IMDb rating
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6.4
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Oz the Great and Powerful is a 2013 fantasy film that is intended to be a prequel to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Both films have been adapted from author L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which was published in 1900. The prequel stars James Franco as the protagonist. Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, and Rachel Weisz star as the three witches. It is directed by Sam Raimi, with a script written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire.
Summary
The story takes place about 20-30 years before Dorothy's story.
When Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away in a tornado from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot — fame and fortune are his for the taking — that is until he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must figure out who is good and who is evil, before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity, and even a bit of wizardry, Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz, but also into a much better man as well.[1]
Cast
- James Franco as Oscar Diggs (Oz)
- Mila Kunis as Theodora (The Wicked Witch Of The West)
- Michelle Williams as Glinda (The Good Witch Of The South)
- Rachel Weisz as Evanora (The Wicked Witch Of The East)
- Zach Braff as Frank and Finley
- Joey King as China Girl
- Abigail Spencer as Mrs. Hamilton
- Bill Cobbs as The Master Tinker
- Tony Cox as Knuck
- Tim Holmes as The Strong Man
- Martin Klebba as Nikko
- Stephen R. Hart & Bruce Campbell as Winkie guards at the Emerald City
- Abigail Spencer as May, Oscar's temporary magic assistant in Kansas and one of his several fleeting loves in the film
Cameo Roles
- Ted Raimi as a small-town skeptic at a magic show who yells, "I see a wire!"
- Jim Moll & Jim Bird as Emerald City townspeople
- Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker & Theresa Tilly as Quadling townspeople
Differences from the Books
- The Wicked Witch of the West & the Wicked Witch of the East are portrayed as being sisters while in the books this is not stated. The 1939 movie also portrayed them as sisters.
- Glinda is the daughter of the former King of Oz.
- Ozma, the canonical daughter of the former King of Oz, is never mentioned.
- The Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed as originally being a Good Witch but has no stated territory claim in the film. She develops romantic feelings for the Wizard who uses her. Part of her downfall is her quick temper and naivety. It is also shown that she was transformed into the evil witch after eating a cursed green apple given to her by her evil sister. In the books she appears to have always been an evil hag with none of the character traits shown in the film.
- China Girl is shown to be able to travel outside of China Country. In the books, if a China Person leaves China Country they become stiff and immobile like dolls.
- Glinda has red hair in the books, but she has blonde hair in this movie.
- The Quadlings nor Quadling Country show any signs of the color red in either their clothing, architecture or landscape, while in the books, the color red is very prominent in their land and personal appearance.
- The Wizard comes from Kansas instead of Omaha.
- In the books, the Wizard had the Emerald City built after his arrival. In this movie, the Emerald City already exists prior to his coming to Oz. Though the later books retcon as having the Emerald City already existed before Oz arrived.
- In the books, the Yellow Brick Road leads to the Wizard, but in the movie, the Yellow Brick Road leads to China Country, the Dark Forest, and Emerald City.
- At no time is it mentioned or hinted at that everyone in Oz is immortal, as the books clearly say. People seem quite afraid of dying and mourn the loss of the Wizard when his balloon explodes, signifying that they are very familiar with death. Though it could be that no one in Oz can die from natural causes.
Production Notes
- Before Sam Raimi signed on to make the film, directors Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman were also reported to be top candidates.
- In June 2011, Danny Elfman was chosen to compose the music for the film, a surprising choice considering that he and Raimi had a falling out over Spider-Man 2 and vowed to never work with each other again.
- According to a reporter for Deadline Hollywood, the film's distributor wanted to reduce the film's production budget to about $200 million.
- Robert Downey, Jr. was Raimi's first choice for the part of Oz. When Downey declined, Johnny Depp was linked to the role. By the end of February 2011, James Franco was in final negotiations to star in this film.
- Principal photography for Oz: The Great and Powerful began July 2011 in Pontiac, Michigan. Casting calls were put out for locals looking to be extras.
