When you’re watching a movie, are you the kind to look around at the set design and be transported by its splendour? I am. And I’m especially a sucker for kid’s films … that are actually made for adults. I love letting my imagination roam free to be taken back to my childhood. That’s the point of movies, no? Escapism. For a few hours anyway.
That’s why I’m so taken by Into the Woods, the new Hollywood “musical movie” with an all star cast like Meryl Streep who plays the Witch, Johnny Depp who plays the Big Bad Wolf and Anna Kendrick, who is Cindarella. Yes, it’s a bunch of fairytales all rolled into one brand new production.
The bit that gets me every time are the fabulous costumes and truly spectacular set designs. This particular movie is done exceptionally well by serious Hollywood heavyweights, each an expert in their field.
The costumes were designed by Colleen Atwood, who won Oscars for Alice in Wonderland, Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha (talk about a great CV) and spent a lot of time meticulously creating the right costumes for each character. For Meryl Streep’s Witch for example, tiny pieces of leather were stitched onto chiffon, and then combined with leather that looked like cracked bark. Those pieces were then mounted onto net to help simplify movement for her character.
“When you work with an actress like Meryl, you collaborate on what she is actually going to be doing in the costume,” Atwood explains. “The movement is part of her character, and early on she knew that as the Witch she was going to be crouched down and have a stance that was almost like a spider.”
Johnny Depp, naturally, had some kind of idea of what the Big Bad Wolf should look like. “When I was first approached about the role, I just had this burning sort of vision in my head of the Wolf, and all I could think of was the wolf in the zoot suit in the Tex Avery cartoons: a hip, big, bad wolf with a fedora and a zoot suit and a cat chain, and the second I mentioned my idea to Colleen she got very excited. And from there she went to work, and she did it up exactly right. She was right on the money…and as usual, she totally nailed it,” Depp said.
James Corden and Emily Blunt on the set of Into The Woods.
While Christine Baranski, who plays Cindarella’s evil Stepmother, said, “When I first spoke to Colleen, we both had the same take on ‘the stepfamily.’ We felt that if they were a modern family, they would have their own reality TV show. They’re over the top, they’ve got money, and they are very narcissistic and obsessed with their hair, makeup and fashion.”
As a result, Baranski has some of the most flamboyant costumes in the film.
It takes a lot of small things, done superbly, to create one piece of creative brilliance, and Into the Woods is a shining example of this. The attention to detail extends through to hair and makeup with Peter Swords King, who won an Oscar for his work on Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, being the creative in charge of hair and makeup design. He came to the film directly from the set of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug! “I’d been doing dirt and grunge for several years, so it was nice to be able to do loads of beauty makeup and stuff,” he says. Director Rob Marshall had his heart set on 20 foot long hair for Rapunzel, and, 3kgs of imported blonde tresses from Germany later, they decided on one, long braid, that was woven into actress, Mackenzie Mauzie’s real hair.
Mauzy spent the entire production, as well as several weeks of pre-production, wearing the braid, as she wanted to be sure it looked as if she’d had it her entire life. “It felt very odd at first, but when it was cut off I realized I had become strangely attached to it,” she says. “It wasn’t a wig, it was like a giant extension that they braided into my real hair, and it looked very real.”
But, like Atwood the costume designer, Swords King had the most fun with the Cinderella’s stepmother and her stepsisters, creating elaborate looks from the 18th century. “For the Stepmother, Christine Baranski’s hair was piled on top of her head in an 18th century style with modern-fringe bangs that swept across her forehead, almost into her eyes,” says Swords King. “It was the perfect look for her.”
For Lucinda, the evil stepsister played by Lucy Punch, her hair was curled and then piled up on top of her head and accentuated with feathers. Her makeup was dark and more modern. “We went very ‘60s with Lucy’s look,” he says. “She had big eyelashes but very minimal eye makeup – hardly any shading so she looked very monochrome – and we kept her lips very natural looking.”
Getting the characters ready and perfectly looking the part, was complimented by the set design and stunning locations. First of all, they needed the perfect woods, because all the characters go … Into the Woods. After much hunting, they found them in Windsor Great Park, England, and made use of the thousands of acres of forest with oak trees over 800 years old dotted throughout.
“Each character goes into the Woods through a natural archway, which Rob called the rabbit hole, and once they go through it, everything is different. It is magical, scary, exciting, unique and organic, and it has its own life,” said production designer Dennis Gasner who won an Oscar for his work on Bugsy.
According to producer John DeLuca, “One of our major concerns from day one was how to shoot the film to make our locations in the woods seamlessly blend with our constructed sets. We needed to make the two worlds gel so the audience was never aware, and we had daily conversations about the best way to keep those two worlds as one.”
While Rob Marshall, the director says, “It was also decided early on that we would avoid the use of green screens as much as possible, because I believe it’s harder for actors to imagine themselves in such a specific world when you can’t truly visualize where you are. So the majority of our sets were practical sets.”
“Dennis did an extraordinary job on the sets through the use of real shrubbery and real flowers, which he added to help illuminate the trees and make them look truly enchanted,” adds Emily Blunt, who plays the Baker’s Wife.
With the stellar cast, incredible set design and elaborate costumes, Into the Woods is a film that will please all your senses. You know how there are films to be seen at the cinema and films that can wait til you’re at home on your couch to see? This is one to watch at the movies. Get the extra large popcorn and settle in for a treat.
WIN a Disney Into The Woods prize pack!
The Carousel, together with Into The Woods, are running a fantastic competition, where you can WIN a Disney Into The Woods prize pack!
Simply upload a photo of yourself on Instagram using the #DisneyIntoTheWoods hashtag, showing an outfit inspired by your favourite Into the Woods fairy tale and tag @carouselworld. You could be wearing your fave red coat, a la Little Red Riding Hood, a fantastic pair of Cinderella-esque shoes, wearing a Rapunzel style ‘do, wearing your cool dungarees Jack style, or chillin’ with your dashing Prince. Let your imagination go wild!
