Okay, don't judge me too harshly. I surfed onto this TV Tropes page about the Wizard of Oz movie a few minutes ago. There's this tidbit:
Mervyn LeRoy and William Cannon wanted to do a dark, "realistic" retelling of the Oz tale. In their version, the Oz Scarecrow was a flesh-and-bone human who was so stupid that he could only get a job standing in a field and chasing off birds, while the Tin Man was a "heartless" man sentenced to be locked in a tin suit of armor for all eternity. Dorothy was only supposed to meet him many years into his sentence, after he had softened and become kind.
Interesting thought. I don't know if these guys actually put together a plan or not, much less a script. It makes me wonder how you'd do a nervous talking lion in a dark "realistic" way.
2 comments:
At first I thought you were talking about a modern remake of the classic - nothing would really surprise me these days - but now I know that was the idea presented by Mervyn LeRoy and William Cannon as the movie was being planned. I'm very glad it didn't happen, neither the remake or the original changed in such a way. The nervous talking lion idea sounds pretty unlikely.
Frank L. Baum's story has often been compared to the gold and silver markets of the 19th century too. Maybe you already know about that.
Last night we watched Beavis and Butthead do the Universe. There was a great segment about white privilege.
There have been related movies and similar put out over the past few years, like Wicked and Oz the Great and Powerful. And The Wiz has been dusted off for live TV. No remakes of the original so far. I mean, I guess they might if the tea leaves tell them it's a good idea. But yeah, they got it very much right the first time.
It's not too surprising that you can find references to 19th century politics in the book. In a way it's a less familiar world than Carroll's idealized Victorian childhood. Most of the other Oz books aren't as accessible and have never been filmed, but they have a huge fandom.
The video link didn't work, but I tracked down the clip I think you were talking about. "Step aside please, we have white privilege." That is funny.
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