6 photosAbigail Spencer

The actress, best known as Mad Men‘s hot, hippy schoolteacher, will play a young woman described as  “a willing subject of Oz’s magic tricks which the erstwhile magician is performing in Kansas.” I was always lead to believe that women weren’t impressed by magic tricks. Or at least not the ones that I used to do. I can’t go into details because a true magician never reveals his secrets. Also, because of all that stuff the judge ordered. (THR)

“Braff will play the role of Frank, the loyal but under-appreciated assistant to Oz (James Franco), a charismatic circus magician who is treated as a powerful wizard after his balloon blows off course into Oz and the townsfolk want him to eradicate a Wicked Witch and bring peace.”

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Boom. Not only do you now know the character Braff is playing, but you also know what the movie is about, and that James Franco is in it. Boom.  More infobombs: Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, and Rachel Weisz are all in it too. Can you handle all this information? (Deadline)

It looks like Oz already has some competition though. Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium also opens that day. Both have tentpole film potential, so it seems odd to open them during a dead winter month. March is usually reserved for previously shelved projects and things that have Tyler Perry in them. Is this the studio’s way of telling us to expect Tyler Perry cameos? (Deadline)

How you feel about this news is probably determined by how you feel about Michelle Williams. She’s unarguably a great actress, but she hasn’t really done a lot of this kind of blockbuster movie acting before. She does look the part, though, being blonde, pretty, and having the ability to teleport and force dwarfs to sing in unison. Seriously, I’ve seen her do this at parties. (Variety)

Sam Raimi is directing the studio’s Wizard of Oz prequel, because if there’s one story that needs constant re-imagining, it’s the story of the story that led us to The Wizard of Oz. The omnipresent James Franco stars as Oz, a “snake oil salesman” and hot air ballon crash victim who ends up in the well-known land of real-life witches. Meanwhile, evil witch Evanora (Weisz) tries to get her sister Theadora (Mila Kunis) to join the dark side of the witch force. In movies, people always try to get the heroes to join “the dark side,” but I only got asked once in high school and I was too much of a pussy to say “yes.” Damn it. Opportunity missed. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Oz: The Great and Powerful director is championing Swank to play the elder witch but Disney has noticed that most of her films tank hard, and they aren’t so up on the idea. Their solution: Michelle Williams. Which seems kind of left field.

Raimi famously fought for Tobey Maguire over Wes Bentley back when he was making Spider-Man. And look how that paid off. Maguire still does a movie from time to time and Wes Bentley recently captivated audiences with his performance in Jonah Hex.

Nobody’s sure how far Raimi is going to let the battle go, but I don’t see him backing down that easily. Besides if he stalls long enough, Michelle Williams is likely to be snatched up by some indie that needs an actress really good at scenes that require crying in the shower. (Vulture)

The film is about two potheads in Laguna Beach who might ultimately be played by Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch. A badass Mexican drug cartel kidnaps Ophelia, forcing the two top dealers to work for them. My understanding is that nobody cries, “mellow out man,” and Neil Patrick Harris remains uninvolved.

Stone’s first-first choice for Ophelia was Jennifer Lawrence, who chose to play Katniss in The Hunger Games instead, which is thrilling news if you’re anxiously awaiting the next Twilight-y series. However, Stone might not get his second choice either, because Lively is also in talks to star as Glinda the Good Witch in Sam Raimi‘s Oz: The Great and Powerful. Will he have to “settle” for plain ol’ Olivia Wilde or Teresa Palmer?

Man, all this casting talk is making me tense. *Takes Bong Hit* (Variety)

Being considered for the two older witches, Evanora and Glinda, are Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams, Kate Beckinsale, Keira Knightley and Rebecca Hall. Oh sweet Jesus. Did someone just say “lesbian threesome sister witch fantasy?” Yup. I just did.

The character of Theodora will start off as a good witch, aligned with Glinda, but then defects to the dark side after her sexual advances are rebuffed by James Franco’s Oz. Fiction, indeed.

Sam Raimi is set to direct, but no release nor start date has been announced yet.

