Oz the Great and Powerful

IMDb Rating
	6.4

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]

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