"Oz" Reimagined
In the most unexpected bit of news I could have possibly read today, Todd McFarlane will be producing a revisionist (read: darker) version of the venerable and beloved "Wizard of Oz" movie (by the most famous racist ever, Frank L. Baum.) This version, which will be called "Oz" will borrow from both the movie and Baum's books, and will inject a darker, modern sensibility with the injection of new plot points and tone by Josh Olson and McFarlane.
The movie will be made by Warner Bros. studio, which is a smart move given that a darker version of Oz is one of the best ideas for a movie remake i have ever heard. McFarlane agrees:
"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."
From the sound of things, Olson will be keeping McFarlane somewhat in check by making sure the film doesn't get too dark. Which is a shame, I'd love to see how utterly sinister this thing could get if it were all up to McFarlane:
"I saw those toys (note: McFarlane's "Wizard of Oz" toy line), 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."
movie, Todd McFarlane, Wizard of Oz, Josh Olson
I hate when they try to twist classic stories instead of just doing it right. And BTW How is L. Frank Baum a racist?
That sounds amazing. I was a fan of Pan's labyrinth, and would love to see more of these dark fantasy stories
Frank L. Baum wrote several screeds for a St. Louis paper calling for the eradication of Native Americans, he saw them as subhuman.
http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/baumedts.htm
L. Frank Baum, sorry, I always screw that up.
He actually said "The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are."
Weird. That was my High School Yearbook quote.