Interview with Emily Blunt and James Corden : Into the Woods

James Corden and Emily Blunt play my favorite characters in Disney’s film version of Into the Woods; the Baker and his wife. It was fun to sit down and talk with James and Emily a couple weeks back while I was in Los Angeles. The evening before our group had screened the film and I for one was very excited to hear about their process in bringing these popular characters to life.

Below is an interview with Emily Blunt and James Corden…. once again, I cannot believe how lucky I am to participate in these sorts of junkets!

If you have not seen Into The Woods, The Baker and his Wife are kind of the glue that brings all of the characters together. The Baker and his wife are childless and have been told by the Witch (played by Meryl Streep) that she has made them unable to have a child, but that she will reverse the curse and bless them with a child if they gather some random items – a cow as white as milk, hair as yellow as corn, a cape as red as blood, and a slipper as pure as gold – all of which happen to belong to the other characters in the show. These characters are simple but complex at the same time and I was so excited (and nervous) to see them on film.

Getting to sit down and talk to the actors and hear about their work and their love for the show was so thrilling – here are some of the highlights……

Fun (and ironic) fact – Emily Blunt found out she was expecting her daughter Hazel only shortly before receiving news she had gotten the role!  Emily shared with us how she had to hide behind the cow (good thing that was one of the items they needed to gather!), behind James, and just about anything else she could to make sure she didn’t show off her baby bump while she was playing a barren woman. I honestly had no idea while watching the film – so kudos to the director and costume designer!  Emily said it didn’t hurt that she was playing a Baker’s wife – she said she would be expected to gain a little weight. 😉

I loved listening to these parents of little children themselves tell us what they thought about the themes within Into The Woods and what it says about life and the message it shares. James Corden said ” I think there’s an honesty in the film which has made me want to be more honest with my children…… the great message in the film of, like, be careful what wish for, and sometimes the very thing you wish for is not the thing that you need in a world….”  He goes on to say that we as a society and as parents have told ourselves that there is a simple ‘happily ever after’ when we all know it doesn’t and that maybe isn’t a message we should be giving our kids. A more important message James says is in the song ‘No One is Alone’ that you have someone who loves you even when bad things happen and even if you screw up. “… there’s some screw-ups coming your way, and that’s true of all of us. There’s screw-ups, and they’re coming for you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But when they do, you might feel like you’re completely on your own in the world. You will feel like you are completely alone, and you’re not. ”

He went on to say “It is a positive message to tell your children that mistakes are going to happen.” and I couldn’t agree more.

Emily echoed with “Nobody goes through life unscathed. Nobody does.”  She went on to say that underneath the deep metaphorical meanings of fairy tales they were also created for children to teach them about right and wrong, and consequences.

More fun facts – Emily Blunt and James Corden met at a polo match in England and the Princes were in attendance. Now if you have ever heard anything more British than that I would love for you to leave it in the comment section…. but I am pretty sure that comment section is gonna stay at 0 because I mean as James Corden made sure to point out, there is literally no other way to meet that is more British than while watching Polo with legit Royalty in attendance.

In the film Into the Woods James and Emily’s characters have one wish – for a child. When asked what they could have one wish their answers were universal….

James Corden : “You just want the people you love, to be healthy, right?”

Emily Blunt responded “Healthy and happy. That’s it.”

I think you could poll a thousand other parents and they would say the same thing. Just about every person in the room was a mother of young children and we all just sat there nodding in agreement. At the end of the day, of all the things that can distract us in life all we truly want is for our family to be healthy and happy.

Thank you to James Corden and Emily Blunt for taking the time to speak with us!  My friends reading this if you have not seen Into The Woods yet you are missing out. It is playing in theaters everywhere and you should probably drop everything and get to a theater immediately.