Alright, so, all James Franco aside, this movie looks like it’s going to be phenomenal.
But don’t take it from me—take it from Sam Raimi, who’s (Sam Raimi is a demigod in some circles, being that he was the mastermind behind ‘Evil Dead’, which, if you haven’t seen it, GO NOW) directing the flick. From the movie’s Comic Con panel:
Sam Raimi on ‘Oz’: “This is a very straightforward family picture. I would say it’s a very classically Disney type of movie. It’s all about these characters and their interactions with each other, the friendships they make. How some characters are sinners, how they hurt others, how those sins can grow. It’s about finally recognizing the things you do in this world have consequences, and how to be the best person you can be is really the story of this film. That’s the most exciting kind of story for me, the ones that have character growth, and I think James Franco’s character has a little bit of character growth in this film.”
Mila Kunis on working with Sam Raimi: “Listen, Sam is fantastic. I don’t know where to begin. I would do craft service for Sam if he asked me to.”
Michelle Williams on Sam Raimi, also: “I had never made a movie like this before. I’ve never made such a big movie before. I didn’t know what it was going to be like. I didn’t know if the things that concern me, Sam would have time for, or patience for. Not only did he have time and patience in the beginning when we were rehearsing, he had patience for them on the 17th hour of the sixth day. For me it was a very holistic experience; it was a real melding of my work life and my personal life. My film family and my real family.”
Raimi, on James Franco: “He’s a great collaborator. James was much less collaborative when I first worked with him. He was a real serious actor, I think he still had his James Dean hat on; he was doing it his way. I worked with him with certain limitations. We couldn’t communicate about everything as deeply as we did on this picture. [In this movie] there was a great sense of openness, collaboration, and patience. Now that James is a filmmaker, he understands all the things that go into a shot. He’s developed that patience.”
On the flying monkeys in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and whether they will have a part in ‘Oz’: “The teaser they showed today, the Wicked Witch has an army of flying baboons. We’re actually still developing them, but the teaser demanded that they come out right now. There is also a flying monkey in the story, different than the baboons, a nice flying monkey, so don’t worry.”
On whether the book Wicked was thrown around in the idea of developing this movie: “No. We were just using Baum’s books as a road map. We stayed with the thesis: who is that guy behind the curtain?”
So. Are we all in agreement that this movie’s going to be pretty darn fabulous? Because duh, it is.
YES! I have read a majority of the Oz books (as well as Wicked, etc) this is a story line I will always love!