USA: 'Oz the Great and Powerful' features flying monkeys and epic battles

Record ID: 221001

  • Title: USA: 'Oz the Great and Powerful' features flying monkeys and epic battles
  • Date: 14th February 2013
  • Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION (FILE) (WALT DISNEY PICTURES - MUST COURTESY WITH NO ARCHIVAL OR WIRELESS USE AND NO RESALE) "OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL" TRAILER CLIP
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA58HWDCVQ2BPRG073FLXFZCLRB
  • Story Text: Stars walked the yellow brick road carpet for "Oz the Great and Powerful" premiere in Hollywood on Wednesday (February 13).
    The event wouldn't be complete without James Franco waving to fans in a hot air balloon in the middle of a closed down Hollywood Boulevard.
    The film, directed by Sam Raimi ("Spider-Man"), is a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz."
    "What I loved about it as a kid is probably different than what I loved about it as an adult," said Michelle Williams, who plays Glinda, the good witch of the south. "As a kid, I don't know if you really know what you love about it, you're just in this magical world, and as an adult what I love about it is that it's a road trip movie."
    When Oscar Diggs (Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away in a hot-air balloon from dusty Kansas to the Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot - until he meets three witches, played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Williams.
    "How did I feel? Bad, evil, cruel, mean, manipulative, cunning, Machiavellian, you name it, all the bad things," said Weisz on playing the bad witch, Evanora. "She's having a lot of fun being bad. It's a family movie, so it's not a deep, psychological thing. It's not dark at all. She's just having a laugh being mean."
    "I think for me the most important thing about the script was the way the character was rendered," Franco said, on his starring role. "He was a comedic character and a guy that sort of, bumbled his way through. He wasn't perfect, he was flawed."
    After Oscar finds himself in the fantastical world, he encounters flying monkeys, epic battles and ornate castles. A trailer for the Disney release is stuffed with eye-popping visuals and a cotton candy color palette.
    "Oz the Great and Powerful" opens in U.S. theaters on March 8.
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