Yesterday a sort of "making of" featurette was released for Into the Woods.
The film continues to slay at the box office. In its second weekend it grossed another $19 million for second place, and currently stands at about $92 million domestically.
BAFTA nods come out on Friday and I'm not optimistic for Meryl, although Emily Blunt may have a good shot at a lead nom. If either of them happens to pick up a Golden Globe Award this weekend, it could obviously boost the box office draw.
...a candid blog devoted to the incomparable American actress, Meryl Streep.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
Looking ahead for 2015
Happy New Year! Another great year for Word on the Streep. I would like to thank any and all readers/commenters for your viewership. It makes maintaining this blog worth it when I know my posts are actually read on occasion. I truly appreciate all your insights and enthusiasm!
This should be a pretty busy year for Ms Meryl. Into the Woods is currently slaying at the box office. The Golden Globe Awards are next weekend, Oscar nominations come out four days later, then SAGs at the end of January. I'm still hoping beyond hope that by some miracle Master Class still gets made, as it was set to begin filming this month. Florence Foster Jenkins is scheduled for filming in May (still think it's a possibility for a 2015 release).
Over the past week, several sources have been now listing an updated release date for Ricki and the Flash,which has apparently been pushed back from June 26 to August 7. The August date is similar to both Julie & Julia and Hope Springs. Considering Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo and an article in The Atlantic now list the new date, I've gone ahead and changed it on the countdown.
You can see I've also added a countdown for Suffragette, as there's finally a believable release date for the film of September 11 in the U.K. No word yet on its U.S. date, but as it's a British film, I don't imagine it will be before the 11th.
Finally, with the recent news from FilmNation, we may see Meryl re-teaming with Bob De Niro in the fall to film The Good House. It's likely Meryl will take some time off after this year, but hopefully it's not more than a year between projects. I prefer when she has at least one picture released every calendar year.
Cheers to Meryl, the new year and to all contributors on this site!
This should be a pretty busy year for Ms Meryl. Into the Woods is currently slaying at the box office. The Golden Globe Awards are next weekend, Oscar nominations come out four days later, then SAGs at the end of January. I'm still hoping beyond hope that by some miracle Master Class still gets made, as it was set to begin filming this month. Florence Foster Jenkins is scheduled for filming in May (still think it's a possibility for a 2015 release).
Over the past week, several sources have been now listing an updated release date for Ricki and the Flash,which has apparently been pushed back from June 26 to August 7. The August date is similar to both Julie & Julia and Hope Springs. Considering Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo and an article in The Atlantic now list the new date, I've gone ahead and changed it on the countdown.
You can see I've also added a countdown for Suffragette, as there's finally a believable release date for the film of September 11 in the U.K. No word yet on its U.S. date, but as it's a British film, I don't imagine it will be before the 11th.
Finally, with the recent news from FilmNation, we may see Meryl re-teaming with Bob De Niro in the fall to film The Good House. It's likely Meryl will take some time off after this year, but hopefully it's not more than a year between projects. I prefer when she has at least one picture released every calendar year.
Cheers to Meryl, the new year and to all contributors on this site!
Monday, December 29, 2014
Big opening weekend for "Into the Woods"
According to the Los Angeles Times, Into the Woods just outpaced Unbroken for second place at the weekend box office. Woods took in $46.14 million since its opening Christmas day, just ahead of Unbroken at $46.05 million (despite the former showing in nearly 700 fewer theaters). Early estimates suggested that Into the Woods would fall slightly short of Unbroken, but it obviously turned out being the other way around. The final installment of The Hobbit led both films to bring its two week-gross to an impressive $168 million.
Keep it rollin'!
Keep it rollin'!
Friday, December 26, 2014
Film review: "Into the Woods" (2014)
At long last, Into the Woods opened nationwide yesterday and I was fortunate to catch a 9:15 showing last night. Joe has had the original Broadway recording committed to memory for fifteen years, and he was nervous going in, hoping not to be disappointed by this adaptation. I wasn't too anxious, as I knew it was getting positive reviews and figured it couldn't be terrible. Regardless, I was happy when Joe, our friend Scooter and I finally arrived at our seats in the packed theater.
I've been posting so much about this film in the past year that I'm not going to go crazy describing the intricate plot. For the most part, it remained very faithful to the original stage production, with necessary omissions to keep the film's running time around two hours. The story is narrated by The Baker, and follows the actions of famous fairy tale characters in their intertwined quest to fulfill their "wishes." But unlike most fairy tales, after these characters ultimately get what they want, it's not necessarily 'happily ever after'.
