Talk about a hell of a cast for a Sam Raimi / Disney magical Wizard of Oz re-imagining. Variety is reporting that Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Synecdoche New York, Blue Valentine) has been cast as Glinda, the good witch, in Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful, in the works at Walt Disney Pictures. As the good witch, she will face off against her evil sisters, played by Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis, in a power struggle for control of the magical land of Oz. In addition, James Franco is set to play the snake oil salesman who becomes the great Wizard of Oz. Shooting on the massive fantasy film will begin in July in Michigan.
This project has been in the works at Disney for a few years, but it looks like they've finally pushed hard enough to get this into production before any of the other Wizard of Oz related projects. Sam Raimi, an exciting choice of director for this, will be working from a script by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), with Joe Roth producing. Williams has generally been an indie film actor, but is on the verge of breaking out, as long as she continues to take roles like this. She recently finished playing Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn and is also in Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz. I have a feeling this is going to turn out great. I love the cast, I love the director, it sounds like it will be quite the spectacle.
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