- Sam Raimi has revealed that Bruce Campbell (Ash from the Evil Dead series) makes a small, but humorous cameo. Sam's younger brother Ted also has a small role, these two actors have been something of a staple in Raimi's previous films.[2]
- Raimi promises that this movie would be a departure from his usual horror-filled flicks, instead calling it a "family movie" with an uplifting feel.[3]
Crew
- Visual Effects Producers: CHRISTIAN HEJNAL, DIANA STULIC IBANEZ
- Animation Supervisor: BRIAN R. WELLS
- Assistant Director: ANITHA P. JOHNY
- Computer Graphics Supervisors: J.J. BLUMENKRANZ, DANNY DIMIAN, BOB PEITZMAN, GOMATHI RAMALINGAM
- Digital Effects Supervisor: FRANCISCO X. DE JESUS
- Compositing Supervisor: CRAIG WENTWORTH
- Digital Production Manager: COLLEEN MURPHY
- Associate Production Managers: ELAYARAJA SANTHANA KRISHNAN, CHIRAG R. SHAH
- Senior Production Coordinator: CHIRAG R. SHAH
- Senior Visual Effects Production Coordinator: ASHLEY KOONS
- Senior Animation Coordinator: ALYSE JOSEPH
- Animation Coordinator: AMANDA HUI
- Characters, Look Development, Textures and shot work with Lighting team, Fx, Matchmove and Paint/Roto Coordinator: ANDREW TURNER
- Interim Back-End Production Coordinator, Animation & Pipeline Production Coordinator: BENJAMIN MILLER
- Matchmove Production Coordinator: CHANNI CHAITALI
- Production Coordinator: CAMERON STEPHENS
- Visual Effects Editors: ELAINE C. ANDRIANOS, ALLEN CAPPUCCILLI, GUY T. WIEDMANN
- Senior Modeler: AARON HAMMAN
- CG Character and Hard-Surface Modelers: E. DHARANIDHARAN, APOLLO (SUNGJOO) S.J. KIM, ANDREW LEMA, ERIC NEILL, CHRIS O'CONNELL, BARBAROS SARISOZEN
- Environmental Modeler: HUNTER EVAN ROSENBERG
- Character Set-Up Supervisor: AARON PFAU
- Character Body and Facial Set-Up Artists: AARON CAMPBELL, BRIAN M. COHEN, BRIAN H. THOMPSON
- Character Pipeline Supervisor: CHUCK McILVAIN
- Lead Character Pipeline Technical Director: DANIEL GREENSTEIN
- Character Pipeline Digital Layout Artist: BRIAN M. COHEN
- Texture Paint Supervisor: DENNIS BREDOW
- Digital Texture Painters: EDWIN FABROS, CAMILA P. DAVILA LOHR, HEE-CHEL NAM
- Matchmove Lead: T.P. BALA MORARJI
- Matchmovers: DINESH BALA, ANAND SESHADRI
- Rotomotion Artist: DHANANJAYAN. D
- Plate Prep/Stereo Precomp Artist: ERIN KANOA
- Layout Lead: BRIAN DOMAN
- Senior Layout Artist: DONALD REICH
- Layout Artists: GEER DuBOIS, DEMIAN "DMAN" GORDON, DANI MORROW, ERIC PETERSON, EMI TAHIRA
- Senior Final Layout Artist: HAJIME OGATA
- Final Layout Artist: DANIEL ERICKSON
- Supervising Animator: CRAIG McPHERSON
- Lead Animator: IN-AH ROEDIGER
- Senior Character Animators: BENJAMIN CINELLI, INA MARCZINCZIK, ATSUSHI SATO, ALEXANDER SNOW
- Character Animators: IBRAHIM BASHA, ELISABETH FRANKLIN CONSTANTINE, DEREK HAASE, DAVID LISBE, DAVE MAH, AGATA MATUSZAK, CHRIS McGAW, ALLEN O'SANLOU, CLAUDIO de OLIVEIRA, HENRY SATO, JR. GLENN SYLVESTER, CAROLYN VALE, DAVID WESCH, DANIELE ZANNONE
- Hair Lead: CHRIS YEE
- Cloth Leads: GAVIN BADGER BAXTER, CHRISTOPHER ALEX LOGAN
- Senior Cloth and Hair Technical Directors: DIPANKAR GOSWAMY, CHRISTO SANDRO LIBARIDIAN
- Cloth and Hair Technical Directors: ARTURO AGUILAR, CHRIS BOLWYN, DANIEL CAMP, AARON CAMPBELL, CLAIRE LAWRENCE-SLATER, HANNAH K. PINKY LEES
- Senior Digital Effects Crowd Simulation Technical Director: CHRIS KAZMIER
- Effects Animation Lead: DAVID R. DAVIES
- Senior Effects Technical Directors: DIMITRE BERBEROV, GREGORY ECKER, DIPANKAR GOSWAMY
- Effects Animators: DANIEL LA CHAPELLE, HENRIK FALT, AHMED BAHAA HASSAN, BENJAMIN LIU, FRANKLIN LONDIN, CHRISTOPHER MESSINEO, HIROAKI NARITA, GREGORY WADE REYNOLDS, CHRISTOPHER DANTE ROMANO
- Senior Look Development/Lighting Lead: COSKU TURHAN
- Lead Lighting Sequence Artists: CRAIG FEIFAREK, CHRIS HUNG, BRIAN KLOC
Senior Lighting Technical Directors.......................................................BERTRAND CORDIER, CARLOS A. VIDAL
3D Color and Lighting Technical Directors
