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Todd McFarlane's Revisionist Oz

by Alex Billington
August 22, 2007
Source: Variety

We all thought we were done with screwed up takes on the Oz universe when the 1985 half-sequel Return to Oz came out. Well that's no longer the case, as this time comic book artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane has created a new revisionist take on L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. The subsequent script was written by Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and was pitched to Warner Brothers - who liked it and have decided to pick it up!

What exactly does Todd McFarlane's revisionist take involve? While no in-depth story specifics would be revealed, it was stated that McFarlane has a vision of Oz that is a dark, edgy and muscular PG-13, without a singing Munchkin in sight. In addition, the film will apparently be closer to a sequel than a remake. Both McFarlane and Olson commented further on the project.

McFarlane clarified what his pitch was and a bit more on how it will feel.

"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."

Olson went on to confirm that it wouldn't be disgustingly dark, but rather something in a more familiar realm.

"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."

Although Olson wrote the script, McFarlane is attached to produce, just as he did with the Spawn movie. A Spawn-like Wizard of Oz? I'm not sure what to think of this, so let's only hope for the best, and not another Spawn.

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