By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
Everybody has their own take on books and Todd McFarlane has the most interesting idea of Oz, the same book that brought us Wizard of Oz.
Warners and McFarlane Team for Oz
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures are teaming up with Todd McFarlane to create Oz. The project is based on McFarlane's own vision of Oz and Dorothy that he put together with the help of Josh Olson (History of Violence).
McFarlane has a vision of Oz that is a dark, edgy and muscular PG-13, without a singing Munchkin in sight. That was clear with a toy line he launched several years ago that featured a buxom Dorothy and Toto reimagined as an oversized snarling warthog.
Josh Olson hopes to mellow this vision out a bit to drop the rating to PG.
Farlane's big-breasted Dorothy
"I saw those toys, and Dorothy as some bondage queen isn’t something I want to do," Olson told Daily Variety. "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 ‘Seven’ dark."
Both McFarlane and Olson are on the same page when it comes to the promise of marrying the Baum story with benefits of visual effects advancements.
"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."
Though Olsen isn't giving anything away in terms of story, he does admit that the film is more of a sequel than a remake. Leaving Dorothy big-breasted would also be a good start.
Add to Heffee!
