Set Visit

Oz the Great and Powerful opens in theaters this week, but I got to visit the film's set during production way back in 2011. Between takes on the set, we sat down with director Sam Raimi to discuss adapting author L. Frank Baum's work for the big screen, and setting the prequel apart from the original Wizard of Oz. Here's what Raimi had to say:

How do you stay true to L. Frank Baum's work but also give the film's story a modern feel?
Sam Raimi: First of all, I so loved the movie The Wizard of Oz that I was afraid to read versions of it that were not exactly what I loved so much about the movie. This is very strange; I didn’t want the book to mess up the movie for me. But then, after I read the screenplay, which I loved, I started to read the books and appreciate Baum's work. I was so surprised at how exactly [the movie] The Wizard of Oz was his first book. His work is fresh right now. It's brilliant and affecting and the characters don't need to be refreshed by anybody. However, the screenplay is based on a lot of elements of a lot of his books. In many of his books he would go back and talk about the wizard. There’s a little bit about the wizard in the first one, a little bit about the wizard in three and four. He went back and said, "Here’s how the wizard got here and this was his backstory." So what the writer, Mitchell Kapner, did was he took all those elements that were given to the audience in later books that he's put them back in chronological order of what happened to the wizard, how the wizard got there to the Land of Oz. . . . What might have the Wicked Witch or these other characters have been doing during this time? Sometimes it was written about, sometimes it wasn't. So, I think Mitchell Kapner could best speak about it, but he’s taken elements of the books and rearranged them in what could have happened. It’s a "what if" story.

How have your feelings about the original movie affected this project?
SR: Yeah, it's the movie that I love. That's what I fell in love with and what terrified me and exhilarated me. I didn't want to have anything to do with a screenplay having anything to do with that movie because I didn't want to mess with it or tread upon its fine nature or use it in any way. But I read the script and it was a love poem to that movie, or those books, that I didn't know at the time. I felt that it was someone who so admired the movie and they were trying to enhance it and, for me, it never took away. And, I also thought, nothing could ever take away from that movie. It's so brilliant and enduring. I wanted to honor the movie.

We don’t have many American fairy tales. So how do you keep a fairy tale distinctly American? What do you make it about to make it resonate with an American audience?
SR: I have read that people consider Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, his first book, America's first myth or America's first fairy tale. But I think it's uniquely American because there's a little bit of greed involved in it. It's also the story of an entrepreneur, a guy who, with his ingenuity and can-do attitude, drives off those wicked witches and saves the day. It's also the story of people rising up for freedom, and I think that’s an American story of the American Revolution. Farmers and, in this case, Quadlings and Munchkins and Tinkers, rising up to drive off the tyrants or the despots or whatever you want to call the Wicked Witches. So those elements are American, but I think it's not primarily American. I think it's universal, the story of all of us who are capable of doing good and the hero being made because he recognizes that ability within himself and he grows to do something greater than himself. He grows to take part in a cause that's more important than his selfishness or his greed. He learns the true value of the gifts that he’s been given as a magician. They can be used, not just to entertain others and for his own profit, but to uplift others, to set them free and to, in this case, drive off the most dreaded villains of all, the Wicked Witches. I think it’s a more universal type of story than just an American story.

Like many characters in Oz the Great and Powerful, Zach Braff plays two roles: a magician's assistant named Frank and — once we get to Oz — an animated flying monkey named Finley. When I visited the set of the film last year, Braff talked about what it was like playing a different kind of flying monkey than what we're used to seeing and why spending time on the gorgeous set was a dream come true for him as a filmmaker.

Can you clue us in a little just to the personality of your two characters? Are you the doormat character?

Zach Braff: "Doormat" is a good way to put it. As Frank, he [Oz] is the magician and I'm his magician’s assistant, and I want acceptance by him, because I look up to him and he is very dismissive and condescending to me and makes it clear he has no interest in being my friend; he just wants a helper. Then we are forced to go on this journey together, and Finley is assigned to sort of look out over Oz by Rachel Weisz's character, so begrudgingly we go on this quest together, and little by little he [Oz] can't help but be charmed by this little flying monkey.

And as the monkey, you speak?

ZB: Yes, but not right away. . . . For a fair part of it he thinks I'm mute, and when push comes to shove, I have to speak and we become friends. . . . We have a story arc where he is actually able to learn from me and trust me and, in the end, be my friend and give me something that I really wanted in a human incarnation, which was friendship and his acceptance. So it's done really, really well, and it's really cool.

Can you talk about your first scenes in the movie that take place in Kansas?
ZB: It was a really, really fun way to start the movie. I was a human being, which was fun. I had period clothes like James, and I had like period sideburns and my hair is sort of slicked over and we are doing the beginning of a tornado, so they have these giant wind machines going and hundreds of extras running around in mayhem. It's hackneyed to keep saying the word "surreal," but it's just so bizarre. There you are, and there's a wind storm and there are people in turn-of-the-century circus costumes running by you, and those tumbleweeds flying, and Sam yelling on a megaphone, and eventually James's character gets into this hot air balloon and they have the basket flying across the stage, and it was a really, really fun thing to be a part of.

