page_title: Into the Woods (film)
section_title: Development at Disney
hierarchical_section_title: Into the Woods (film) / Production / Development at Disney
caption_attribution_description: English: Set of the film, Into the Woods (2014) under construction at Waverley Abbey, Farnham, Surrey. The artificial tower between the abbey's dorter on the left and the refectory on the right is Rapunzel's Tower.
context_page_description: Into the Woods is a 2014 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, and adapted to the screen by James Lapine from his and Stephen Sondheim's 1986 Broadway musical of the same name. A Walt Disney Pictures production, it features an ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen and Johnny Depp. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales of "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella", "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Rapunzel", the film is a fantasy genre centered on a childless couple, who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful witch. Ultimately, the characters are forced to experience the unforeseen consequences of their actions.
  After several unsuccessful attempts by other studios and producers to adapt the musical to film, Disney announced in 2012 that it was producing an adaptation, with Marshall directing and John DeLuca serving as producer. Principal photography commenced in September 2013, and took place entirely in the United Kingdom, including at Shepperton Studios in London.
context_section_description: After the critical and commercial success of Chicago in 2002, director Rob Marshall approached Stephen Sondheim with a proposal to adapt one of his musicals. Although Marshall was initially interested in adapting Follies and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sondheim suggested Into the Woods instead. Marshall concurred, but development of the project was then postponed while he focused on directing Memoirs of a Geisha and Nine. In 2011, Marshall's interest in the project was rekindled when he heard a speech by President Barack Obama on the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks to the families of the 9/11 victims, which seemed to evoke the same message as the musical's most important song, "No One Is Alone". Marshall firmly believed that Into the Woods was “a fairy tale for the post-9/11 generation". In January 2012, Marshall approached Walt Disney Pictures—for whom he had just directed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides—and pitched the idea to the studio, with Lapine writing the script and Sondheim "expected" to write new songs. Academy Award-winner Dion Beebe, who previously collaborated with Marshall on Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Nine, served as cinematographer. Sondheim confirmed that a new song had been written for the film in an April 2013 interview with The Independent.
  With Disney's backing, a three-day reading of the entire updated screenplay took place in New York in October 2012 under Marshall's direction, with Nina Arianda as the Baker's Wife, Victoria Clark as Cinderella's Mother/Granny/Giant, James Corden as the Baker, Donna Murphy as the Witch, Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother, Tammy Blanchard as Florinda, Ivan Hernandez as the Wolf, Megan Hilty as Lucinda, Cheyenne Jackson as Rapunzel's Prince, Allison Janney as Jack's Mother, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Michael McGrath as Steward/Mysterious Man, Laura Osnes as Rapunzel, Taylor Trensch as Jack, Casey Whyland as Little Red Riding Hood, and Patrick Wilson as Cinderella's Prince. It was this reading which ultimately convinced Walt Disney Studios president Sean Bailey to green-light the film despite ongoing concerns about the dark nature of the original musical (which Disney executives had begun to understand since Marshall's original pitch).  However, Disney (which self-finances all its films) provided only a relatively small production budget of $50 million (relative to other feature-length fantasy films on its development slate), in turn forcing both cast and crew to accept pay cuts to work on the film.
  Reports subsequently surfaced in January 2013 that Meryl Streep had been cast to play the Witch. Streep had instituted a personal "no witch" rule after she turned 40 and was offered three witch roles, but ultimately broke her own rule to do a Sondheim role again. She was already familiar with his work, having participated in the original production of Sondheim's The Frogs as a student at Yale University. During the same month, it was reported that Janney had been confirmed to join the film as well. Five months later, however, Tracey Ullman was cast as Jack's Mother instead.
  In April 2013, Johnny Depp was in final negotiations, along with Streep, to join the film. The Hollywood Reporter reported that to help make the film on such a tight budget, Depp agreed as a favor to Disney and to Marshall to a "boarding" arrangement, in which he would appear in a minor role for a fee of $1 million, instead of his typical fee of $20 million for a starring role.  In May, James Corden, who took part in the reading of the screenplay, was in talks to play the role of the Baker. On May 10, 2013, Disney confirmed the casting of Streep, Depp, and Corden as the Witch, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Baker, respectively. That same month, Emily Blunt and Christine Baranski were cast, respectively, as the Baker's Wife and Cinderella's Stepmother. Marshall later confirmed that Blunt was selected for her "warm[th]" and likeability to ensure the emotional impact of the sudden death of the Baker's Wife: "[T]hat's very important for that ch
caption: Rapunzel's tower under construction at Waverley Abbey in Farnham, Surrey.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 75", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:18 17:03:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4600", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:18 17:03:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:18 17:03:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "213/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "303/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3334", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "40960/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2304000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}