Meryl of course plays the Witch, who places a curse on the Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt), as retribution for the Baker's father having stolen from the Witch's garden many years earlier. The Witch's mother curses the Witch in turn for having lost the most prized item in the garden, magic beans, and transforms her from a beautiful woman into an old hag. If the Witch can make a potion out of four items: 1) a white cow, 2) a golden slipper, 3) yellow hair and 4) a red cape, she will regain her beauty and reverse the curse on the Baker and his wife, allowing for the couple to conceive a child. I've already posted this video before, but I feel it's the best scene of Meryl from the film, so take another look. Her song begins at 0:59.
So, after a lot of fun chasing their items and dreams, life appears good in the "kingdom," until a giant threatens everyone's safety. The setting becomes more dark and somber as sacrifices are made, lives are lost and lessons are learned. I've rationalized that my laziness in describing the plot works as a good incentive to check out the film for yourself! Although if you've bothered to look at this site you're probably already planning on it.
Of course Meryl is fantastic in her role. Great combination of interweaving her acting choices with the tricky music that the wonderful Stephen Sondheim has provided. I had already seen "Stay with Me" a number of times, but I was particularly pleased with her rendition of "Last Midnight," as it sort of helped sum up the crux of this arduous adventure each character had endured.
Emily Blunt was a treat, as was Anna Kendrick as Cinderella. Both of their big solo numbers were high points for me. As expected the audience favorite was Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen's duet "Agony," playfully performed in and around a river. That Billy can really fill out a pair of leather pants nicely.
I mentioned to Scooter that if I weren't familiar with the story that the first half may have been a bit difficult to decipher, as Sondheim's lyrics are very detailed and fast-paced at times. But I thought some of the choices Rob Marshall made in the film helped make things a bit more clear, particularly the back story of the Witch and Baker's father, which was a bit fuzzy to me when originally seeing the stage production on Netflix.
As Meryl has said, Into the Woods is "a musical with a brain." It provides a good opportunity for us viewers to reflect on our own motivations, how we choose our own morality, and what we're willing to compromise to get what we want. Having only seen the film once and about 13 hours ago, there's likely a lot of processing to still do, and of course I'll see it again. Maybe I'd have different things to say when I do, but until then, just go see it!
At the time of this post, Into the Woods came in second behind Unbroken in the Christmas Day box office with an estimated $15 million (Unbroken around $15.6M). Considering Woods was shown on nearly 700 fewer screens, I'd say that's a damn good start to a long opening weekend.
I've been posting so much about this film in the past year that I'm not going to go crazy describing the intricate plot. For the most part, it remained very faithful to the original stage production, with necessary omissions to keep the film's running time around two hours. The story is narrated by The Baker, and follows the actions of famous fairy tale characters in their intertwined quest to fulfill their "wishes." But unlike most fairy tales, after these characters ultimately get what they want, it's not necessarily 'happily ever after'.
Meryl of course plays the Witch, who places a curse on the Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt), as retribution for the Baker's father having stolen from the Witch's garden many years earlier. The Witch's mother curses the Witch in turn for having lost the most prized item in the garden, magic beans, and transforms her from a beautiful woman into an old hag. If the Witch can make a potion out of four items: 1) a white cow, 2) a golden slipper, 3) yellow hair and 4) a red cape, she will regain her beauty and reverse the curse on the Baker and his wife, allowing for the couple to conceive a child. I've already posted this video before, but I feel it's the best scene of Meryl from the film, so take another look. Her song begins at 0:59.
So, after a lot of fun chasing their items and dreams, life appears good in the "kingdom," until a giant threatens everyone's safety. The setting becomes more dark and somber as sacrifices are made, lives are lost and lessons are learned. I've rationalized that my laziness in describing the plot works as a good incentive to check out the film for yourself! Although if you've bothered to look at this site you're probably already planning on it.
Of course Meryl is fantastic in her role. Great combination of interweaving her acting choices with the tricky music that the wonderful Stephen Sondheim has provided. I had already seen "Stay with Me" a number of times, but I was particularly pleased with her rendition of "Last Midnight," as it sort of helped sum up the crux of this arduous adventure each character had endured.
Emily Blunt was a treat, as was Anna Kendrick as Cinderella. Both of their big solo numbers were high points for me. As expected the audience favorite was Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen's duet "Agony," playfully performed in and around a river. That Billy can really fill out a pair of leather pants nicely.
I mentioned to Scooter that if I weren't familiar with the story that the first half may have been a bit difficult to decipher, as Sondheim's lyrics are very detailed and fast-paced at times. But I thought some of the choices Rob Marshall made in the film helped make things a bit more clear, particularly the back story of the Witch and Baker's father, which was a bit fuzzy to me when originally seeing the stage production on Netflix.
