Sam Raimi Demands That His Oz Movie Get Swank'd
Somewhere over the rainbow...some sh*t's about to go down. As Sam Raimi puts the gears in motion for his edgy, adult prequel to the Wizard of Oz, the be-suited director is drawing a line in the sand for Disney execs. Raimi is insisting that two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank play an elder witch in Oz, the Great and the Powerful, while the studio is demanding that Michelle Williams fill the role. Witch fight!
This isn't Raimi's first time flying his flag against the wishes of his studios. Sony studios famously wanted to cast Wes Bentley as Spider-Man while Raimi fought (and won, obviously) to have Tobey Maguire play the webbed wonder. And Raimi also walked away from Spider-Man 4 when he decided that the script wasn't up to snuff.
Oz is already suffering from the loss of John C. Reilly, who was in talk to play an assistant to James Franco's wizard, but will now be helping hungry children or something.
As for this witchy dust-up, I can't imagine that Michelle Williams, an idiosyncratic actress who usually finds herself in one shoebox diorama bleedingly-indie film after another, has ever thought that there'd be a big studio agitating on her behalf for a big budget effects spectacular. In general, I think Wiliiams is a stronger, more versatile actress than Hilary Swank, but I trust Sam Raimi. So if he's adamant about casting Swank, to the point of open rebellion, I say let Raimi get all Swanked up in this piece!
·Sam Raimi Wants Hilary Swank for Oz, Disney Not So Sure [Vulture]
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Hmm, it sounds odd to say the least. Like a witch is all the major studios think of Williams, ex-wife of the late Heath Ledger. Maybe what Raimi is saying here is "fine, if you want to go there why not pick on someone your own size in that area?" Tobey Maguire was already groomed having been in Cider House Rules and Pleasantville before Spider-Man. Wes Bentley's character was picked on in American Beauty. If that were the case, however vaguely hypothetical and off-base I am, I agree with Sam. How would the studios like to be marked and made a Darth Vader if something were manufactured to flop? This ain't nobody but me saying this but we're not on Yale campus here. You have been warned.