'The Singing Bones' World Premiere in Los Angeles Tomorrow! (Dec 8, 2016)

Have you read the short story "Bones" by Francesca Lia Block from "The Rose and the Beast - Fairy Tales Retold"?

It's a Bluebeard story... with a difference. (Anyone familiar with Block's writing will know exactly what I mean.)

Award winning indie fairy tale film film director, Danishka Esterhazy, has been working with Block on a project to bring her story to life. Now, thanks to some wonderful support via crowd funding and an amazing collection of film talent, behind the camera and in front, Esterhazy is presenting the World Premiere of the short film Thursday, December 8th, 2016, tomorrow night as of this writing and TONIGHT for many readers seeing this post for the first time.

We are happy to announce our WORLD PREMIERE at the Culver City Film Festival in Los Angeles. Thursday December 8th at 1pm. Tickets are available HERE. (FTNH: $10-$50)

Production still from The Singing Bones - Red Czarina

Block posted a brief, but illuminating announcement when the first image from the film was released. We're including most of it here, as it will give you insights into the story, the film, why this is one to keep an eye out for, and, if you're in LA, worth giving up your Thursday night to go check it out, if it's at all possible.

I wrote the story "Bones" as part of my collection of fairy tale retellings, The Rose And The Beast.  It is an emotional story for me  because the nameless main character represents the sense of loss, isolation, and loneliness, and the self-destructive tendencies, of my late teens and early twenties.   When Danishka Esterhazy shot her adaptation The Singing Bones in Oakland this last weekend, I was transported forward into the world of her fairy tale and backward into my past.  As I sat behind Katie Polley, while Michael Klinger seduced her with blue cake, blue drinks and his blue gaze, tears filled my eyes. Katie's stunning, fine-tuned acting skills and the fascinating way I was situated made me feel I was reliving my painful past through her, facing my seductive self-destruction embodied by a gorgeous, charming and intelligent young actor playing a Bluebeard-like character. 

The cathartic aspect of theater is something I've never been so fully aware of. 

This is one reason I want to work in film. Perhaps nothing is more powerful.

(Doesn't that make you want to go to the theater or get involved in creating and supporting a film of a story you love as well? Us too. If you're serious about film, we know some worthy indie filmmakers, Esterhazy and her company Red Czarina included, who could use your help.)

Award winning, indie filmmaker, Danishka Esterhazy

Block also interviewed Esterhazy about her love of fairy tales and aspects of creating this new film. From Block's blog:

FLB: We share an interest in dark retellings of classic fairy tales. What do these tales mean to you? You’ve based work on Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and The Snow Queen (as well as Bluebeard in The Singing Bones). What do these specific tales represent for you? What other tales are important in your  life? Who introduced you to these stories? 

DE: My mother read fairy tales to me and encouraged me to be an avid reader. So I have her to thank. She has always liked ghost stories, too, so I grew up hearing a lot of fabulous scary tales. But what I love about retelling fables is the power of layered meaning that becomes possible when a story is ancient and well-known. The audience is already familiar with the characters, with the plot, so you have a shorthand for communicating ideas. You can draw attention to important themes in a powerful way. And I love to take a story where the moral is all about a woman's need to conform - to turn that upside down - and make it about empowerment.

You can read the whole interview HERE.

If you are one of the lucky ones to attend the premiere, let us know! We'd love to hear about it and what you thought. (We are predicting all good things!)

Update on 'Wicked' the Movie

Wicked is most definitely on it's way to the big screen. After so very long, (and not a few fan petitions), a movie version of Wicked is finally happening and building momentum. Although we expected to hear more on the casting front at this point in time, it's clear there has still been steady work on this since the official announcement in July this year, so we should expect to hear some more interesting news from this neck of the production woods very soon...

