Recently Oscar nominated
James Franco is in
early talks to lead Sam Raimi's
The Great and Powerful Oz, the prequel to the Wizard of the Oz - which Robert Downey Jr bailed on and we now hear Johnny Depp has passed. Raimi gave Franco his first major role as Harry Osbourn in the Spider-Man movies. The movie which Warner Bros have been trying to get off the ground for the past year is seen as their Alice in Wonderland-esque, billion dollar re-imagining idea of a fairytale classic but have struggled to nail down an A-lister for the title role, probably because they keep going after actors who are constantly busy. Franco is no different - with
at least half a dozen projects that could be a go for him this year. Though he could put them all aside for Oz if he wanted to, but we should stress 'early talks' is such a vague term it could be nothing more at this stage than a phone call between Raimi and Franco, two old friends. Is Franco a good choice to portray the charismatic, charming, all Great and Powerful genius behind the curtain? He'd make a better Tin Man, I'd say...