Famous since childhood heroes and actors who played them. "Oz: Great and Terrible" - an old tale told in a new light

Wonderful and familiar, perhaps, to every child Oz country was created by writer Lyman Frank Baum from the USA. He invented stories and characters became a classic of children's literature, having produced a lot of adaptations, including the film "Oz: Great and Terrible". The painting, in fact, is a prequel telling about the past of a powerful wizard from the Emerald City. Most of the film's heroes migrated to it directly from the pages of Baum's books, but there are also fictional characters among them.

The plot of the movie

In an amazing fairy-tale country, it's just not easy to get there. The hurricane, which is sure to later transfer the girl Dorothy and the dog Toto to her, initially brought down all his strength to the circus tent from Kansas. In Oz, he took a magician Oscar Diggs, adventurous and prone to fraud, but generally good. In pursuit of fame and fortune, he had already decided that he had caught his luck by the tail, finding himself in new lands. However, the magician is involved in a confrontation of a truly epic scale with the participation of three sorceresses against their will.

On the role in the film, many eminent actors claimed. "Oz: Great and Terrible" is a movie about the eternal opposition of good and evil. The circus-deceiver will have to go through unusual adventures, restore justice in a fairy-tale country and learn real magic.

Film crew

The director of the film is Sam Railey - the creator of the trilogy about the sinister dead and the adaptation of the story of the comic book about the Spider-Man, and also in his account the thriller "Drag Me to Hell." However, he did not immediately head the project, before Adam Shankman and Sam Mendes claimed the place . A bright, naturalistic and interesting film was created not only by the director and eminent actors.

"Oz: Great and Terrible" is the joint work of all the people who participated in the project. Robert Stromberg, the stage designer, holder of the Oscar statuette , did not stay aside . It was he who created the scenery for 24 sites on which the action of the picture unfolded. Thanks to his efforts, the viewer saw the famous road of yellow brick and the Emerald City itself, as well as the Witch's Throne Room, the Dark and Quaint Forest, and so on.

Costumes and props

Team designer Gary Jones has prepared for the shooting of more than 1500 costumes, dressing a lot of actors: from dwarfs chewing gum to giants. Titanic work took about 23 weeks, because only for the main characters were prepared 200 outfits. Over costume witches worked the German designer M. Kutsche, controlling the process and the correspondence of the final result to the ideas of R. Stromberg. In creating the outfits, actors themselves participated in part. "Oz: Great and Terrible" strikes the imagination not only of children, but also of adults, because a fairy tale is needed by everyone.

James Franco (the lead role) throughout the film is in a three-piece suit, but even over it was painstaking work, for this G. Jones carefully studied the fashion of 1880-1930.

At shootings of a picture more than 3000 units of a props were used, and 1400 from them are created manually and specially for this film. Add another 5,000 exclusive coins featuring F. Baum on one side and a road of yellow bricks on the other, made especially for a chest stolen from a treasure chest.

The Wizard Oscar Diggs

James - the performer of the title role of magician and deceiver Oscar Franco is familiar with the director since the work on the picture "Spider-Man", in which he appeared in front of the viewer in the image of Harry Osborne. To make the film "Oz: Great and Terrible" as realistic as possible, the actor had to learn several "magical" techniques. For this, L. Barton (a magician from Las Vegas) worked with him for two weeks. As a result, Franco learned to remove various objects from the cylinder, mastered the tricks with fire and pigeons.

The main role of the magician also claimed D. Depp and R. Downey Jr. Their participation was hampered by employment in other projects: "Dark Shadows" and "Avengers" respectively.

Enchantresses of Oz

During the trip through the magic country on the way of Oscar Diggs, three charming sorceress sisters appear: Theodora, Evanor and Glinda. The first two, as it turns out, are wicked witches of the West and the East.

At the moment when the magician arrives in a magical land, it is ruled by the beautiful and powerful witch Evanor. For this role in the film "Oz: Great and Terrible" Rachel Weiss was not approved right away. The main candidates were Hilary Swank and Michelle Williams, but the actress literally fell in love with the image and passed the auditions, and after a two-hour conversation with the director was approved.

The image of Theodora went to Mile Kunis, and in the course of the picture the appearance of the sorceress underwent significant changes. Deceived by a magician, she loses the last grain of good in her soul and starts fighting for the throne. By the way, many actors have undergone external changes with the help of makeup and computer graphics.

"Oz: Great and Terrible" was released in a traditional 2D and 3D format. For the role of Theodora M. Kunis won the MTV Award in 2014 in the category "Best villain."

A good sorceress Glinda, and at the same time and formerly beloved Diggs from the real world played Michelle Williams. It was approved after R. Weiss was chosen for the role of Evanor .

The budget picture "Oz: Great and Terrible" (the date of release in Russia - March 7, 2013) was more than two hundred million dollars, and the fees at the box office exceeded it twice.