Here's what we know so far:

• The movie is being handled by Universal and Stephen Daldry is directing. (Daldry is currently well into season two on the much anticipated Netflix series The Crown, though the first season has yet to air).
• Wicked (the movie) has been officially scheduled for release on December 20, 2019.
• That's the same release date as a yet-to-be-revealed Disney live action fairy tale movie.
• Marc Platt is producing (he's also producing the Broadway version of the show, as well as a number of Disney movies, including the just announced live action remake of Snow White).
• Winnie Holzman, who wrote the original adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel for Broadway, is handling the screenplay, and will also be working with the musical's original composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
• There will be four new songs in the movie, in addition to the Broadway favorites, such as Defying Gravity.
• No casting has yet been announced or hinted at.

From the Newsweek exclusive, this past weekend:

Daldry says he is scheduled to film the movie in 2018 but there has been no talk as yet about who will play the film’s leads, the unlikely friends Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba. “We haven’t done casting yet... but it’ll be great,” the director promises.

What do you think? Are you excited for Wicked the movie? Or will you wait to see the casting before deciding?

This Adaptation of Paul Gallico's "The Snow Goose" Is Magical & Haunting

Today we're sharing magic from the past, made accessible again via the wonder that is the internet.

We will admit, straight away, that given something to watch or listen to that's longer than a couple of minutes feels like a chore and "yet another thing to fit in" to our already busy days, but we urge you to at least try. Even just 3 minutes of this presentation will give you an idea of the magic of this production, even though it is barely the introduction to the story.
           
This incredible storytelling adaptation of the novella The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk, by Paul Gallico, and was written by Spike Milligan and Ed Welch. It seems impossible to explain just how haunting and wondrous it is. Everyone we know introduced to it has marveled at how "fairy tale like" it is, yet it isn't, strictly, a fairy tale, though there is, most definitely, magic in this story, as well as the presentation.
                   
Spike Milligan is known largely for his humorous writing, both for children and adults, but this narrative adaptation he wrote for recording is sensitive, transporting and haunting, as is his storytelling.
                   
The music is, for the most part, a perfect match. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ed Welch, the music sets the scene, the atmosphere and contains some of the most beautiful music you are likely to hear.
                             
In short, it's a masterpiece of wonder-storytelling that combines the arts of narrative and music while accessing the individual's imaginative sense in the most immersive way. More than that, it stands up to the test of time. You'd never believe this was released in 1976. It feels timeless and classic.
         
We hope that, being the weekend, you will have the opportunity to make the time to listen, in a quiet place, with no distractions, where you can be transported and be able to smile, cry and look to the skies for a glimpse of the sky princess.

The illustrations in this post are by Angela Barrett, who is well known for her fairy tale work, particularly Beauty and the Beast and Snow White.

Enjoy.

 

Hulu Adapting Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Anna and Elena Balbusso for the Folio Society

If you're familiar with Margaret Atwood, you're also familiar with her use of fairy tales in her work. The Handmaid's Tale, while more obviously referencing Red Riding Hood in key phrases in the book, the often used motif of the isolated woman, or Rapunzel syndrome, is also part of the it too. There are other subtle fairy tale references throughout, such as to Cinderella, The Red Shoes and The Girl Without Hands, a constant, underlying presence in Atwood's work. There are nursery rhyme references too, (eg. The Spider and the Fly), all of which blend together, seemingly naturally, in Atwood's hands.

Now that Hulu is working on a 10 episode series, we're curious to see if any of those references and allusions are included. With Atwood as consulting producer and reportedly very happy with how the script and production are developing, we are optimistic there will be:

"I am thrilled that MGM and Hulu are developing The Handmaid's Tale as a series, and extra thrilled that the very talented Elisabeth Moss will be playing the central character.  The Handmaid's Tale is more relevant now than when it was written, and I am sure the series will be watched with great interest.  I have read the first two scripts and they are excellent; I can hardly wait to see the finished episodes,” said Atwood. (source)

Here's Hulu's press description of the production from a few months ago:

Adapted from Margaret Atwood’s influential and acclaimed novel, THE HANDMAID’S TALE is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted religious fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead — all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.

