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Oz: The Great & Powerful Directing Gig Offered to Sam Raimi

by Alex Billington
June 15, 2010
Source: Vulture

Update: I'm re-posting this news again today as Deadline has confirmed that Sam Raimi has indeed been fully signed and hired to direct Oz: The Great and Powerful. Raimi is moving forward and Disney hopes "that this pic will be a global hit like the billion-dollar-grossing Alice In Wonderland," but the script is being rewritten first before they take more steps forward with the project. Robert Downey Jr, who is supposed to play the Wizard in this origin story, "isn't [fully] set yet" but they're developing it for him. "The movie will happen," Deadline says, so get ready for a Raimi version of Oz in the next few years! Original story follows.

Robert Downey Jr. working with Sam Raimi? Oh please let it happen! Vulture is reporting that Sam Raimi has been offered the director's chair on the upcoming Disney project Oz: The Great and Powerful. This is the Wizard of Oz prequel that tells the origin story of the Wizard based on pieces from several of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books as well as his original ideas. It originally had Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Away We Go) attached as director, with Robert Downey Jr. circling the role of the Wizard, when it was announced in April. We also learned last week that Mendes had passed, which is why the offer is now out to Raimi instead.

The screenplay for Oz: The Great and Powerful is written by Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards, Into the Blue 2: The Reef). Apparently Raimi "received the official offer earlier this morning," but it's too early to tell if he's accepted or not, so there's always the chance he could pass as well. I don't like this skeptical kind of news, but I want this to happen just because I'd love to see Raimi tackle this story, he would be perfect for it, and would be able to put his unique touch on it as well. We're not exactly sure if Downey is still attached as the Wizard, but that would make things even better if he was. We'll let you know if Raimi accepts or not!

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions, Rumors

Jimmy Love

Wow um if its a Raimi movie I'll watch it. but since no one knows i'll just wait till I hear something.
8=D

what ever happened to world of warcraft?
Shawn Keim

What about Wicked?
Daniel Felts

Downey would be good as the Wiz. I wonder if he's doing Imperial Bedrooms.
The Man With No Name

If I had enough money to finance a movie, and Sam "the Evil Dead Spider-Man" Raimi asked me if he could have the funds to make a movie, I'd go into debt to make that project happen. Yes ma'm I'll be waitin' to see what happens.
http://movies.iconocritic.com peloquin

I agree with #2...WoW is still listed under his IMDB account, but I haven't heard anything about it in over a year. I would love to see his version of Oz though so now I'm torn over which I'd prefer.
movie mike

Ya, but wow would have been a disaster anyway. so im happy he moved on. this would be cool to see, sepecially if it had the master RDJ
David Banner

World of Warcraft script has yet to be written....
Craig

I would love to see RDJ as Oz. Raimi would be a good addition as well, but I also hope he can make time for Evil Dead 4 sooner or later.
Voice of Reason

Downey overload....its getting to be too much
Jimmy Love

wow actual news
Eli

Um okay. I don't like the sound of the project one bit. Sam Raimi? He jacked the Spiderman films up so bad that some fanboy decided to push for a reboot three years after the last one. I dont care for him too much. Downey is the man but perhaps he is becoming too much? It could be worse though. It could be helmed by Tim Burton.
Dan

I'd love to see Raimi and Downey Jr. on this!