BRIAN ADAMS, BEKAH BAIK, BROOKE BEANE, CLARA CHAN, ERIK GONZALEZ, DARREN D. KINER, ENRIQUE MUNOZ
Consultant Stereographer....................................................................................................BENJAMIN HENDRICKS
Lead CompositorsCOLIN DROBNIS, FISH ESSENFELD, FRANK FIESER, BRIAN FISHER, ANTHONY KRAMER
Senior Compositors
GEETA BASANTANI, ANDY CHIH-JEN CHANG, CRAIG CLARKE, FISH ESSENFELD, GEORGE GERVAN, AARON KUPFERMAN, DAVID D-LO LOPEZ, FLORIAN SCHUCK, BRIAN SMALLWOOD, DANIEL SUNWOO, BRIDGET M. TAYLOR
Digital Compositors
DAVE ISAAC SANTOS ABUEL, ERIN BOSWORTH, CHRISTIAN BOUDMAN, BONJIN BYUN, BENJAMIN CONNER, DOUG CRAM, DENNIS DAVIS, GREG DEROCHIE, CHRISTINA DRAHOS, ERIK GONZALEZ, DANIELLE NORGATE, ANGELICA PEREZ, BENJAMIN T. PERKINS, DANIEL RUBIN, DOUGLAS ZABLOCKI
3D Motion Graphics Artist.............................................................................................................JACOB MARTINEZ
Associate Compositors...........................................................................BRETT G. BRONSON, CURTIS CARLSON
Compositing Assistant Technical Director........................................................................................CHEN LING FAN
Interactive Compositing Manager.......................................................................................................DAWN GUINTA
Senior Look Development Technical Directors.......................................................................BENJAMIN AGUILLON
Look Development Technical Director............................................................................................ERIK GONZALEZ
Paint Artists......................................................................................................................ELIKA BURNS, A. DINESH
Junior Paint Artist....................................................................................................................A.A ELANCHEZHIYAN
Roto Lead..................................................................................................................NADARAJAN USHA ABHEESH
2D Digital Rotoscope Artists
AARAVINDAN. C, BALAJI. E, BHARANIDHARAN. S, BIJU. S, CHANDRASEKAR. C H, DEVIKASHRI. S, DILIPAN JEEVANANDHAM, DINESH KUMAR
Stereoscopic Camera Depth Layout Artists..........................................................ALYSSA BRULE, S.R. DHEEPIKA
Executive Director of Production Services and Resources.................................................ANDREA LACKEY PACE
Senior Production Services Technicians
ADHIR MICHAEL KAMBLI, DAVID JINYOO LEE, ANGEL ORLANDO, BRIAN K. SMITH, DAN ZIMMER
Production Services Technician...........................................................................................................AMIR MADANI
Development Specialist.................................................................................................................DANIEL TIESLING
Editorial Technical Manager.............................................................................................................BRIAN HAMBLIN
Visual Effects Photographer...............................................................................................CHRISTOPHER HEBERT
Carpenter/Laborer.......................................................................................................................GREG DiGIACOMO
Software Department Manager..........................................................................................................ERIK STRAUSS
Pipeline Architect...........................................................................................................FRANCOIS CHARDAVOINE
Rendering Engineers........................................ALEJANDRO CONTY, CHRISTOPHER KULLA, CLIFFORD STEIN
Senior Shader Writer......................................................................................................................ADAM MARTINEZ
