When Anna Kendrick’s phone rang about auditioning for “Into The Woods,” she thought it was for the role of Little Red Riding Hood, but it turns out the glass slipper was the perfect fit and she was instead cast as Cinderella.
“I grew up thinking that it would be fun to play Little Red Riding Hood. Oftentimes, Little Red Riding Hood is played by a grown woman on stage and, in fact, when I found out they were making ‘Into the Woods’ I assumed when my agent called me, I was like, ‘Oh great, I’ll audition for Little Red,’ and they’re like, ‘No, a real child is going to play that part because it’s a film,'” she told Access Hollywood at the film’s junket. “So, playing Cinderella was really, really frightening. It’s a completely different vocal range than I’m used to and really a sensibility I’m not used to, which is being open and kind and soft and vulnerable and I usually play kind of funny, hard characters. I think it’s just a testament to the creativity of Rob Marshall to see somebody like me as a Cinderella figure.”
Her Prince Charming is none other than Chris Pine, but it may not be the fairy tale romance fans have grown accustomed to seeing between these two iconic characters. This Prince Charming may actually cheat on his princess.
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“I think it’s lovely too that even in a moment of infidelity, which is taken back a lot in this film, dialed down a lot, there’s no judgment there,” Chris told Access. “What does the moral high ground even mean? We’ve all been flawed. We all make mistakes.
“I think what’s wonderful about it and I think will definitely please many feminists out there is that we don’t have names. I am Cinderella’s Prince and that’s Rapunzel’s Prince defined by our women,” he added.
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The costume certainly made him feel regal, though, as did horseback riding.
“It’s such an iconic image of the prince on horseback and you have to sit on the horse in a certain way,” he explained. “It kind of immediately straightens your spine. It helped me kind of figure out this kind of princely posture.”
Anna’s stature was also controlled by her corseted costumes, so she preferred to wear the rags because they “were so much fun just running around the woods and getting dirty and when you had to kind of look after the dress. It was very delicate.”
She praised the artistry of the wardrobe, explaining, “I might have taken a pair of shoes. The shoes are so gorgeous and the concept of the dress and the shoes being formed from the willow tree is so poetic and beautiful that it comes from her mother and so many times we see parents, they just want the best for their children.”
WATCH: Meryl Streep Sings in “Into The Woods” Trailer
Initially intimidated by the great Meryl Streep and trained singer Anna, Chris admitted he was “nervous” to burst into song.
“Isn’t that a human tendency to sing in the car and in the shower by yourself when no one is watching to judge you? I kinda always had a dream to sing and this seemed like an incredible opportunity,” he added.
As it turns out, Chris found it helpful to observe co-star Anna’s vocal routine.
“He’s really too humble… He hadn’t done it before at all and he was so scared and then we were in the recording studio and he was just singing to himself to kind of warm up and he’s singing some Sinatra classic and I was like, ‘Who is that in the hallway?’ and I go out and it’s Chris Pine,” Anna revealed. “He is so naturally talented and he was just sort of unsure of himself, so it was so nice of him to say, but it’s like the power was within him all along.”
“Into the Woods” opens in theaters on Christmas Day.
— Paige Feigenbaum
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