Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Into the Woods" (2014)

Scene from Into the Woods (2014)

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Into the Woods (2014)

Directed By: Rob Marshall

Written By: James Lapine

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Running Time: 125 minutes

Summary: A witch tasks a childless baker and his wife with procuring magical items from classic fairy tales to reverse the curse put on their family tree.

The Movie

The time has come once again for the last shot at Oscar glory. Christmas Day has long marked the day when the biggest movies of the year are released, hoping to draw audiences in. That explains why Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently dominating the box office while another scrappy little film competes for attention. The musical Cats may have been met with abysmal reviews, but it holds up a longstanding tradition that movie musicals serve as an alternative option for families. Recent years have seen a rise in films dominating the winter season such as La La Land, The Greatest Showman, and last year's Mary Poppins Returns. While it hasn't quite revived the movie musical as much as some would hope, it has lead to popular adaptations.

Similar to Cats is Into the Woods. Both are beloved shows from theater giants (in this case Stephen Sondheim) who have previously won Oscars in Best Original Song (both, ironically, sung by Madonna) and whose adaptations featured James Corden and were made by Oscar-winning filmmakers who have won Best Picture and have at least two movie musicals to their filmography. Yes, it may seem like a stickler for being that specific, but it helps explain what it takes to get a musical adapted in this day and age. For Into the Woods, it took decades of effort to make it to the screen, featuring a star-studded cast and a toned-down take that would be more family-friendly. After all, this was going to be released by Disney. They couldn't release the original version, which featured more violence and sexuality that would be problematic for a tentpole release from the studio.

There were a lot of expectations for Into the Woods to succeed, especially in the wake of the recent success of Sondheim's other film Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The show was successful on Broadway, even earning Tony nominations for Best Musical during its original 1987 release. With director Rob Marshall getting consent and help from Sondheim and writer James Lapine, the film was already off to a good start. The only issues would involve what fans thought of it and if it could continue the recent trend of movie musicals dominating at the box office. If it could achieve that, then there was a good chance that it would make it through an Oscar season. Only time would tell if the third time was the charm for Marshall, or if it was going to not be worth the hassle.

- The Campaign -

To chronicle the road to Into the Woods in 2014 would require an extensive look at development setbacks. Following the musical's stage success in 1987, it would slowly become a film often considered for adaptations. There were many different set-ups that were discussed, but none came to pass. Following Rob Marshall's box office success on the Oscar-winning film Chicago (itself a film responsible for reviving the movie musical genre), he approached Sondheim. The composer had an interest in adapting one of his shows to the big screen, notably Into the Woods. It didn't come to pass and would continue to come back to Marshall for the next decade. The next time that he would try, he had scheduling conflicts due to shooting Memoirs of a Geisha and Nine. In that time, the 2007 adaptation of Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street would raise interest in Sondheim again and earn Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination. Marshall, who directed Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, would work with him again on Into the Woods.

With the rights owned by Disney, there was a need to make the adaptation a lot friendlier. While this would be read as controversial, the involvement of Sondheim and Lapine (who originated the show) meant that whatever changes would be made would still be faithful. There were even new songs written for different adaptations, though none were used in Marshall's version. There was a "junior" version of Into the Woods that could be performed by students, but it was a show lasting under an hour. How do you update the show to fit a cinematic-length adaptation? It involved taking out songs, changing lyrics, toning down violence and sexuality, and making it overall less scary. When discussing his decisions for the edits, Sondheim publicly stated that:

"An article in The New Yorker misreporting my 'Master Class' conversation about censorship in our schools with seventeen teachers from the Academy for Teachers a couple of weeks ago has created some false impressions about my collaboration with the Disney Studio on the film version of Into the Woods. The fact is that James (Lapine, who wrote both the show and the movie) and I worked out every change from stage to screen with the producers and with Rob Marshall, the director. Despite what The New Yorker article may convey, the collaboration was genuinely collaborative and always productive.

When the conversation with the teachers occurred, I had not yet seen a full rough cut of the movie. Coincidentally, I saw it immediately after leaving the meeting and, having now seen it a couple of times, I can happily report that it is not only a faithful adaptation of the show, it is a first-rate movie. "

The initial marketing for the film was a bit disconcerting. Much like what they had done with Frozen the year prior, Disney chose to not emphasize the music in the film. They released production stills and behind the scenes videos to help raise interest. While it left many skeptical, the film was eventually given a trailer featuring music from the film. In some respects, the film seemed like the perfect fit for Disney given their love of fairytale stories. Even then, Into the Woods was a dark version of the story and not like their other Disney Princesses. Even if it featured the likes of Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, there was little to connect the two. Still, the studio that made the glorified fan fiction series Once Upon a Time was doing a smart job keeping up with their image.

