Disney's upcoming Oz, The Great and Powerful doesn’t exactly boast the most solid production history, but things are certainly looking up for the Wizard of Oz prequel, as Mila Kunis is now expected to play the iconic Wicked Witch of the West. According to Vulture, the That 70’s Show alum recently met with director Sam Raimi and James Franco, who’s been circling Oz’s titular role.
All three determined that Kunis would make for the ideal Theodorah, sister of Evanorah, Wicked Witch of the East, and eventual Wicked Witch of the West. As of right now, the role of Evanorah has yet to be cast, but it seems as though these two are officially on board. The film begins shooting this July, so expect announcements soon.
The trade off, however, is that it looks like Kunis will be turning down the live-action adaptation of Akira, a manga that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Warner Bros. gave Albert Hughes, who will be directing this adaptation, permission to cast Kunis as female protagonist Kei, since the studio wants an A-lister to carry the film to fiscal success due to its costliness. The two also worked together on last year's The Book of Eli.Vulture also reports that Warner Bros. offered Brad Pitt the leading role of Kaneda, but earlier this week he refused to sign on, which is no surprise —everyone ideally wants Brad Pitt. Franco had also been offered Kaneda according to some reports, but it looks like the project hasn't quite found favor.
I loved Kunis’s fiery and surprisingly intelligent performance in Black Swan. She does some very intense psychological work as “rival ballerina” Lily in a fairly limited role, and even picked up some major awards attention for her work. I also enjoy her voice work as Meg on Family Guy.I’ll ultimately trust that Franco and Raimi (who made three "Spider-Man" films together lest we forget), know what they’re talking about and look forward to the final product regardless of my hesitation. It’s still unfortunate that the Akira adaptation isn’t getting off the ground; that sounds like it could be a great film waiting to happen.
How do you feel about Mila Kunis as the Wicked Witch of the West?