Shader TD..........................................................................................................................................DEREK HAASE
Technical Animation Pipeline Supervisor............................................................................................DAN SHEERIN
Animation Lighting Set-Up Pipeline TD................................................................................................AMY HRONEK
Software Supervisors..................................................................ARMIN BRUDERLIN, BRIAN HALL, BLAIR ZAJAC
Lead Software Engineers.........................................................COTTALANGO LEON LOORTHU, J. ROBERT RAY
Senior Software Engineers...............................................................CHRISTOPHER BURDOLF, ALAN DAVIDSON
Software Developers/Engineers
ALEXANDER GALINDO, DAVE KRIEGER, GEO SNELLING, ANDREA K. SOLIS, BRIAN WONG
Pipeline Technical Directors............................................................................CHRISTIAN AUBERT, DAN ZIEGLER
Vice President Recruiting and Artist Development.........................................................................DIANE ST. CLAIR
Supervisor Production Training........................................................................................................J.C. CORNWELL
Digital Trainers.......................................................................................................BEAU CASEY, DAN GUTIERREZ
Associate Artist Management and Internship Program Manager..................................................CHAD HELLMUTH
Artist Managers...............................................................................................................................ANNETT GOUGH
Finance Manager...............................................................................................................................DREW BOESEL
Accout Manager..........................................................................................................................CHARLES SMYTHE
Production Accountant....................................................................................................ELIZABETH ANGERMEIER
Payroll Administrator............................................................................................................................ANDREW LAU
Assistant to VP of Finance.....................................................................................................................DEL DOZIER
Director Procurement Administration.................................................................................................DAPHNE RYAN
Procurement Manager......................................................................................................................DARREN WILLS
Director of Recruiting..................................................................................................................................JANA DAY
Digital Recruiting Coordinator...........................................................................................................D.J. KIRKBRIDE
Lead Systems Engineer.....................................................................................................DERRICK MacPHERSON
Senior Systems Engineers...............................................DAN LAKE, DAVID MIYA, DEAN MIYA, ALEX WALLACE
Systems Engineers
GERARDO DE LA CRUZ, FARNOOSH KAIHANI, FRED LACAYANGA, ALEX LOSTAUNAU, DAN VILLARREAL
Systems Administrators
GARRETT COX, ADAM FUKUSHIMA, CHRISTOPHER OEY, IVO PANAYOTOV, ANGEL TRUJILLO
System Administrator Associate........................................................................................DANIEL KLEINSCHRODT
Gallery
Oz the Great and Powerful/Gallery
References
- ↑ First Synopsis for Sam Raimi’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Starring James Franco
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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Films and Television
