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Johnny Depp in Into The Woods: "A Dream Come True," But He Worries About His Singing

Heartthrob talks about the "complicated stuff" he'll face in movie adaptation of hit Broadway musical

By Marc Malkin Jun 28, 2013 1:00 PMTags
Johnny DeppNorman Scott/startraksphoto.com

Johnny Depp can't wait to play The Wolf in the movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Tony award winning musical Into the Woods.

But even a superstar like Mr. Depp can come down with a case of the jitters.

"I'm so excited to play the big bad Wolf," Depp told me whole promoting The Lone Ranger (in theaters on July 3). "That kind of thing is sort of a dream come true.

"The deal is, once again it's Sondheim," he explained, "who's amazing, but when you're not a crack vocalist, it's quite complicated stuff that he writes."

Depp shouldn't be too nervous. He starred in the movie version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, after all.

At the time, Sondheim was asked by the Los Angeles Times if he was worried about Depp's vocal abilities. "I've always preferred actors who sing instead of singers who act and generally I've tried to cast that way with the shows in New York," he said. "They have to be musical. They have to be able to carry a tune. They have to have a sense of rhythm.

"Legitimate voices, so to speak, can be too big for the screen, particularly this," he added. "The screen is much more intimate, a realistic medium. In order for singing to work on the screen, it has to be acted and it has to be small."

Directed by Chicago helmer Rob Marshall, Depp will costar in Into The Woods alongside Meryl Streep as The Witch, Jake Gyllenhaal as Cinderella's Prince, Chris Pine as Rapunzel's Prince and Emily Blunt as The Baker's Wife. Anna Kendrick is reportedly close to signing on to play Cinderella.

Into The Woods, which won three Tonys in 1988, is an interwoven tale using an ensemble of iconic fairy tale characters.

The film is slated for a Christmas release in 2014.

It will mark Depp's second time working with Marshall, who first directed him in the fourth and most recent installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Watch: Johnny Depp Heads "Into the Woods"

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