What would Miranda Priestly say? Meryl Streep as The Witch in Into The Woods

Meryl Streep stars in film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical

Meryl Streep stars as the Witch in Into The Woods (PA/Disney)

Over the course of her considerable career, Meryl Streep has built a reputation on her ability to lend unrivalled physical grace to her characters.

But now the three-time Oscar winner is doing just the opposite in a new adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into The Woods.

Streep plays the Witch, who curses a family to infertility after some magic beans are stolen from her garden.

The actress looks suitably haggard in this image from Disney. Her hair is grey and matted, her nails are curved into long talons, her chin is pointy and her face looks considerably older than Streep's 64 years.

In the musical, which premiered on Broadway in November 1987, the tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel are tied together in a story involving the Witch.

It won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score, Best Performance by a Leading Actress and Best Book of a Musical, despite going up against Phantom of the Opera.

The adaptation, which also stars James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine and Johny Depp, is being directed by Rob Marshall.

Marshall directed the stage-to-screen adaptations of Nine and the Chicago, the latter of which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

In the US, the film is scheduled for release on Christmas Day next year, arriving in cinemas just a week later than a new take on the musical Annie.