And so the roundabout of possible directors for Wizard of Oz prequel Oz, The Great and Powerful creaks around to another likely candidate: according to Vulture, Sam Raimi has been offered the job.
With Robert Downey Jr still rumoured to be attached to play the man who will become the Wizard, this one has been showing its colourful bum to directors like a lustful monkey in the zoo for ages. Sam Mendes, Timur Bekmambetov and Adam Shankman had all been under serious consideration, before Mendes ditched the film for **On Chesil Beach and his commitments to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical. Shankman and Bekmambetov are still apparently in play, but Vulture’s sources say that Raimi has the offer.
Even the former Spider-wrangler has scheduling concerns, however. While he hasn’t truly announced his next project, he is attached to Warner/Legendary’s take on the **Warcraft **games and any number of other possible movies bubbling away within his own production company’s lab.
There’s no word yet on any official confirmation, with Disney taking its time finding the right person to guide the film, even as the studio is itching to get working on it.
And that’s no surprise, since the Hollywood landscape is suddenly crammed with possible Oz projects. Disney itself has a reboot of **Wizard **staggering along the Yellow Brick Road of development with producer Basil Iwanyk overseeing a Josh Olson script, and Warners/New Line working up a version called Oz, written by Darren Lemke of Shrek Forever After. Not forgetting the animated version of the original film, which has just announced the casting of Glee’s Lea Michele as Dorothy...