But seriously. Lesbian threesome sister witch fantasy.

This will also serve as a mini-Date Night reunion as James Franco has been attached to the lead role (which is a mandatory of film-making nowadays). Casting is still underway for Glinda, the Good Witch of the East and Kunis’s older sis Evanorah (the one that Dorothy parks a house on). I’m excited to see who will fill those parts, and even more excited for their eventual spread in Maxim. Nobody told me these witches were gonna be hot! (Vulture)

While Franco may seem to be an odd choice for such a high-profile role, remember two things: 1) Franco’s profile has increased enormously thanks to 127 Hours, and 2) Franco has demonstrated that he should be considered to be attached to every project in entertainment until it is decidedly proven otherwise.

The talks are early, and the media has an infatuation with all things Franco, so I’m not going to put too much stock in this story just yet, but as long as he keeps using that machine from The Prestige to create duplicates of himself, his name will continue to pop up in every project, big and small. (If you haven’t seen The Prestige by now, you don’t deserve a spoiler alert. That movie is awesome.) (THR)

For awhile, it looked like Robert Downey Jr. would star in director Sam Raimi‘s prequel to The Wizard of Oz for Disney. Called Oz: Great And Powerful, the story centers around the literal man behind the curtain, The Wizard of Oz himself. Sounds like Wicked, but without the horrible, ear-defying songs.

However, Tony Stark hopped away in his Iron Man suit and flew away from the Emerald City. Perhaps he’s got enough on his plate with superheroing and super sleuthing.

So, naturally, the Disney folks called Johnny Depp. They used the telephone in CEO Bob Iger’s office that’s a direct line to Depp’s secret meditation cave. Now The King of Film Goths is in talks to play The Wizard, and with Depp starring, it would almost certainly be dark, moody, in 3D and lean way too heavily on CGI, to the point where they make the Munchkins CG characters and you’d wonder, “couldn’t they have just hired a few real life midgets? Wouldn’t that have been cheaper, better and easier?”

Depp’s shooting schedule also includes Tim Burton’s (natch) Dark Shadows and Disney’s (double natch) Lone Ranger, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, so he may not have time for Oz. Jesus, I’d hate to be in charge of that guy’s iCal. (Cinema Blend)

Sam Raimi has for reals seriously confirmed that his next directorial project will be Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful. I thought this news was already confirmed with Robert Downey Jr. attached to star, but apparently Raimi was waffling between World of Warcraft and Oz, and Downey Jr. isn’t yet a certainty. What a slap in the pizza face to MMORPG gamers.

Deadline says that Disney expects production on the film to begin next year at some point. I imagine what month and day depends on how well the new draft of the script written by David Lindsay-Abaire shapes up. Lindsay-Abaire, who wrote festival hit Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman, also worked with Raimi on the script for the Spider-man 4 movie that Raimi eventually burnt out on.

Now the director will put all of his efforts in making the Wizard walk a similar path as Dorothy in the original film. If he doesn’t run into Bruce Campbell as the Lion, Tin Man, or Scarecrow a serious injustice will be done. Disney should have signed off on that stipulation before ever a hand was shook.

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Sam Mendes and Adam Shankman may lay down their gladii and exit the battle arena, Disney has offered Oz, the Great and Powerful to director Sam Raimi. There’s no word yet whether Raimi will take the gig, and a few details may need to be worked out before he comes on-board.

Robert Downey Jr. was once attached to this project to play the titular Oz, a Kansas carnie who carves a niche for himself in the magical land, but his name hasn’t come up in recent reports. Another potential issue is Mitchell Kapner’s script. Though it’s probably due for revision, early reviews say it is pretty dumb (although it involves flying monkeys). And finally, and this will certainly be a sticking point for Raimi, where does Bruce Campbell fit into this? Can he be a snarky palace guard or can he appear Dorf-style as a rebellious Munchkin with a take-charge attitude? You know, the type that other Munchkins want to be and women want to change. These are the types of questions you need to ask studios before you sign sh*t. (Vulture)