NPS PUBLISHED ON JULY 27, 2011 BY RICKY IN BLOG

The press release came in today announcing the commencement of shooting on Sam Raimi‘s Oz the Great and Powerful, which stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. Cinematographer Peter Deming (Evil Dead II, Drag Me to Hell) is back on Raimi’s crew and along with him is an all star lineup of technical wizards including two-time Academy Award–winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Alice in Wonderland, Avatar), Oscar-winning film editor Bob Murawski (The Hurt Locker, the Spider-Man trilogy), veteran Oscar-nominated costume designer Gary Jones (Spider-Man 2), visual effects Oscar winner Scott Stokdyk (Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man) and Academy Award–winning special makeup artist Howard Berger (The Chronicles of Narnia series). Keep your eyes peeled for this bad boy because you know it will be nothing short of great. Below is the official press release. Enjoy!

Pontiac, MI., July 26, 2011—Walt Disney Pictures’ fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,”  directed by Sam Raimi, went in front of the cameras at the brand-new Raleigh Studios in Pontiac, Michigan, on Monday, July 25, 2011, boasting a stellar cast that includes Academy Award® nominee James Franco (“127 Hours”) as the young wizard, Golden Globe® nominee Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”) as the witch Theodora, Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz (“The Constant Gardener”) as Kunis’ sister Evanora and two-time Oscar®-nominated actress Michelle Williams (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine”) as Glinda, the Good Witch.

The cast also includes Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Zach Braff (“Scrubs,” “Garden State”), who will play Franco’s circus assistant as well as lend his vocal talents to one of the CGI creatures in the story — Finley, the winged monkey who accompanies the magician on his journey to Oz; and 12-year-old actress Joey King (“Ramona and Beezus”), who will voice another CGI character in the story, China Girl, who also joins the future Wizard on his excursion through Oz.

“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.

The film will be produced by industry veteran Joe Roth, along with executive producers Grant Curtis (the “Spider-Man” trilogy, “Drag Me to Hell”), Philip Steuer (“The Chronicles of Narnia” series) and Palak Patel. The screenplay was written by Mitchell Kapner, (“The Whole Nine Yards”) and David Lindsay-Abaire (“Rabbit Hole,” “Robots”).

Raimi has assembled his own band of technical wizards and movie magicians on the project, which includes cinematographer Peter Deming (“Mulholland Dr.,” “Drag Me to Hell”), two-time Academy Award®–winning production designer Robert Stromberg (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Avatar”), Oscar®-winning film editor Bob Murawski (“The Hurt Locker,” the “Spider-Man” trilogy), veteran Oscar®-nominated costume designer Gary Jones (“Spider-Man 2,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”), visual effects Oscar® winner Scott Stokdyk (“Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man”) and Academy Award®–winning special makeup artist Howard Berger (“The Chronicles of Narnia” series), who will create the looks of several of the unique denizens of Oz, including creatures such as the Whimsies, the Tinkers and the Winkies, as well as the ghastly look of the Wicked Witch of the West

Production on “Oz The Great and Powerful” will take place entirely on site at the new Raleigh Michigan Studios, the 200,000 square foot sound stage facility in Pontiac, Michigan, once the location of General Motors’ Centerpoint business campus and truck manufacturing plant.

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It is in quite simply both. Set in actual stores, homes and salons on in the LOOP 48342­, actors and improve artists are peppered amongst the actual” townies”, their stories are “yarns’ that spin a web throughout the entire neighborhood and often embrace and include the tales and plights that are in FACT! Not only is it hard for the audience to discern between real and un real, it is often times difficult for the actual citizens of in the LOOP 48342­ to get a grasp on what is actually going on. In this ultra contemporary G1NBC TV On-Demand series, fantasy blurs with reality as we are introduced to the bizarre and the sublime the weird and the wonderful, the fantastic and funky inhabitants of one of the most colorful neighborhoods in North America.

Pontiac Michigan 48342 one mile from civilization but a thousand miles from reality. In the LOOP 48342 to understand the show it is important to first understand in the LOOP 48432­. Pontiac Michigan Downtown is a long thirty two miles from Detroit Michigan. There is the automotive capital just to the south with its stadiums, glistening granite towers, ghettos, waterfront walk. It is the hustle and bustle of the fifth largest city in America.

It is CORPORATE CITY, AND AUTOMOTIVE CITY U.S.A. and then there’s Pontiac. Rundown suburb of Detroit, Pontiac has since been turned into a vibrant and talked about place where…well…anything goes. There were some raised eyebrows at first but then the shops were opening back up and then the property values perked up and now everyone gets along with a great deal of acceptance and it’s because of this acceptance that Pontiac attracts those who might not fit in anywhere else, perhaps in the world! And now we’re going too exploit the heck out of these wonderful people with a nationally syndicated G1NBC TV On-Demand series.

in the LOOP 48432­ will make you cry, it’ll make you laugh, but mostly it will entertain you as you watch every shape, size, gender, color, religion and sexual adventurer blend into this one of a kind, wonderfully tolerant world that is in the LOOP 48432­.

You can click your heals three times and say….”There’s no place like “OZ” AND I’M NOT GOING HOME!

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