The reports from the set were generally positive. The set design, notably the woods sequences, were so elaborate that both Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine claimed to have gotten lost in it at different points in the shooting. Much like Sweeney Todd, Depp and the cast sang live on set but then re-recorded in a studio. Kendrick notes that she was constantly being handed rewrites to make the songs fit better within the story. She also remembered a comment from years prior where she joked that she never wanted to sing in a movie again because it was "f--king hard." It was a joke but made her return a little bit more triumphant in the film, especially since she thought that she was trying out for Little Red Riding Hood (the part went to Lilla Crawford). Meanwhile, Emily Blunt was pregnant despite playing an infertile character. Meryl Streep would claim that since turning 40 she has gotten multiple roles to play witches. In one of the stranger stories, it was reported by co-star James Corden that Streep had gotten her foot stuck while standing on a table and was falling backward. He worried that she was about to die, but Blunt came in and saved the day. This also marks Streep's first movie for Disney.

It was eventually announced that the Oscar campaign would include Blunt vying for Best Actress while Kendrick and Streep would be in Best Supporting Actress. The film also focused on Best Picture and Best Set Design. It looked to be going well at first, especially at the Golden Globes where it earned three nominations, including for Best Comedy or Musical and Best Actress for Blunt. It lead many to believe that Blunt (who was often considered overlooked in other major roles) would finally get a nomination and potential win. 

The film was for all intents and purposes a success. Among its achievements was earning the fourth-highest debut for a Christmas Day release ever. It was also the sixth-highest grossing for a Christmas Day release ever. The film would go on to earn $213.1 million internationally, making it a success on a $50 million budget. All things considered, it did better than the other winter season musical Annie, which earned $133 million and received less favorable reviews. AFI would list the film as one of the Top 11 movies of 2014 and reviews remained generally positive, as critics like Leonard Maltin called it one of the best films of the year. All that had to be done from here was show up on Oscar Sunday and win some awards. But would it be enough for Marshall? After all, this was his third movie musical following Chicago and Nine, and there was a certain love built in for him that could play in his favor. All they had to do was wait and find out.

- The Payoff -

The good news is that the campaign paid off a little bit. The film earned three Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Streep), Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design. For a film that was all about spectacle, it makes sense that this was how things ended. While many were disappointed that it didn't get more, it was a crowded year full of diverse films competing for the top prizes. Among the distinctions that Into the Woods would face includes featuring the first Oscar-nominated performance of a character playing a witch. It was also in keeping with other musicals of the time such as Frozen, which would receive acclaim and still miss the Best Picture category. Considering that 2014 was the year of the largest independent drama variety, Into the Woods would've seemed like such a weird fit in that group. Still, it would've made things more interesting.

As of 2019, it is the last official Sondheim adaptation that has hit the big screen. That isn't to say that there haven't been attempts and homages. Lady Bird famously featured characters performing Merrily We Roll Along (among many other Sondheim references). Potential contender Marriage Story features multiple performances from Sondheim's Company, and Joker featured "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music. As for upcoming productions, there are talks that director Richard Linklater (with help from Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein) will be filming a proper version of Merrily We Roll Along over the course of two decades. Still, the one-two punch of Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods seemed to promise more for the composer. There's still time to suggest otherwise.

Still, it's interesting to compare the successful movie musicals of the early 2010s to the latter half. Marshall would return with Mary Poppins Returns with just as much success. La La Land would almost win Best Picture in one of the ceremony's more controversial moments. Still, the glory days of the movie musical revival feel like they're still on the horizon. Cats doesn't seem likely to spark encouragement except for the crowd who love the weird awfulness. Still, next year promises to have In the Heights and West Side Story, and there's plenty more where that came from. Will Marshall be part of that conversation? It does feel like that's an obvious yes, though no big projects have been announced.

For now, Into the Woods remains an adaptation that proved that working with the creators could produce successful results. While the cultural resonance in the five years since its release haven't been too high, it did pave the way for James Corden to be more involved with the theater world (he has hosted the Tony Awards several times and currently appears in Cats) and Kendrick has taken on more musical-based projects like two Pitch Perfect sequels and a film adaptation of The Last Five Years. The musicals are alive and well, even if they seem to be coming from interesting places outside of Disney's hands. Only time will tell how things go, but for now, there's an excellent adaptation of Sondheim's oddest show. It wasn't made for kids, and yet this version toes the line nicely with a few edits. Is it perfect? No. However, it's a perfectly fine version.