Golden Globe winner, Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) will play the lead and title role of Offred, the 'handmaid', and in August, Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) was confirmed to play the role of Commander Fred Waterford.

Fiennes will play Commander Fred Waterford, a founding father of the totalitarian society of Gilead. A powerful, high-ranking official, Commander Waterford rules the household where Offred (Moss) is a handmaid. This marks a returned to scripted television following his role in the second season of “American Horror Story” in 2013. 

... Reed Morano will direct and executive produce the first three episodes. The cast also includes “Orange Is the New Black” alumna Samira Wiley; “The Leftovers” star Ann Dowd; “The Mindy Project’s” Max Minghella and “Hemlock Grove’s” Madeline Brewer. 

The series is scheduled to begin production in Toronto this fall for a 10-episode order, slated to premiere in 2017. (source)

While on the subject of Atwood, we wanted to highlight this book which sounds intriguing as it combines all creative aspects of Atwood's expressions - from art to writing. We haven't yet had the chance to read it, and it has mixed reviews, are curious all the same. The title is Margaret Atwood's Fairy Tale Sexual Politics by Sharon Rose Wilson.

Here's the description:

An intriguing investigation of fairy-tale images in Margaret Atwood's haunting fiction, poetry, and artwork 

Sharon Rose Wilson's analysis of Margaret Atwood's sexual politics through a study of fairy-tale patterns offers a new reading of Atwood and a fresh appreciation of the traditional fairy tale's ability to illuminate modern literature. 

Not only is this the first study to explore systematically Atwood's fiction and poetry through fairy-tale images, but also it occasions the first time Atwood has allowed examples of her artwork to be published in a book. 

In relating Atwood's fragile, mysterious paintings, collages, linocuts, drawings, and cartoons to her writing, this study shows how such fairy-tale images-along with myths, the Bible, history, film, art, and popular literature-reveal archetypes in her work. The engaging writing and the eerie visual art of Margaret Atwood braid together fairy-tale themes from Grimm and Andersen with the feminist concerns for which this internationally acclaimed Canadian author is well known.  

In The Handmaid's Tale, for example, she presents her version of Little Red Riding Hood facing patriarchy's wolf. In almost all her novels she explores the "Rapunzel Syndrome," in which women experience internalized isolation. In joining Atwood's literature and her artwork, Wilson challenges feminist assumptions that fairy tales limit gender roles. To the contrary, fairy-tale motifs in Atwood's works are a liberating force. Indeed, Wilson discloses how the genius of this fascinating writer perceives the fairy tale to be a means of transforming the constricting images that tradition has placed upon sexual identity. 

Sharon Rose Wilson is a professor of English and women's studies at the University of Northern Colorado.

You can get a really good preview via Google Books HERE and the book is available for purchase HERE and HERE.

D23 News: Live Action "The Jungle Book" Update

Reporting belatedly, I'm afraid, but it can't be helped at the moment. Above is the new poster unveiled at D23 and while it is beautiful, my first impression was that Bagheera had a human face CGI'd onto his panther one. I've quickly discovered this is because of the lighting (you can see that it's not human at all in the close-up below) but now I can't un-see that...

Here's a round up of news tidbits regarding Jon Favreau's live action "The Jungle Book" remake for Disney, with the best news being that the reveals, though not so highly anticipated, brought a standing ovation and have created a strong expectation of goodness (classic with some darker Kipling resonances) for the movie being released next year. I'm so pleased to hear there will be much more of Kipling's original story vibes in there (though I would have been even more excited to hear that more storylines - or even characters like Kotik and Rikki Tikki Tavi - of Kipling's classic had made it in, but, baby steps are also good. You can read the original online HERE.)

As with other fan exclusives shown at D23 (at which all cell phones and cameras were confiscated on entering), the rest of us won't get to see what attendees did for some time yet but 2016 is rapidly drawing closer so I'm guessing the Christmas season promos will give us more to look at.

Here are the trailer details from The Grill:

Development art from Favreau's version

Director Jon Favreau unveiled the first trailer for Disney’s “The Jungle Book” and brought stars Lupita Nyong'o, Ben Kingsley and newcomer Neel Sethi onstage at Saturday’s D23 Fan Expo in Anaheim. 

Sethi plays the film’s young hero Mowgli, while Kingsley plays Bagheera the Panther and Nyong’o plays Raksha the Wolf. Favreau played up the eye-popping visual spectacle of the film, saying that “The best CGI is the CGI that disappears.” 

...The trailer opens with the smoky voice of Scarlett Johansson‘s Kaa the Python talking about the Red Flower, which brings “warmth, light and destruction.” 

Bagheera finds Mowgli and we’re told that “the jungle is no longer safe. I’ll return him to where he belongs.” 

We see Idris Elba‘s killer tiger Shere Khan stalking Mowgli through the outback in a thrilling sequence that ends with him jumping off a cliff, after which he’s discovered by Bill Murray‘s Baloo the Bear. Baloo tells Mowgli to “relax” and that “there’s no need to get worked up.” Then he sings the classic Disney song “Bare Necessities,” a song about “the good life,” though Mowgli confesses he doesn’t know what a song is. 

“Everyone’s got a song,” Baloo assures him. 

As the trailer nears its end, we see Shere Khan warning Mowgli that “if you come back, I’ll be waiting,” then the footage concludes with Christopher Walken‘s orangutan King Louie saying “I am the king!” — which brought the house down. 

... The footage, which was stunning and full of wonder, earned a standing ovation...

New star, Neel Sethi, handles his first public appearance very well.

And a very short video via Yahoo Movies is worth taking a peek at as Jon Favreau speaks about the classic comedic animation classic versus Kipling and his approach on trying to find the balance of both.

“A lot of liberty was taken in tone in the ’67 animated film, because the source material was much darker,” Favreau tells Yahoo Movies during a chat at D23. However, Favreau felt a deep connection to the original Disney movie, particularly regarding the music, the tone, and “the playfulness of the characters.” So in creating new version, Favreau drew on both the book and the cartoon. “I tried to pick out the aspects [of the 1967 movie] that I found most memorable and that I connected with the most, and made sure that we protected those as we explored the combination of those things,” (Favreau) explains.

Overall, this definitely sounds like it beats the first Disney live action remake by leaps and bounds, but will it be worth seeing in the theater? What do you think?

Bonus of the day:

Mondo posters is well known for their artistic alternative versions of movie posters and The Jungle Book has a couple done through them. The one below though is particularly lovely, hailing both classic book and future live action film beautifully. The artist is Brandon Holt.

Sondheim on Bettlelheim, and Lapine on Narrators

So Into The Woods didn't snag any of the awards they were nominated for at The Golden Globes on the weekend, but the movie (and fairy tales) are still very much being discussed, especially as the cast (and media) continue to promote the various overseas releases.

I keep seeing references to Sondheim and Lapine using Bettelheim's philosophy when writing Into The Woods, (as in the original musical, which they both then adapted for the Disney movie), however it's not quite as black and white as that. 

We'll start with a summary so you have a better idea of the thought processes behind the writing of ITW, from an interview with Edward Seckerson, published by Stage and Screen Online in 2006. It seems to make it pretty clear the pair were anti-Bettelheim, but as I said, it's not so straight forward so keep reading:

Sondheim: "[W]e took a Jungian approach. You know, this whole thing about how we based it on Bruno Bettelheim is nonsense — it’s nothing to do with Bettelheim. In fact, I don’t know if James read the book, I didn’t." 

And when Sondheim was interviewed by James Lipton for the TV series Inside the Actors Studio, Lipton brought up Bettelheim: "There seems to be a philosophical war in that musical between the theories of Bruno Bettelheim and Jung." 

