Interviews
Joey King Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 11th
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is out now. My other interviews for the film can be found through the followings links (more to come): James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff. In the film Joey King plays China Girl, a girl from the village of China Town, where everything, even the inhabitants, is made of china. When destruction befalls her land, the brave, resilient China Girl encounters Oz and they strike up an unlikely friendship.
Like the characters of Annie/Glinda and Frank/Finley, China Girl also exists in the opening scenes in Kansas as a young girl confined to a wheelchair. Can you tell us how you meet Oz…. and how you kind of manipulate him?
Joey King: (Laughs) I do! In Kansas I play a girl in a wheelchair who’s crippled, and then in the Land of Oz I play China Girl. Finley the monkey; played by Zach Braff, and Oz; played by James Franco, they’re walking along going to the graveyard to kill the Wicked Witch, and they stumble upon China Town and they hear a little girl crying – me (laughs)! So they find me with my legs broken, my legs are shattered all on the floor as they’re made of porcelain. So Oz helps me, he glues my legs together and he picks me up along the way. He tries to depart from me and I’m like, “Na ah! I would not have that!” So I force him to take me along with him to kill the Wicked Witch…. I guess I’m a bit of a manipulator in the film (laughs), I do my little fake cry (laughs).
Mila Kunis Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 8th
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is out now. My other interviews for the film can be found through the followings links (more to come): James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff. In the film Mila Kunis plays Theodora, a beautiful, naive witch who is protected by her powerful sister Evanora. Theodora only wants peace to come to the Land of Oz and truly believes that a prophesied wizard will arrive someday to restore order.
I understand at first you had some trepidation when you were approached to play Theodora?
Mila Kunis: Yeah. I mean it was Sam Raimi first and ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ in the same sentence. It wasn’t so much intriguing as it was frightening to me, and that’s the truth. I went to meet Sam and what was supposed to be a thirty-minute meet ended up being like four hours long. We broke down the character and the script and grounded everything in reality, which was incredibly comforting to me. What I think intrigued me about it was the unknown. I’ve never done anything remotely close to this. In saying that, you have to challenge yourself, and I felt safe in the challenge because I was surrounded by people whom I respected so much – Sam first and foremost.
James Franco Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 7th
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is pencilled in for a March 8th release. My other interviews for the film can be found through the followings links (more to come): Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff.
I read that you grew up a fan of L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels, how was it jumping into this world he created? Also, what was it about this character of Oscar Diggs/Oz that appealed to you?
James Franco: Yeah, I’ve been a fan of the world of Oz since I was about 11, maybe younger. So I thought it was a really great opportunity to jump into the world of my childhood imagination. The character was written in a certain way – part goofball, part con man, part seducer, part vaudeville guy, all of which appealed to me. In some ways, he touches on many aspects of Americana, while being a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. A goofball and a dashing kind of guy, but a guy maybe not equipped in traditional ways to be a hero. He has unconventional ways of tackling his problems and fumbling through them (laughs). I love the character because of all that.
Zach Braff Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 6th
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is pencilled in for a March 8th release. In the film Zach Baff plays Frank in Kansas, and the winged monkey Finley in the Land of Oz.
‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is your first big budget studio film, how was that experience as both an actor and filmmaker?
Zach Braff: It’s been very different, most of the things that I’ve done have been smaller. With ‘Scrubs’ there was a budget, but on movies its been mostly smaller indie films. When Sam asked me to do this movie I was thrilled because I wanted to work with him, but also because I hadn’t even visited a movie this big before, let alone been in it (laughs). As a filmmaker myself, to get a chance to sit next to Sam Raimi and learn from him, it was like Grad school. I loved it. If you look at the scale that this movie is being done on, it’s epic. It was not just being done grand for grand’s sake, it’s under the design of Sam, who’s just an amazing auteur filmmaker. When I first started I thought it was going to be one of those movies where you’ll just be in front of a blue-screen all day long and then they paint in everything later. But the sets… man, they were just magnificent. It was such a wonderful experience.
Rachel Weisz Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 4th
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is pencilled in for a March 8th release. A witch to be feared, Evanora is Theodora’s over-protective sister. With her penetrating gaze, she exudes a powerful presence and has positioned herself as the royal adviser and protector of Emerald City.
What elements appealed to you about playing Evanora, and what challenges did you face playing her?
Rachel Weisz: I really liked how bad and wicked and manipulative Evanora is. She’s someone who has a lot of fun while she’s being bad, and that just struck me of being a kind of cool character (laughs). I loved being able to be a bad girl,. She’s truly rotten to her core. And I’ve never actually played a fantasy character before, this is the first time I’ve played a character who’s not from Earth. So I suppose that was a challenge, just to base someone completely on fantasy. That was a challenge, but that was also what was fun about it.
Michelle Williams Interview For ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’
Mar 3rd
Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking – that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well. ‘Oz The Great and Powerful’ is pencilled in for a March 8th release. In the film Michelle Williams play Glinda, a good witch who rules over a kingdom of simple, kind folk. Beautiful Glinda is not only a compassionate and benevolent witch, but also a fierce protector of her people. Though Glinda sees through Oz’s facade early on, she knows genuine goodness lies within and helps Oz achieve his true destiny.
What was your primary motivation for playing Glinda the good witch, or was there a range of things that grabbed your interest?
Michelle Williams: There was so many! It was a wonderful convergence of so many exciting reasons to take this movie on: I really wanted to work with director Sam Raimi, I wanted to make a movie for kids, and I wanted to play a character who brought out the best in human possibility. Also, I really wanted to make a movie that my daughter could see, and I was really excited to be a part of something that had an overall “good” message, and wasn’t kind of tainted with sarcasm or ill-humour (laughs). I was really excited to play Glinda, who is the embodiment of everything honest and unselfish and pure. I liked that (laughs). And working with Sam, he’s just a great guy, and to me that’s as important as him being a great director. He was somebody that I could always turn to or go to. He was like a touchstone on set for me. Sam’s my dream director, I love that he never loses his sense of humour.