To see what Braff had to say about signing on and being a film geek, just read more

James Franco has a lot to live up to when he steps onto the yellow brick road in next month's Oz: The Great and Powerful. In the prequel, he plays the titular Oz, a morally ambiguous magician who crashes down in the Emerald City in hopes of fulfilling his dreams of being a rich and famous wizard. When I visited the set of Oz: The Great and Powerful last year, Franco talked to me and a few other reporters about why it's the right time for another Oz movie, and what it meant for him to step out onto that yellow brick road for the first time.

When Sam Raimi approached you with the script, was it an immediate yes?
James Franco: Yeah, it was a pretty easy decision. [Robert] Downey Jr. had fallen out — I'm not sure why — and then they were talking to Johnny Depp and he didn't end up doing it. So then I had a meeting with Sam, and I read the script and briefly talked about it. It was just kind of an understanding that we both liked the approach, that there was one aspect of it that would pay tribute to the collective sense of Oz, but there would be a fresh take. Mainly through the portrayal of Oz, because Oz, as we all know, in the '39 movie is an older gentleman. Now you get the young Oz. So you get a different kind of spirit into maybe a familiar fantastical world.

Can you describe your reaction when you first walked on the yellow brick road, and just being in a Wizard of Oz movie? What does that mean to you?

JF: The yellow brick road is so iconic and it was just plain fun to be able to do scenes on the yellow brick road. And I actually was a fairly big reader when I was younger, and I think the first books I read on my own were the Baum Oz books, the 14 or 15 that he wrote. So like a lot of movies that I've done, it's really satisfying to step into this world, because it's material that I was fascinated by when I was younger. It's also great because Oz is such an established place in the collective imagination. Yes, there's a danger of, like, ruining people's expectations or their idea of Oz, but I think that the spirit here is right, and the intentions are right. So I think they are going to capture what people think of Oz, while still adding this great spirit. But it also gives us this freedom to make a movie that otherwise might be slightly childish, but because the original Oz is now considered a classic, we can kind of play with this childish fantastical world and it doesn't have to feel like a children's movie. So it's really nice.

What's the key to playing a convincing con man?
JF: I'm sort of a con man, but the character starts off as a magician in a traveling circus, so it's not like he's out robbing banks or scamming people like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or something. So we had Lance Burton here from Vegas; he's one of the big magicians from there. He showed me a lot of tricks and magic, and it's kind of just about creating a convincing illusion; it's kind of a showmanship.

To see what else Franco had to say about the movie, just read more

Oz: The Great and Powerful is a prequel to the 1939 classic film The Wizard of Oz, so you can imagine how excited I was to visit the movie set with a handful of other reporters during filming last year. Not only were we able to set foot on the yellow brick road, but we also got a close look at Emerald City, the munchkins, and Glinda and Oz themselves, Michelle Williams and James Franco. We sat down with Williams to discuss her experience playing the good witch, being a role model for young girls, and making the jump from indie films to a potential blockbuster.

How great is it to step on set and literally be a fairy-tale figure for a bunch of kids?
Michelle Williams: It's the best. There's nothing better than making kids happy and seeing little girls' faces light up just at the sight of me.

Are you going to keep the tiara?
MW: I think that tiara has a price tag that I couldn't afford!

How much inspiration did you get from the original Glinda?
MW: We talked about her a lot. But Sam [Raimi] wanted to shy away from anything that referenced her too heavily. He wanted our very own Glinda. So there's little nods in a few costumes and a couple of lines. But she's a starting-off point. I just think of her as where Glinda started. When you meet Glinda in the original Wizard of Oz, she is omniscient, she has a kind of calm. But we like to think that that's where she wound up and this is kind of more where she began.

What's the chemistry like on set with you and James [Franco], and Mila [Kunis]? What's the relationship like?
MW: The chemistry? The sexual chemistry? [Laughs] Let me tell you. What's the chemistry like? It's a ball.

This film is quite different from your other recent movies, like Meek's Cutoff and Take This Waltz.
MW: There have been a lot of first times for me on this movie. The imaginary world. You see a big blue screen, but of course you won't see a big blue screen. You're going to see things flying, and you're going to see a sun setting, and you're going to see flowers turning. You're going to see things! But often you're not really able to have the real thing there when you do it. Most of the movies that I make tend to be smaller, and sort of more intimate. It's just a smaller crew. And I like things feeling like a family, so I've just tried to make this feel like a really big family. But it's a happy one because Sam's the dad, and it all comes down from there.

Does it make you excited about the possibility of doing more big-budget films, or are you itching to go back to the smaller stuff?
MW: I don't know. I guess because of Sam, it doesn't feel impersonal in any way. Which is always what my fear is of making bigger movies — that you don't get to know people. But it doesn't feel alienating in any way.

To see what else Williams had to say about her character and stepping out on the yellow brick road, just read more

Once Upon a Time's midseason finale airs this week, and the show won't be back until January. If you're as excited as I am to find out how the first half of season two wraps up, then I've got some great scoop for you from my recent visit to the Vancouver set as a guest of Disney. Cast members like Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Josh Dallas spilled about what you can expect from the finale, which will find Mary Margaret and Emma trying to get out of Fairy Tale Land, with Cora and Captain Hook right on their tail. Read on to hear what the cast had to say!

