On Thursday, fans at Comic-Con were the first to see the trailer for “Spiderman” director Sam Raimi’s new film, “Oz: The Great and Powerful” — a prequel to L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and MGM’s 1939 adaptation, “The Wizard of Oz.”
The film follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a young magician/con-man, through his journey to becoming the Wizard of Oz. Much like the “Wizard of Oz,” it begins in black and white then transitions to color upon Diggs’ arrival in Oz. Once in Oz, Diggs meets three witches: Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams).
Kunis describes Theodora — who will become the Wicked Witch of the West — as the innocent one of the three. “She’s the first character Oz encounters when he gets to the land, and she’s just incredibly sweet, incredibly naive, and just so believes that he is the wizard,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
Of Glinda, Michelle Williams told EW, “She’s the only one who continually sees the best in Oz, even when his selfish nature makes that very difficult.”
Unfortunately, the ruby slippers do not make an appearance in the film because, in the original telling — L. Frank Baum books — the slippers are silver. MGM changed them to ruby because it looked better than silver with the then-brand new Technicolor.
The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion won’t be appearing in this film either. “Those characters are not part of this picture because this takes place before “The Wizard of Oz” book or movie took place, before Dorothy got there,” Raimi told EW.
“Oz: The Great and Powerful” lands in theaters March 8, 2013.