Stephen Sondheim Discusses Censorship Changes to Disney’s ‘Into The Woods’

For those that are fans of the twisted take on classic fairy tales known as “Into The Woods,” they know about the film adaptation coming later this year from Disney. Well, if you’re not familiar with the story, there is a bit much in it and it isn’t necessarily appropriate for some audiences that may end up going.

With that, there has been some tweaking and changing that has happened to the script for “Into The Woods,” and the musical’s original writer Stephen Sondheim recently spoke on it.

He’s stated that there were quite a number of changes made to the smash Broadway hit and some fans are bound to be disappointed. Be warned as small SPOILERS are ahead.

Now, one of the things that is a rather big part of the story is the Wolf (Johnny Depp) lusts greatly over Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford). Obviously, Disney had “objections” to that part of the storyline and those changes, along with others were made.

Again…SPOILERS ahead.

“You will find in the movie that Rapunzel [Mackenzie Mauzy] does not get killed, and the prince [Chris Pine] does not sleep with the [Baker’s Wife, played by Emily Blunt].” And speaking of the latter scene, in which Cinderella’s prince effectively cheats on her, the song connected to the sequence, “Any Moment,” has also “probably” been cut, with Sondheim writing a new tune for the scene. But while Sondheim seems not particularly pleased with these edits, he’s also pragmatic about it all too.

“You know, if I were a Disney executive I probably would say the same thing,” he said, adding: “…censorship is part of our puritanical ethics…There has to be a point at which you don’t compromise anymore, but that may mean that you won’t get anyone to sell your painting or perform your musical. You have to deal with reality.”

Sondheim is not overly fond of the changes and censorship, but he understands how things go in this day and age and with big studios. He said he’s willing to go along with the changes for “Into The Woods” and see where it goes.

“Into The Woods” stars Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp, Lilla Crawford, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, Lucy Punch, Tracey Ullman, and many more. It is set to hit theaters on Christmas Day of this year.