As Meryl has said, Into the Woods is "a musical with a brain." It provides a good opportunity for us viewers to reflect on our own motivations, how we choose our own morality, and what we're willing to compromise to get what we want. Having only seen the film once and about 13 hours ago, there's likely a lot of processing to still do, and of course I'll see it again. Maybe I'd have different things to say when I do, but until then, just go see it!
At the time of this post, Into the Woods came in second behind Unbroken in the Christmas Day box office with an estimated $15 million (Unbroken around $15.6M). Considering Woods was shown on nearly 700 fewer screens, I'd say that's a damn good start to a long opening weekend.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
New clips from "Into the Woods"
In an interview with cast members Billy Magnussen (Rapunzel's Prince) and Mackenzie Mauzy (Rapunzel), we get to see a couple of brief, albeit new, clips from Into the Woods. I don't think we've seen this scene yet of Meryl as the transformed Witch trying to prevent her daughter from running off with the prince.
In theaters nationwide in two days!
In theaters nationwide in two days!
Monday, December 22, 2014
Meryl on the Ellen show
Joined by Emily Blunt and Anna Kendrick, Meryl was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show this morning promoting Into the Woods. I'm going on Christmas!
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Pre-Christmas weekend topic potpourri
Several things to discuss in this post. Most notable is that Into the Woods is getting the review treatment since Disney's embargo was lifted two days ago. As I type this, it sits at a very respectable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes with 28 reviews counted, and 69% on Metacritic, with just nine reviews reported. If this film ends up above 70%, I can't imagine the filmmakers being displeased with that. Nothing to suggest these opinions will deter viewers from showing up on Christmas Day.
Yesterday a new still was revealed from the filming of Ricki and the Flash.
Rockin' it out with costar Rick Springfield. I'm pretty sure they've wrapped production, and the film is set to be released June 26th next year.
Finally, it's no secret I'm typically obsessed with the prospect of Meryl's upcoming/rumored projects. I speculated after the untimely death of director Mike Nichols last month on whether or not the HBO project Master Class, which he and Meryl were planning on doing together, was going to move forward. As shooting was set to begin in January, I have to imagine that several aspects of the project were already in place. I still think it's very possible that the entire thing is scrapped, or at least postponed and not to include Meryl.
But I've also noted in a previous post that there is a precedent in this situation, as director Sydney Pollack dropped out right before beginning Recount in 2007 due to illness. If someone does ultimately step in for Nichols, it would likely be seen as more tactful to not announce his replacement until after the new year. Part of me thinks that it may still be happening, mostly because, and some people may think this is nuts, but Meryl seems to have lost an appreciable amount of weight in the last two months. Take a look at this pic of a super svelte Streep with director Rob Marshall earlier this week at an Into the Woods holiday event:
Meryl never appears overweight, but I've also never seen her quite this slight except for when preparing for a role, most recently when she filmed The Devil Wears Prada nine years ago. I don't think she got this thin for Ricki and the Flash, so is she maybe readying herself to portray the famously trim Maria Callas?
If so, I'm onto you, Meryl.
Yesterday a new still was revealed from the filming of Ricki and the Flash.
Rockin' it out with costar Rick Springfield. I'm pretty sure they've wrapped production, and the film is set to be released June 26th next year.
Finally, it's no secret I'm typically obsessed with the prospect of Meryl's upcoming/rumored projects. I speculated after the untimely death of director Mike Nichols last month on whether or not the HBO project Master Class, which he and Meryl were planning on doing together, was going to move forward. As shooting was set to begin in January, I have to imagine that several aspects of the project were already in place. I still think it's very possible that the entire thing is scrapped, or at least postponed and not to include Meryl.
But I've also noted in a previous post that there is a precedent in this situation, as director Sydney Pollack dropped out right before beginning Recount in 2007 due to illness. If someone does ultimately step in for Nichols, it would likely be seen as more tactful to not announce his replacement until after the new year. Part of me thinks that it may still be happening, mostly because, and some people may think this is nuts, but Meryl seems to have lost an appreciable amount of weight in the last two months. Take a look at this pic of a super svelte Streep with director Rob Marshall earlier this week at an Into the Woods holiday event:
Meryl never appears overweight, but I've also never seen her quite this slight except for when preparing for a role, most recently when she filmed The Devil Wears Prada nine years ago. I don't think she got this thin for Ricki and the Flash, so is she maybe readying herself to portray the famously trim Maria Callas?
If so, I'm onto you, Meryl.
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