Caffeinated Clint
What’s up with Sam Raimi’s “Oz : The Great and Powerful” I wonder?
I mean, first it lost Robert Downey Jr a guy who, let’s face it – anyone else see “Due Date”? – is known to stumble his way into shit river now and then. Now, its lost Johnny Depp… a guy stuck in the river… for some years now… sharing an oar with a breast-stroking Tim Burton. For Depp to pass on something, that’s a worry.
I like Raimi, but I know his fan club isn’t quite as big as say, Burton’s or Fincher’s – you either love his stuff, or don’t like his stuff. He’s an acquired taste. I, for one, love Raimi’s films – “Evil Dead”, “Darkman”, “Spider-Man”, “A Simple Plan”, “For Love of the Game”… ’em all (but “Spider-Man 3”) but I can see where an actor mightn’t ‘get’ what he’s trying to accomplish with a certain project. You’ll recall that Ellen Page was originally attached to star in Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell”. She jumped ship pretty quickly which is why the far-less-appealing (box-office speaking) Alison Lohman was brought onboard. Page wasn’t as confident as her director that the film was going to be a doozie (which it was) so she kindly asked be cut loose. Fair enough. Seems that’s what’s going on with this “Wizard of Oz” prequel that Raimi’s been trying to get off the ground – Downey and now Depp lost interest. And quickly.
The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t say why Depp passed on the film – the story of a young illusionist with a grandiose attitude who is forced to flee a traveling circus. His hot air balloon is swept up by a tornado to the land of Oz, which is run by two magical wicked witches – but there’s likely a number of possible explanations : For one, he mightn’t have been able to work around his “Lone Ranger” schedule to fit it in or maybe, he thought the role of ‘Oz’ was a little too close to the Mad Hatter or Willy Wonka (which, if you think about it, he could be). Or, as I said, it could be that Depp couldn’t make much sense of the film or Raimi’s plans for it. Another possible scenario is that the role of ‘Oz’ wasn’t going to be wacky and weird enough for Depp with Raimi slamming a final nail in the coffin with his ‘No futterwacken’ request?
So who does Raimi go to now? He’s now being forced to call in a favour, he’s offering the role of Oz to his “Spider-Man” star James Franco who, thanks to his turn in “127 Hours”, is one of the most popular actors around at the moment. I don’t see it… but then I didn’t see Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man either. It worked.
Wonder if Spidey’s upset that Raimi went to Harry Osborn first?
