet exhilarating teaser dropped back in summer, to the confusing reports of the film's development and Oscar strategy, we don't know a whole lot about it.

In fact, despite being my most anticipated release of the year, I was starting to worry about the film's quality; can it stick the landing? Disney's track record as of late has not been all that promising...

But this morning, a 4 minute featurette was released with new footage (yes! we have some singing finally) and cast interviews that have restored my faith in this adaptation. Though I'm still hesitant, I fully believe there will be more bad, than good to come out of this.

Take a look below.

Into the Woods' Dilemma: The Case of the 3 Women

Disney's "Into the Woods" is arguably the biggest question mark in the Oscar race right now, next to J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year". The Rob Marshall directed musical has the prestige to at least be on the Oscar radar (Marshall directed "Chicago", another musical which won 8 Oscars including Best Picture), several Oscar nominated actors in its very starry cast (Meryl Streep, Anna Kendricks and Johnny Depp) and is based on an acclaimed stage play by Stephen Soundheim, who penned the likes of "Sweeney Todd" (the film adaptation was nominated for 3 Oscars, including Best Actor for Depp). But the buzz on the film has been questionable at best; there were those early reports that the source material was facing "conservative changes", later reported to be false by Soundheim himself. Then there was the report that Streep's new song made special for her and the film itself, was cut, following rumors of a month of reshoots.

All this drama has me wondering about A.) The potential quality of the film and B.) The film's role in the Oscar race.

First Official Poster For Into The Woods; Meryl Front and Center

Disney's "Into the Woods" is largely a player in the Oscar race simply because of actress Meryl Streep, who plays the largely coveted role of The Witch in Rob Marshall's adaptation. The role has been played by veteran musical theater actresses Bernedette Peters and Vanessa Williams in the past on Broadway, so obviously Disney needed a huge name to put in the marquee role.

Though Meryl was nominated for a Golden Globe for her last musical project ("Momma Mia"), her performance outside of that lone nomination wasn't warmly embraced (the Globes nominate her more often than the Oscars do; she has a record 28 nominations). It's an easy call now to predict that she'll have 29 by the end of this year when the nominations are announced, but what is going on with Woods' Oscar chances?

Meryl Streep's Song Reportedly "Cut" From Into the Woods & Unbroken Test Screens

Meryl Streep as The Witch and Mackenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel in Disney's "Into the Woods".

Remember that wonderful news that composer Stephen Soundheim wrote a new song just for Meryl Streep for the onscreen adaptation of "Into the Woods"? Remember how excited she was? Remember how excited we were? Well unfortunately, director Rob Marshall ("Chicago") tells us that the song has been cut from the film.

First Into the Woods Trailer

Well well well, just as I mentioned last night that Disney was being curiously aloof about not yet releasing a trailer for "Into the Woods", one pops up the next day, and boy does it do the job.

The trailer does a great job at not only introducing the scope of the film (which is seriously epic), but all of the principal players, with Streep at the forefront. It seems like she's going to be the film's main selling point... smart strategy.

Take a look below.

First Official Images from Disney's "Into the Woods"

The promotion for the upcoming musical adaptation "Into the Woods" has been strangely very quiet... though it's not due out until Christmas Day, you'd think there would be at least a teaser trailer out at this point (Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken", which also is opening on Christmas Day, has released 2 trailers thus far). The musical is increasingly popular, however, so I guess Disney is relying a lot on the core, die hard audience (in the same way "Les Miseerables" did back in 2012). I'm sure they're waiting to strike, and with such a starry cast, there's no doubt in my mind that box office success will elude the film.

That being said, Disney has released some really gorgeous looking stills from the film, never seen before featuring Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski and a glimpse of Johnny Depp as The Wolf.

Take a look below at the stills.

Into The Woods Receives "Conservative" Changes

"Into the Woods" is one of the more curious films to land this year. For one thing, its source material is the heavily acclaimed musical by Stephen Soundheim. Not to mention that director Rob Marshall ("Chicago") is directing, with a cast including Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine and James Corden.