Sondheim responded, "It’s interesting you say that. Everybody assumes we were influenced by Bruno Bettelheim. But if there’s any outside influence, it’s Jung. James is interested in Jung—Twelve Dreams is based on a case Jung wrote about. In fact, we spoke to a Jungian analyst about fairy tales."

And from Sondheim's book, "Look, I Made a Hat" comes the following quoted paragraph:

"And, ah, the woods. The all-purpose symbol of the unconscious, the womb, the past, the dark place where we face our trials and emerge wiser or destroyed, a major theme in Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment, which is the book everyone assumes we used as a source, simply because it's the only book on the subject known to a wide public. But Bettelheim's insistent point was that children would find fairy tales useful in part because the young protagonists' tribulations always resulted in triumph, the happily ever after. What interested James was the little dishonesties that enabled the characters to reach their happy endings. 

... James was also skeptical about the possibility of 'happily ever after' in real life and wary of the danger that fairy tales give children false expectations. As his play Twelve Dreams has demonstrated, he was drawn not to Bettelheim's Freudian approach but to Carl Jung's theory that fairy tales are an indication of the collective unconscious, something with which Bettelheim would be unlikely to agree. James and I talked about the fairy tales with a Jungian psychiatrist and discovered that with the exception of 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' which apparently is native only to the British Isles, the tales we were dealing with exist in virtually every culture in the world, especially the Cinderella story. African, Chinese, Native American - there is even a contemporary Hebrew version in which Cinderella wants to dance at the Tel Aviv Hilton." 

So the answer is more like "No, they didn't base it on Bettelheim's ideas" but also "those ideas weren't exactly ignored either."

OK, that's all good then, but here's the thing that bothers me, personally, though: Lapine (who wrote the "book" for the musical, as well as co-wrote the screenplay for the current Disney movie adaptation), is reported by Performing Arts Journal in 1988 as saying this (emphasis in bold is mine):

"The Narrator is what the fairy tale is about. I tried telling the stories without a narrator and it just doesn't work. A story needs a storyteller, and the storyteller is the ultimate figure of authority. Originally we wanted a public figure, not an actor, to play the Narrator: Walter Cronkite, or Tip O'Neill—someone who disseminated information and points of view. Then when we got rid of him you would see that the news was now being reported by the newsmakers, not the news reporter; decisions were being made by the people, not the politicians. Ultimately, we defined our narrator as a kind of intellectual, a Bettelheim figure; I wanted to get rid of Bettelheim!"

If this is the case, why was the Narrator's pivotal role so greatly downgraded in the movie? It makes a huge difference not having The Baker's father as the Narrator (especially as we then lose the impact of the change of POV in story telling when he's removed). Having The Baker be the Narrator all along didn't work quite like the bookend I (now) believe it was intended to be (as in, he was telling this whole story to his child.) When watching the movie I was a little confused as to why the Baker was telling us all of this in the first place, the WAY he was telling it (especially how the telling started, then ended...). 

A last but important note: I want to be clear on one point. I am in favor of the movie, in general. I fully expected it to miss the mark - widely - but the material is more faithful than I expected too. The fact that it uses fairy tales at its center is actually what helps transcend the things that bother me about the movie. What fairy tales are, how they live in people's minds, how the stories communicate and pass themselves on, is what does it. The stories themselves, and all the history they bring with them, the social legacies and various personal contexts etc work to overcome the movie's shortcomings, simply because their essential forms (wonder stories/Märchen) are kept intact. The beauty of certain iconic images (created by Rob Marshall et al) and catchy, beautiful tunes that remind us of certain story phrases, support this too. Everything else is peripheral and people can take what they want to (or need to) from the movie as a result. It's kind of magical in a way.

So there you go - my two cents for the day. ;)

Additional sources: "Look, I Made A Hat" & HERE. All movie screencaps created by Turn the Right Corner. Go HERE to see many more.

Guillermo del Toro's 'Beauty & the Beast' Likely To Start Production In Summer 2014. Pretty Sure. We Hope.

