Budget Hotels Santa Clarita - Sam Raimi Re-Builds Oz For a 3D Audience

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/

By - Georgie Rogers

Category - Budget Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Budget Hotels Santa Clarita

As well as the Oscar-winning 1939 film, starring Judy Garland, there has been The Wiz - the Motown-produced version starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson - unofficial Disney sequel Return to Oz and even a Muppet version.

On stage the tale has also undergone many incarnations, including the recent Andrew Lloyd Webber West End production and the Tony award-winning musical Wicked - told from the perspective of the witches - which continues to be a hit in London and on Broadway.

For his new take on the tale, director Sam Raimi's plan from the outset was to make a film that serves as a prequel to Baum's book.

His 3D version, Oz The Great And Powerful, tells the untold story of how charming con-man Oscar Diggs became the wizard of Oz.

"Thank God we weren't trying to remake the sacred classic that everybody loves," says Zach Braff, who plays both Diggs' underappreciated circus assistant and provides the voice of a computer generated flying monkey.

"Audiences really like that world, so with all this amazing technology today... it made sense to tell an origin story of 'how did this guy end up behind the curtain?'" he says.

The film stars 127 Hours actor James Franco as Diggs, who finds himself in Oz after being caught up in a Baum-esque freak tornado.

He is greeted in turn by warring witch sisters Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams respectively, who show him the good and the bad in the mystical land.

Academy Award-winner Weisz, says the chance to play a "good old-fashioned villainess" drew her to Evanora, in what marks her first fantasy film role.

"I thought it would be really fun to play someone really bad and evil... the more evil they are, the more fun they have." she says.

The actress recalls the 1939 MGM film as one of her first trips to the cinema.

"What makes that film very charming, is the sweetness," she says. "You can see the make-up and the special effects are at the beginning of what special effects can do."