Eager to replicate the head scratching $1 billion dollar success of their revamped “Alice In Wonderland” earlier this spring, Disney set into motion “Oz The Great And Powerful,” a prequel of sorts to “The Wizard Of Oz.” Robert Downey Jr. soon began circling the the lead role of the wizard and directors Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman joined a shortlist of potential talent to helm the film.
Well, no one is officially on board yet, but the list of talent considering the project grows as according to Deadline, Timur Bekmambetov (“Day Watch,” “Wanted”) has now joined the short list. The director has been searching for a project ever since “Wanted 2” fell apart and has been attached a handful of projects including “Red Asphalt,” “The Witch Hunter” and “Moby Dick.”
“Oz The Great And Powerful” takes place about 50 years before the events in the original film and seems decidedly darker than that family friend tale. Here’s the Production Weekly rundown of the film:
Based on one of the many Frank Baum books, and a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, but told from the wizard’s point of view when he first enters Oz, 50 years before Dorothy. The Wizard is a young womanizing con artist who arrives in the land of Oz accidentally, and is mistaken to be a Wizard, playing along hoping to reap the riches of Oz, only to be thrown into a civil war of a royal family of three young women who later become the witches – 2 evil and 1 good.
PW also reports that Disney is looking to fast-track the film, and hopes to get it in front of cameras as early as next spring with a 3D shoot in mind (duh, of course). However, if Bekmambetov doesn’t get the gig, he’s also circling directorial duties on a film version of Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” ride (barf). That project was announced back in February as one of the tentpoles of Disney’s new “franchise only” production schedule, but Bekmambetov’s name is the first to surface as a potential director.