Yay? It's hard to get excited until we hear - for real - that they're actually starting filming on this because it now feels like it's been around FOREVER but, from Emma Watson in an interview here's the current state of del Toro's Beauty & the Beast:

Basically, he's still very excited, it IS going forward (possibly/probably Summer 2014 production start time) and Emma Watson WILL be Beauty. No Beast yet though - they're still doing the casting rounds on that one.

And a quote I can't pin down the original date for but appropriate to remind people of now anyway, it's Emma Watson teasing about del Toro's adaptation:

“He’s obsessed with the idea of creating worlds. We’re even going to have this amazing language that we made up.”

Creating worlds, made up language... yes. Definitely still intrigued!

One last bit of news on this: Emma Watson has no other film plans ahead of Beauty and the Beast. According to her schedule, this is her next project.

You can hear Emma talk about her New Year-ish meeting with del Toro about Beauty and the Beast, in this video interview posted today, HERE.

Into the Photography (Of Into the Woods)

Note: Good glory - I just experienced almost 24 hours without phone, internet or TV or radio news! It's weird when even your schools and libraries cannot get online... Into the Desert here - sheesh. Thank goodness for Megan at The Dark Forest keeping up with the days' scoops! You MUST subscribe/follow/log-in and read her regularly.

Yep - it's picture time! First behind-the-scenes pics - in Colleen Atwood's costumes* (swoon!) - were released today via Broadway World from the filming at Dover Castle of Disney's movie adaptation of Into the Woods (dramatic music sting - and a sharp slap on the hand for a ridiculously long sentence).

Go check Megan's The Dark Forest post for lost of lovely pics, all the details and her excellent musings on why we love Into the Woods and whether or not making it into a movie will make that love stronger or make it die a thousand deaths... (or, worse, make us yawn).

Oh - and the comments on Broadway World are fun/cringe-inciting to read too. I had to include this exchange:

*Check Rapunzel's braided corset detailing peeking through in the background, amidst the pics in the original article - very nice touch.

"Into The Woods" Movie - Revised Cast List (so far...)

Fan made poster for Disney's live action "Into The Woods" movie

Screenplay read from late 2012

OK - this was a toughie to pin down! Information is flying fast and furiously around the net about this right now and things are in flux with a whole lot of TBCs (To Be Confirmed) among the names.

I kept finding conflicting information in supposedly reliable news sources so have done my best to sort all the inconsistencies out and make a list of exactly(ish) where things stand - as of writing this post, that is. This is as accurate a list as I can construct without additional secret insider info to help me out. (It is more than possible there will be news between the time I post this and the time you read it right now!)

I used an old screenplay reading list from the end of last year and have updated a bunch of changes (scribbling with a very uncooperative mouse! - not a real mouse! - though that would be cool if I could find a mouse who could hold a pen and wanted to help...).

Checks [√] mean the name is confirmed. Dots [•] mean they're TBC (to be confirmed) and are "in talks" (in biz-speak, this means they're almost sure these actors will do it but need to iron out the fine print of the contract before they're confirmed as "in"). Question marks [?] mean we have no idea (yet!) who the character will be played by at this time.

I left the names of the original screenplay readers there, just in case they're also "in talks" but haven't announced it publicly yet.

Revised cast list as of June 24, 2013 incl. TBC

In case you didn't notice, I've added in a couple of extra bits of information on the songs, the script and the Director of Photography (DP). You should be able to click on the image to see it larger (or do "view original image" and that should give you the bigger size), in case the mouse-scribble is too difficult to decipher.

Rob Marshall directing Disney's live action "Into The Woods"

Since that's a ton of info to take in for one post, and things are still very jello like with how a group cast photo will eventually look, (so VERY curious as to whom Red will be!) I'm going to leave you with just this for now.

Oh - and in case you didn't know - Bernadette Peters has been vocal in her approval of all the confirmed and TBC cast so far! In lieu of actually having her on board, I'd say that's the next, best thing. :)

Disney has announced the release date for the movie as Christmas Day (December 25) 2014.