News > Sci Fi Updates 'Wizard of Oz'
November 24, 2006
Content taken from Zap 2 It:
The Sci Fi Channel is off to see the wizard -- RHI Entertainment that is -- to create a six-hour miniseries based on L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz."
"Tin Man" (working title) will begin production on its science fiction, psychedelic reimagining of the already bizarre tale in early 2007 in Vancouver, with a projected December 2007 premiere.
In this updated epic tale, a young woman named DG somehow gets snatched up and thrust into the fantastical realm known as The Outer Zone (aka The O.Z) that's currently oppressed by dark magic.
Along the way, she befriends the half-brained man Glitch, the wolverine-like Raw who seeks courage and the emotionally scarred, heroic Cain, who was once part of the police force known as Tin Men in the O.Z. DG is journeying along the Old Road to seek the Mystic Man, but in the end, has a showdown with the wicked Azkeadellia, who has curiously close ties to DG herself.
Casting is currently underway.
Robert Halmi, Sr. and Jr. will executive produce, along with Mitchell and Van Sickle ("The Pretender"). RHI Entertainment previously collaborated with Sci Fi for the 2004 miniseries "Legend of Earthsea," starring Shawn Ashmore, Kristin Kreuk, Danny Glover, and Isabella Rossellini.
The best known version of "The Wizard of Oz" was released in theaters in 1939 and starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. Several other versions, sequels and spinoffs followed, most notably the musical "The Wiz," which was adapted into a film starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross in 1978, and the recent TV movie "Muppets' Wizard of Oz," starring Ashanti, Jeffrey Tambor and various muppets.
