LONDON – My dad took me to see “Into the Woods” during its original run in 1988.
It was my first Broadway show and Stephen Sondheim's twisted take on classic fairy tales has been amongst my favorite musicals ever since. It's full of beautiful, complicated music and I notice new lyrical nuances every time I listened to the soundtrack.
So I wasn't just blowing smoke when I told Emily Blunt that I'm looking forward to Rob Marshall's big screen adaptation, which will premiere this Christmas.
I was talking with Blunt at a London hotel last week about her upcoming action film “Edge of Tomorrow” — I agree with my colleague Drew McWeeny's enthusiastic review — and I made sure to slip in an “Into the Woods” query at the end.
“I think we have been very, very loyal to the original musical,” Blunt told me. She's playing The Baker's Wife, a role which won Joanna Gleason a Tony and Imelda Staunton an Olivier for the New York and London premieres.
In the snippet above, Blunt talks about Marshall's dark vision for The Woods and the musical chops for a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine and James Corden.
It's clear that she's excited about the movie and I love the little grace note at the end with Blunt geeking out about her interactions with Sondheim.
Stay tuned next week for my full “Edge of Tomorrow” interview, in which Blunt talks about doing action in a weighty suit, killing Tom Cruise (not a spoiler) and her interest in sci-fi-tinged films about fate.
“Edge of Tomorrow” opens on June 6.