Is it time to remake the Wizard of Oz?

superdoug wrote:Fine. Here we go.


THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ -- Casting Choices


Dorothy: Ariel Winter



Glinda, Good Witch of the South: Amy Adams



Scarecrow: Doug Jones



Tin Woodman: David Tennant



Cowardly Lion: Gerard Butler



The Wizard: John Lithgow



Wicked Witch of the West: Michelle Pfeiffer

cool casting Doug!

Joshua wrote:I would be down with a Henry Selick-directed stop motion adaptation of the material. I think that eerie vibe stop motion tends to illicit is perfect for the land of Oz.

superdoug wrote:

Joshua wrote:I would be down with a Henry Selick-directed stop motion adaptation of the material. I think that eerie vibe stop motion tends to illicit is perfect for the land of Oz.

Except that Oz isn't an eerie landscape. It's a fairy land, full of bright sunshine and talking animals. Sure, there are places in Oz that are creepy, but the story itself and the landscape do not lend itself to an eerie sort of retelling, no matter WHAT the fuck Todd McFarlane says.

True that. I don't mind a good balance of dark and light as long as it's not McFarlane-ish either. I hate his Cowardly Lion.

Now here's my picks for the main characters and some physical characteristics I want added in which could be stop motion or live action;

Abigal Breslin as Dorothy Gale (a young looking girl not a later aged teen)
Bryan Cranston as Uncle Henry (very good man, good shape to be working on farm)
Nancy Robertson as Aunt Em (same as above)
David Hyde Pierce as Scarecrow (Old time looking Scarecrow with a big thing around the head where his brain could be put in and acts normal, crazy and stupid at differing points)
James McAvoy as The Tin Woodsman (somewhat resembling a art-deco robot and a bit of a suit of medievil armor with no emotion)
James Gandolfini as the Cowardly Lion (big as an average Lion that can walk a short distance on his two back paws before going back on all fours and extremly nervous and jumpy)
Deborah Jo Rupp as the Witch of the North
Cloris Leechman as the Wicked Witch of the East (both as a counterpoint to each other)
Rachel McAdams as Glinda the Witch of the South (same as the witches of the North and East)
Michelle Phieffer as The Wicked Witch of the West (eyepatch, carries around Umbrealla to deflect water)
Robin Wiliams as The Wizard
Sir Ian McKellen as The King of the Winged Monkeys (close to the size of an average Gorilla with the FM as big Capuchin monkeys)
Creed Bratton as The Soldier with the Green Whiskers
Chevy Chase as The Hungry Tiger (size of a large Tiger)

Would we want to see a remake or a re-invisioning. The Wizard of Oz was initially writen to illustrate the roles of society and the government durring the Great Depression. Could they make a movie now with similar symbolism and tie it to current events in their representation and still have it be successful?

supervenom wrote:

Ska wrote:I'd love a remake!!!


...leave Tim Burton and Johnny Depp out of this.

what the fucking hell is with all the Tim Burton hate? has the world gone Emo????

I think Tim Burton makes the world emo. All his damn gloom and doom artsy fartsiness.

I like Tim Burton, and I love "creepy shit", but some of his movies - Charlie & Alice especially - just seem like they're made "creepy for creepy's sake". It feels overkill & unnecessary.

TENIME_art wrote:I like Tim Burton, and I love "creepy shit", but some of his movies - Charlie & Alice especially - just seem like they're maded "creepy for creepy's sake". It feels overkill & unnecessary.

^^^This.

supervenom wrote: what the fucking hell is with all the Tim Burton hate? has the world gone Emo????

I don't hate Burton..
He's my favorite director.

Ska wrote:
I think Tim Burton makes the world emo. All his damn gloom and doom artsy fartsiness.

hrdwrkngXsoldier wrote:Would we want to see a remake or a re-invisioning. The Wizard of Oz was initially writen to illustrate the roles of society and the government durring the Great Depression. Could they make a movie now with similar symbolism and tie it to current events in their representation and still have it be successful?

Complete speculation. There is no evidence that this is the case, particularly since the bulk of the book series was written at least fifteen years before the Great Crash of 1929.

hrdwrkngXsoldier wrote:Would we want to see a remake or a re-invisioning. The Wizard of Oz was initially writen to illustrate the roles of society and the government durring the Great Depression. Could they make a movie now with similar symbolism and tie it to current events in their representation and still have it be successful?

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. The first Oz book was written nearly 30 years before the Great Depression started.

Was it about the guilded age then?... great now I have to research. There have been worse recessions in our nation than the great depression I know, but I always thought that the OZ-GD thing was true. Thats what I get for believing a highschool history book blurb.

superdoug wrote:I'm so tired of people going on and on about The Office. I cannot watch it, and I certainly wouldn't want that stink on my Wizard of Oz movie. Nor would I want Seth Rogan's loser B.O. on it. I could take Steve Carrell, but only as the Cowardly Lion.

My modified V.O. cast:

Dorothy: Lea Michele (from Glee)
Scarecrow: Kelsey Grammar
Tin Woodman: David Hyde Pierce
Cowardly Lion: Steve Carrell
Wizard: John Lithgow
Wicked Witch: Jane Lynch
Good Witch of the South: Amy Adams (alternately, Julie Bowen)

Alright, Doug...this thread is about Wizard of Oz, not about your hate for The Office. Get back on topic, plz.


