Robert Downey Jr Out, Johnny Depp Maybe In for Oz, The Great and Powerful

[Elizabeth Grunewald]

Robert Downey Jr Out, Johnny Depp Maybe In for Oz, The Great and Powerful

The Iron Man star has dropped out of the Oz prequel, and Disney is looking to Captain Jack Sparrow to fill the void.

Robert Downey Jr. was in place to star in Disney's Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel of sorts to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. The film tells the wizard's backstory, following the magician from his traveling circus career to his hot air balloon escape to the land of the Oz. Downey has recently backed out of the project, leaving The Great and Powerful without its Wizard of Oz. Disney is now eying their stalwart Johnny Depp to step into the role.

Even if he doesn't agree to appear in Oz, Depp will be a busy boy in 2011, as he has Dark Shadows coming up with frequent collaborator Tim Burton and The Lone Ranger for Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. Shadows begins shooting this spring, and Ranger, another Disney project, is not quite as far along. The Hollywood Reporter notes that "Disney clearly would love for Depp to do both, but if he commits to Oz, that pushes Ranger back," not to mention the rumored Pirates 5 and 6 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105829-Disney-Returning-to-the-High-Seas-with-Pirates-5-and-6].

Disney and Depp are creating quite a relationship: He stars as Captain Jack Sparrow in the studio's wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean films, and helped make Alice in Wonderland as one of the studio's unprecedented three films to gross over one billion dollars last year. Oz, the Great and Powerful will be directed by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man, Drag Me to Hell), but, with this casting setback, has neither a production start date nor a release date.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/robert-downey-jr-oz-johnny-73615]

Permalink

 

[SovietSecrets]

Why even bother making a prequel to a classic? Leave it be.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Why even bother making a prequel to a classic? Leave it be.

Disney needs another solid gold jet because the other three got some mosquitos squashed against window.

 

[tigermilk]

Why even bother making a prequel to a classic? Leave it be.

Disney needs another solid gold jet because the other three got some mosquitos squashed against window.

This, both points.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Wait, Sam Raimi is directing a Wizard of Oz prequel? How is it that I haven't heard anything about this until just now? How odd.

 

[Baradiel]

God, another Johnny Depp film. And ofcourse its based on another classic.

Depp needs to slow down. Yes hes popular at the moment, but too much and people will start losing interest.

 

[Jaebird]

I would not be surprised if Depp signed on, considering he's always in some weird role.

"Okay, now, hear me out, Johnny."
"Alright."
"You're playing a guy with scissors for hands--"
"SIGN ME UP!!"

 

[Blood Countess]

well we can expect another piece of shit to shit all over the original so disney can make a quick buck

 

[esperandote]

Sounds good to me, Robert Downey on the other hand.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Hmm..why make a prequel? Wasn't Return to Oz a sign that nothing else shoud be made that follows that story?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

You said a prequel to Oz, a world I wouldn't mind exploring more of, but wasn't really excited about it being about him coming to Oz. Then you said Sam Raimi, and suddenly I was excited. My opinion jumped from a full exuberant "meh..." to a nice, languishing "What what? Sam Raimi, you say? I shall monitor this post-haste!"

Though, if Disney allows the butchering of Oz like they allowed the butchering of Wonderland, I shall never trust them again. Raimi, I'm counting on you.

 

[standokan]

Maybe they shouldn't make a prequel, it'll flop, I'm sure.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I would not be surprised if Depp signed on, considering he's always in some weird role.

"Okay, now, hear me out, Johnny."
"Alright."
"You're playing a guy with scissors for hands--"
"SIGN ME UP!!"

Sounds like Nicholas Cage to me

OT: whats that Shadows movie about?

 

[SilverUchiha]

First off, this is the first I heard about pirates 5 and 6. I like it. I know a lot of people hated the sequels, but I think they are pretty good. So I'm looking forward to more of Sparrow's adventures. Just less Orlando Bloom please.

Second, ROBBY! NO! You're so damn awesome! I mean... sure, Depp getting the role is fine if you won't do it... but less Robby makes me sad... :'(

And as for the prequel, interesting concept. I'm just wondering what will fuck it up. I know something will because the premise sounds too good for Disney to handle properly.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Maybe they shouldn't make a prequel, it'll flop, I'm sure.

You mean like Alice in Wonderland that everyone here hated too? Which made about 800mil+ profit.

 

[Void Droid]

And the one piece of interest in this move I had is gone...

...can't stand Johnny Depp.

 

[Aurgelmir]

Oh no... not another Film with a Jack Sparrowesk character. Please for the love of god!

 

[Harkonnen64]

I think this has some potential. I've been reading several graphic novels recently that are based directly off of L. Frank Baum's books, and they have provided some really interesting locations and characters to the Oz world. If they stick to the source material, this could actually be a good movie.

 

[VanityGirl]

Johnny Depp is one of the best actors in the world in my opinion. I'm more excited about his upcoming roles in Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger though.

 

[FalloutJack]

Despite the nay-sayers...here's my thought:

Sam Raimi directs? Johnny Depp stars? Oh god, this'll be funny.