PatrickvD wrote:Recasting doesn't work. It might work for a minor role, but not the lead. If they wanted Robert Downey Jr. they should have worked harder to lock him in the first time around.
I agree. Although I hate it when they recast even a minor role.
Jules wrote:I've read on the net that Franco's acting in Oz was not impressive. Is this simply a case of an underwhelming performance in one film, or is Franco a limited/less-talented actor than others?
It's not just his performance in Oz. Personally, I don't find him that talented.
I am surprised at all this hatred for Mila Kunis' acting. I had no problems with any of the witches. Franco, however, was just not convincing. I imagine the wizard as being more serendipitous and absent-minded. I did not like Franco's cheekiness or the fact he was a player. Also, I really hated the modern dialogue like "take five" or "kill me a witch." There were many other examples I cannot recall. Considering this is a prequel and they even showed Emma Gale and Oscar at the carnival, the language in the film should have been akin to the times. It seems anachronistic.
They should give Oscar better lines, reconsider all of their dialogue, and have Oscar begin to mature and lose his cheekiness.
I though Kunis was excellent once she was wicked. I have zero complaints.
It's definitely too late for RDJ. They already have Franco's likeness on dolls and other merchandise. To change all that would bomb, even as famous as RDJ is. Then Disney would lose another fantasy franchise due to poor management like they bongled Narnia.
I would like to see another famous/good actress play a fourth witch. The original L. Frank Baum novels (of which there were 14) had some story elements similar to this film. The ruler of Oz before the Wizard arrives, King Pastoria, is missing and presumed dead. He was abducted by a wicked witch named Mombi.
The original book designated there were two good witches to the North and South and two evil witches to the West and East. As in the original film, the witches of east and west were killed by Dorothy. Glinda was the good witch of the south and lived in Quadling country. The good witch of the north was barely mentioned in the original 14 books.
I think Disney could create their own version of this good witch of the north as another love interest/foil to Glinda.
Also, Baum had four evil witches in all - one for each cardinal direction. In addition to the two Dorothy killed of the east and west, he had Mombi in the north (who kidnapped the king) and an unnamed witch in the south who Glinda killed. Mombi was in Disney's "Return to Oz" but was not at all a resemblance of her book version.
There were other witches in the original 14 books, but the four wicked witches and two good witches were the 'main' witches in the Baum novels.
Also, I wonder if Disney will re-introduce Princess Ozma. She was also in "Return to Oz," but if Disney re-styled her, she could be added to the princess merchandise line! Not that I want that, but Disney has been princess crazy lately!
Plus Disney used the Munchkins, Winkies and Quadlings. Well there was one more major species in the original books - the Gillikins. Each of these four species represented one of the four countries of Oz.
In the Baum novels, it is the Wizard who is given Princess Ozma when she's a baby. He hands her over to the Wicked Witch of the North, Mombi, who turns Ozma into a boy named Tip. It is only many years later Tip is transformed back into Ozma and reclaims her father - King Pastoria's - throne from the Wizard of Oz.
There is so much material from the original, (and now public domain), Oz novels that Disney could use!
Neal wrote:In the Baum novels, it is the Wizard who is given Princess Ozma when she's a baby. He hands her over to the Wicked Witch of the North, Mombi, who turns Ozma into a boy named Tip. It is only many years later Tip is transformed back into Ozma and reclaims her father - King Pastoria's - throne from the Wizard of Oz.
Now THIS sounds like a perfectly filmmable Disney movie. I'd love to see them do this, as opposed to sticking strictly with the characters that everyone knows already - Oz, Glinda, Wicked Witch, and Dorothy.
It would do a lot for them to follow this story-line. 1) It introduces a princess. 2) It introduces a new villain/witch. 3) To those not familiar with the source material, the fact that this boy Tip is actually a princess and rightful ruler to Oz will be a big twist ending. 4) In the books, Mombi lives in the Gillikin Country. Introducing another race of Ozians is great for marketing!!
No surprise there, especially with the allegations against James Franco. I was kind of hoping for that sequel though because I thought Rachel Weisz was a perfect villainess and would have liked to have seen more of her. (The only reason I was down for the Alice sequel, too, for HBC.)
Listening to most often lately:
Taylor Swift ~ ~ "The Fate of Ophelia"
Taylor Swift ~ "Eldest Daughter"
Taylor Swift ~ "CANCELLED!"
James Franco has had multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations. Some say that all of this even kept him from winning the Oscar this year (he won a Golden Globe and the allegations came out right after).
We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one. "I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren "I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey
It doesn't surprise me they haven't moved forward with another Oz movie. There have been zero rumblings about a sequel in the five years since the film's release (I mean, look at how quiet this thread was). And while "The Great and Powerful" did fine, it wasn't the breakout success overseas that Disney was likely hoping for.
Personally, I'm surprised no studio has taken the opportunity to adapt Baum's books as a Harry Potter/Narnia-esque movie franchise. The closest was Return of Oz, which combined the second and third books. There is so much potential for a big-budget fantasy series from that material. But I guess the shadow of the Judy Garland film still looms large. Even "Oz: The Great and Powerful" took a lot of inspiration from the '39 film, as much as it legally could.
"There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed." - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland
Aside from Wicked, almost no Oz adaptation ever manages to be as popular as the 1939 film. I don't know why, aside from maybe that film being too popular and overshadowing everything else. Kinda bizarre when you consider these are books in the first place (And are in the public domain, so it's weird we can have multiple Frankensteins and Draculas, all valid in their interpretations, but it's Oz the one that has to pass the field of fire).
estefan wrote:
Personally, I'm surprised no studio has taken the opportunity to adapt Baum's books as a Harry Potter/Narnia-esque movie franchise. The closest was Return of Oz, which combined the second and third books. There is so much potential for a big-budget fantasy series from that material. But I guess the shadow of the Judy Garland film still looms large. Even "Oz: The Great and Powerful" took a lot of inspiration from the '39 film, as much as it legally could.
It's especially interesting because I've heard people say that the Oz books were in some ways the original Harry Potter. I know they were hugely successful and one of the spin-off characters, The Wogglebug, was a national phenomenon before fading out completely. There used to be so many Oz conventions and although the number of Oz fans has dramatically reduced within the last few decades, these fans are still highly dedicated. I love the books more than any of the movies myself so I would love to see faithful film adaptations. At least there are some great comics from Marvel that follow the first six books accurately with amazing artwork by Skottie Young and penned by Oz fan Eric Shanower.
Unfortunately, the 1939 film really has eclipsed Oz, to a much greater extent that any recent film franchise has eclipsed the its respective book series. Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Percy Jackson, etc. still have huge amounts of adoration for the original books and not just the movies, whereas the Oz books are so obscure these days. Most people think Oz began with the MGM film.
We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one. "I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren "I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey
