The country of Oz, perhaps surprising and familiar to every child, was created by the writer Lyman Frank Baum from the USA. The stories and characters he invented became classics of children's literature, giving rise to many adaptations, including the film “Oz: The Great and Terrible”. The picture, in fact, is a prequel telling about the past of a powerful sorcerer from the Emerald City. Most of the heroes of the film migrated to it directly from the pages of Baum's books, but there are fictional characters among them.
Plot of the film
It’s not easy to get into an amazing fairyland. The hurricane, which is likely to further transfer the girl Dorothy and the dog Toto to it, initially brought down all its power to the circus tent from Kansas. In Oz, he grabbed the magician Oscar Diggs, adventurous and prone to fraud, but generally good. In pursuit of fame and fortune, he had already decided that he had caught luck by the tail, finding himself in new lands. However, the magician is drawn into a confrontation of truly epic proportions with the participation of three sorceresses against their will.
Many eminent actors claimed for a role in the film. Oz: Great and Terrible is a movie about the eternal confrontation between good and evil. The deceiving circus will have to endure unusual adventures, restore justice in a fabulous country and learn real magic.
Film crew
The director of the film is Sam Reilly - the creator of the trilogy about the evil dead and the film adaptation of the comics about Spider-Man, as well as the thriller “Take Me to Hell”. However, he did not lead the project right away, before that Adam Shankman and Sam Mendes claimed the place . Bright, naturalistic and interesting film was created not only by the director and famous actors.
“Oz: The Great and Terrible” is a joint work of all the people who participated in the project. Robert Stromberg - production designer, winner of the Oscar figurine, did not stand aside. It was he who created the scenery for 24 sites on which the action took place. Thanks to his efforts, the viewer saw the famous yellow brick road and the Emerald City itself, as well as the Throne Hall of the Witches, the Dark and Bizarre Forest, etc.
Costumes and props
The design team Gary Jones prepared for the filming of more than 1,500 costumes, wearing a lot of actors: from dwarf chewers to giants. Titanic work took about 23 weeks, because only 200 main dresses were prepared for the main characters. German designer M. Kutsche worked on the costumes of witches, controlling the process and the correspondence of the final result to the ideas of R. Stromberg. The actors themselves partly participated in the creation of the outfits. "Oz: The Great and Terrible" strikes the imagination of not only children, but also adults, because everyone needs a fairy tale.
James Franco (starring actor) throughout the film stays in a three-piece suit, but even painstaking work was done on it, for this G. Jones carefully studied fashion from 1880-1930.
When shooting the picture, more than 3000 units of props were used, and 1400 of them were created manually and especially for this film. Add 5,000 more exclusive coins featuring F. Baum on one side and the yellow brick road on the other, made specifically for the chest stolen from the treasury.
The Wizard Oscar Diggs
Oscar Franco, the leading role-playing magician and trickster, has known the director since his work on Spider-Man, in which he appeared before the audience in the image of Harry Osborne. To make the film "Oz: The Great and Terrible" as realistic as possible, the actor had to learn several "magic" tricks. For this, L. Barton (a magician from Las Vegas) worked with him for two weeks. As a result, D. Franco learned to remove various objects from the cylinder, mastered the tricks with fire and pigeons.
D. Depp and R. Downey Jr. also claimed the main role of the wizard. Their participation was hindered by employment in other projects: Gloomy Shadows and Avengers, respectively.
Wizards of Oz
While traveling through a magical land, three charming sorceresses-sisters appear on the path of Oscar Diggs: Theodore, Evanor and Glinda. The first two, as it turns out, are the evil witches of the West and East.
The moment a magician arrives in a magical land, she is controlled by a beautiful and powerful sorceress Evanora. For this role in the film "Oz: The Great and Terrible" Rachel Weisz was not immediately approved. The main candidates were Hilary Suank and Michelle Williams, but the actress literally fell in love with the image and went through auditions, and after a two-hour conversation with the director was approved.
The image of Theodora went to Mila Kunis, and in the course of the picture the appearance of the sorceress underwent significant changes. Fooled by a magician, she loses the last grains of good in her soul and begins the struggle for the throne. By the way, many actors underwent external changes with the help of makeup and computer graphics.
Oz: The Great and Terrible was released in traditional 2D and 3D formats. For the role of Theodora M. Kunis received the MTV award in 2014 in the nomination "Best villain."
Michelle Williams played the good sorceress Glinda, and at the same time the former beloved Diggs from the real world. It was approved after R. Weiss was chosen for the role of Evanora.
The budget of the painting "Oz: The Great and Terrible" (release date in Russia - March 7, 2013) amounted to more than two hundred million dollars, and box office fees exceeded it twice.