Return to Oz
From Oz Wiki
Return to Oz is a film produced by Walt Disney Pictures in 1985. It was produced by Paul Maslansky, and directed by Walter Murch from a screenplay by Murch and Gill Dennis. Star Wars veteran Gary Kurtz was executive producer.
The movie is based loosely on the books Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz. The film was thought by many to be a sequel to the classic 1939 film, to which it bears little resemblence. It has since become a cult classic.
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Summary
After Dorothy Gale returns to Kansas, no one believes her story. When she suffers from insomnia, Aunt Em, desperate to help her neice, has Dorothy admitted to an insane asylum, where she is threatened with electroshock treatments by the Doctor in charge. Dorothy escapes, and, following a flood, finds herself back in the Land of Oz. There she learns that the Nome King has taken over Oz and has destroyed the Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. Dorothy and her new friends, Billina the chicken, Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok, and the head of a Gump, must stop the Nome King and the witch Mombi (who wants Dorothy's head for her collection) and restore Princess Ozma to the throne.
Cast
- Fairuza Balk as Dorothy
- Nicol Williamson as Nome King/Doctor
- Jean Marsh as Mombi/Nurse
- Pons Marr as Wheeler/Worker/Messenger
- Piper Laurie as Aunt Em
- Emma Ridley as Ozma
- Matt Clark as Uncle Henry
- Sean Barrett, Tim Rose, and Michael Sundin as Tik-Tok
- Mak Wilson, Denise Bryer as Billina
- Stewart Larange, Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead
- Stephen Norrington, Lyle Conway as The Gump
- Justin Case as The Scarecrow
- John Alexander as The Cowardly Lion
- Deep Roy as The Tin Man
- Bruce Boa as Policeman
- Tansy as Toto
Background
Will Vinton created the Claymation Nome King. Special effects were overseen by Zoran Perisic, as director of the model and process unit and visual effects consultant. The coronation scene at the movie's end includes Oz characters that do not appear elsewhere in the film: the Frogman, the Patchwork Girl, Polychrome, even Cap'n Bill holding the Magic Flower.
The film was shot in England, on London sound stages plus some exteriors on Salisbury Plain. Freddy Francis, the project's original cinematographer, left after four weeks, unable to agree with director Murch; Francis was replaced by David Watkin. The result was the Francis shot the Kansas material, while Watkin shot Oz. The shoot fell behind schedule, and rumors held that Disney executive Richard Berger wanted to fire Murch. Murch's friends in the business, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, visited the set to provide encouragement.
Kurtz worried that the script was too dark, and solicited Murch for revisions. Murch was unenthusiastic, but allowed new writers to be brought in to inject humor and a lighter tone. Little of their work survived into the finished product, however.
The Disney studio regime changed twice during the making of Return to Oz. By the time the film was ready for audiences, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg were in charge of the company. Kurtz later complained that their new regime abandoned the Oz film, neglecting to promote it effectively, since it was not one of their projects. (Still, Kurtz recognized that the main problem with the film was its grim and "morose" tone.) The film cost $24,000,000 to make, but earned only half that sum at the box office.
The science fiction author Joan D. Vinge wrote a novelization of the movie's script, also called Return to Oz (1985).
References
- Anonymous, "Return to Oz Revisited: an interview with Gary Kurtz," The Baum Bugle, Vol. 39 No. 2 (Autumn 1995), pp. 4-13.
