Wednesday
02Sep2009
Todd McFarlane on 'Oz,' Dakota Fanning as Dorothy
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 3:40AM
He's giving The Wizard of Oz a new look, and now Todd McFarlane (Spawn) is talking about what he has in mind. First things first: It's a sequel, not a
remake, but it's really more of a re-imagining, because it's the same set of circumstances with
different characters and a darker tone.
"I essentially pitched Lord of the Rings. It was big, it was bold and it wasn't a very pretty place. It was badass! There’s no Baum in it at all. When they bought it from me, my thing was, turn off the MGM mindset. It's a public domain property, let's go invent some cool new ideas, which basically will surprise people. What's going to get a new generation to go look at Oz is if you reinvent it on some level. Not every single level, but some of them have to be new."It could be that this movie goes into production next spring, and McFarlane admits that's probably what the studio wants, but there are always things that can change that schedule. With Alice in Wonderland opening in March, though, it could be imperative from the studio's perspective to race to get something similar in theaters.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Adaptations, Classics, Dakota Fanning, Sequels | Print Article | Email Article | 3 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (3)
Um... yeh and what happened with that whole comeback Spawn thing? Does McFarlane have anything that says he can pull off a successful movie in his background? Just showing up with a name, an idea and an ego really shouldn't merit serious attention. For that matter, why is it that so many of these updates, remakes, altered visions of films that have come before seek to go "darker" with the material? Is it The Dark Knight effect or just some belief that unless it's in stark contrast to the original no one will go see it?
This just in, filming to begin soon on Mir. Rogers' Neighborhood. When the normally friendly postman Mr. McFeely gets a little too hands on there's only one man to put a stop to his mayhem, Mr. Rogers! Watch him shed the cardigan and unleash the whupass! You'll want him to be... your neighbor!
That sounds badass. I hope the trolley is bristling with weapons.
They could return to the book's original intention which was an allegory for American monetary policy preceding the decades before the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. I mean if that doesn't sound like box office hit I don't know what does.