I think you've got Lion and Scarecrow mixed. Grammar has too booming of a voice to be the dopey Scarecrow, but just as he played Beast in X3, he would make a great lion.

I do love the idea of Gandolfini as Lion, too.

Also, I don't think that Burton's formula for Charlie and Alice was to "goth" either up. I didn't get that idea from either. I would've PREFERRED that, actually.

Burton is a great filmmaker...it's a shame that two of his biggest box office successes are clearly the bottom of the barrel in regards to his filmography.

"Charlie" wasn't gothed at all. It was a FAIR AND ACCURATE representation of Dahl's novel, unlike the Gene Wilder vehicle of the 70s, much as I love that version.

superdoug wrote:"Charlie" wasn't gothed at all. It was a FAIR AND ACCURATE representation of Dahl's novel, unlike the Gene Wilder vehicle of the 70s, much as I love that version.

Agreed. If anything the 70s version is the "gothier" of the two, what with that freaky-ass boat ride. While Burton's earlier work has obvious gothic overtones, his more recent stuff is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Except for Sweeney Todd, obviously.

Silent K wrote:Except for Sweeney Todd, obviously.

I would say that was more in line with the source material though, rather than Burton adding his own gothic flair to it, but yes, it's definitely his darkest work as of late.

Okay, here's my quick personal cast pick. I didn't cast specifically for the first book, instead I casted for the characters I can remember in the books off the top of my head:

Dorthy:?
Wizard: Kenneth Branagh
Scarecrow: Doug Jones (superdoug, I thought this was perfect and just couldn't think of anyone better)
Cowardly Lion: Brian Blessed
Tin Man:?
Glinda: Kate Blanchett
Wicked Witch of the West: Michelle Pheiffer (honestly, after Stardust I can't really think of anyone else)
Knome King: Christopher Lee
Mombi: Helena Bonham Carter
General Jinjur: Katee Sackhoff
Woggle Bug: Craig Ferguson
Shaggy Man: Tom Baker
Ugu the shoemaker: Jeremy Irons

Foreigner_Man wrote:Okay, here's my quick personal cast pick. I didn't cast specifically for the first book, instead I casted for the characters I can remember in the books off the top of my head:

Dorthy:?

oh yeah, I've heard a good buzz of ?'s performance in small roles, this could be ?'s big break!

No. *says the ant* The Wizard of Oz was already remade and that was by The Wiz which Michael Jackson stole the show from. But I'm afraid this will happen no matter what.

ChrisToPhenom wrote:No. *says the ant* The Wizard of Oz was already remade and that was by The Wiz which Michael Jackson stole the show from. But I'm afraid this will happen no matter what.

Didn't that happen in like, 1978 or something? That's a long enough wait for another remake. Was the Wiz any good?

Spider_Fan14 wrote:

ChrisToPhenom wrote:No. *says the ant* The Wizard of Oz was already remade and that was by The Wiz which Michael Jackson stole the show from. But I'm afraid this will happen no matter what.

Didn't that happen in like, 1978 or something? That's a long enough wait for another remake. Was the Wiz any good?

The stage play is awesome...the movie, not so much. There are some shining moments in it, but overall the cast was very mismatched in terms of talent, and it really showed in the scenes with all four of the protagonists.

I don't consider The Wiz to be a remake of the Wizard of Oz. It's a retelling, much like Wicked.

superdoug wrote:

Spider_Fan14 wrote:

ChrisToPhenom wrote:No. *says the ant* The Wizard of Oz was already remade and that was by The Wiz which Michael Jackson stole the show from. But I'm afraid this will happen no matter what.

Didn't that happen in like, 1978 or something? That's a long enough wait for another remake. Was the Wiz any good?

The stage play is awesome...the movie, not so much. There are some shining moments in it, but overall the cast was very mismatched in terms of talent, and it really showed in the scenes with all four of the protagonists.

I don't consider The Wiz to be a remake of the Wizard of Oz. It's a retelling, much like Wicked.

good point Doug.

ever watch Tin Man Superdoug?

Ugh. Tin Man was so dumb...I have no idea why they even said it was about Oz. It had about as much relevance to the Wizard of Oz as Wild At Heart.

It had the potential to be interesting; Alice was certainly an interesting take on Wonderland, but Tin Man failed to deliver, in spite of having Zooey Deschanel and Alan Cumming in the lead roles.

superdoug wrote:Ugh. Tin Man was so dumb...I have no idea why they even said it was about Oz. It had about as much relevance to the Wizard of Oz as Wild At Heart.

It had the potential to be interesting; Alice was certainly an interesting take on Wonderland, but Tin Man failed to deliver, in spite of having Zooey Deschanel and Alan Cumming in the lead roles.

have yet to see Alice. I enjoyed Tin Man. It was something different. Still got to find some of the OZ books and read them. Love Return to OZ. That Gnome King was creepy.

supervenom wrote:Still got to find some of the OZ books and read them.

Your local public library should have a number of the Baum books, as long as you don't mind going into the children's section to find them. They're also available in paperback on Amazon.

Please, read the Baum books before you read the Thompson books. While I love some of Thompson's stories, they lack most of the magic that permeates Baum's novels. The Nome King, Ruggedo, only appears in four of Baum's books. (Ozma of Oz, the Emerald City of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, and The Magic of Oz) He may or may not be the person who succeeded the Gnome King that appeared in Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.