Earlier this week a scan from the Italian cinema magazine Primissima was uploaded online featuring the first look at James Franco in Sam Raimi‘s Oz the Great and Powerful. It was a pretty ugly scan so I didn’t post it, but I have since received a clear copy of the image, which I have still had to enlarge for this post so it has lost a little of its clarity, but nevertheless is a better representation of what it is “supposed” to look like.
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 is set to hit theaters on March 8, 2013 and I imagine we’ll be getting a trailer soon enough and, most likely, a more official look at the film once Comic Con rolls around as I doubt Disney wants this rather lackluster image being out there as the only representation of the film right now.
