Pic, of which script will be penned by Josh Olson, will be closer to a sequel than a remake of the previous adaptations of L. Frank Baum�s book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
- Aug 27, 2007
AceShowbiz - Set to create a very different version of L. Frank Baum�s "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", Warner Bros. Pictures is joining forces with Village Roadshow Pictures to work on "Oz", a revisionist take on the author�s popular children book based on an idea by Todd McFarlane, who made a grotesque twist to the tale through his "Twisted Land of Oz" action figures.
McFarlane�s idea, whose vision of "Oz" is a dark, edgy and muscular PG-13, was fleshed out and pitched by "A History of Violence" scribe Josh Olson, who will pen the screenplay for the project. McFarlane himself reportedly is poised to produce alongside Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road with Rick Benattar to executive produce.
"My pitch was 'How do we get people who went to 'Lord of the Rings' to embrace this?'" McFarlane said. "I want to create (an interpretation) that has a 2007 wow factor. You've still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she's much closer to the Ripley from 'Alien' than a helpless singing girl."
Meanwhile, though refused to reveal the plot details of the flick, Olson was noted to remark that the film will be closer to a sequel than a remake.
"The appealing thing about the Baum books to me is how wildly imaginative they are. There are crazy characters from amazing places. I want this to be 'Harry Potter' dark, not 'Se7en' dark," he told Variety.
In a follow-up report, however, Olson later was noticed to post a statement on the Publisher's Weekly blog informing the movie "has no connection whatsoever to those action figures" and he actually never met McFarlane as well as heard his take though he did admit that it was the man idea to bring back Oz which sparked the whole process.
"...It's all built around Baum's characters, Baum's world, and Baum's vision, " the man claimed while assuring his story for the film will be "faithful to the spirit and tone" of Baum�s work also advising moviegoers to not expect it to go beyond Harry Potter dark. "I think Oz fans will recognize my love for the source material, and will be very happy with the finished result."