1. Cora is the biggest threat right now.
Robert Carlyle (Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin): "I think she's just bad news. She's bad news to have around; she's nasty. I think that Rumpel is about himself, but I don't think he's necessarily world-domination-nasty and I think that Cora probably is."

Lana Parrilla (Regina/the Evil Queen): "[Regina] is terrified. It's her worst nightmare. Think about what [Regina] has done to Cora. We only know some of what Cora has done to her. We have to think that Regina has banished her mother and sent her to another land, pushed her through a mirror, and just got rid of her, and tried to kill her."

Josh Dallas (David/Prince Charming): "I think Cora is the one to watch out for. She's superpowerful. Gold's going to have his work cut out for him, for sure."

2. But Captain Hook might be just as bad.
Colin O'Donoghue (Captain Hook): "He [Captain Hook] will use whatever means necessary to get his own way. He’ll have no problem being a charming gentleman to one person and be completely ruthless with another. That's the way he is. I think he's not necessarily outwardly evil, but he's definitely self-serving, completely."

Jennifer Morrison (Emma): "I feel like you should understand that obviously I couldn't trust him. I'm just saying."

Get one more from my Once Upon a Time set visit after the jump.

This season of Once Upon a Time has brought a lot of new things for Jennifer Morrison's character Emma now that the curse has been lifted, including relationships with the parents she didn't know were her parents (Snow White and Prince Charming). Season two has also brought plenty of trouble in the form of Captain Hook, played by new cast member Colin O'Donoghue. I recently visited the set of Once Upon a Time with a few other reporters, and we chatted with Morrison about Hook, their burgeoning romantic tension, and the latest developments for Emma. Read her interview and stay tuned for more from the cast and future episodes!

There's some sexual tension between Emma and Hook.
Jennifer Morrison: Yeah, it’s been really fun working with Colin and having Emma interact with that character because they’re definitely kindred spirits. They’re both thieves, and they’ve come from troubled pasts, and they’ve both lost a true love, and so I think that there’s a lot that they recognize in each other. So there’s that camaraderie and also that combativeness with that right away.

Are you hoping they'll get together?
JM: I’m hoping that Emma has some romance in her life. It’s been awhile.

Henry's father seemed great too.
JM: Oh yeah, he’s great. Michael Raymond-James [who plays Emma's ex, Neal Cassady] is great too. We’ve been so lucky — we’ve had so many wonderful people join the show this year. That episode ["Tallahassee"] in particular was really fun, just to be able to show her backstory and show the parallel to what was going on with Hook and all that stuff. And as much as there are similarities in those relationships, those two guys couldn’t be any more different, which is also great.

Read the rest of Morrison's interview after the jump.

Musical comedy Pitch Perfect, out today, hopes to graduate a cappella music to the mainstream. The movie stars Anna Kendrick as college freshman Beca Mitchell, who gets recruited to her school's all-girl a cappella ensemble. Once in the group, Beca mixes up their outdated song list with the hopes of beating their boy-group rivals. The cast includes Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, who played Kristen Wiig's hilariously awkward roommate in Bridesmaids, and Adam DeVine from Workaholics.

The film's producer Elizabeth Banks makes a cameo, too. But she was in full producer mode when I sat down with her and husband Max Handelman on Pitch Perfect's Baton Rouge set last November. Elizabeth and Max met on the first day of college at the University of Pennsylvania, and the couple produced Pitch Perfect together. While on set, I got to see performances by the rival groups, and let me tell you: your favorite pop hits from the likes of Flo Rida or Lily Allen sound great a cappella. If the trailer, seen below, made you excited about Pitch Perfect, find out more about the project from our interview with Elizabeth and Max.

Just keep reading to see the trailer for the movie and read my interview.

Mae Whitman plays supporting character Mary Elizabeth in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and when I visited the set of the movie last Summer, I chatted with her along with a few other reporters. Whitman talked about what she likes so much about her alternative-culture-loving character, who runs a fanzine — which led Whitman to talk about her own personal pop culture obsession: Harry Potter. Since she stars in Perks with Harry Potter franchise star Emma Watson, Whitman had some cute things to say about working with her, and how life on a movie set is different than her usual routine in the TV show Parenthood.

Why did you want to play Mary Elizabeth?
MW: I wanted to play Mary Elizabeth because to me, in every aspect, she's one of the most interesting characters. In the book [and] the script, she has an incredible story arc, and I feel like she's one of the more tragic — but also in the end, perfectly well-off — characters. I think she really goes through a change of finding herself and being OK with certain things. She has so many extremes, and I think she really is able to find a balance through going through a relationship with Charlie, and then being so hurt, and having to come into being OK with who she is on her own, and finding somebody that actually cares about her, and not just letting her flood gates open on somebody that's not into her. And besides that, she definitely has the coolest wardrobe: she has the coolest makeup. I mean, amazing stuff. You know, I think they all kind of got really excited with my character 'cause they could do whatever they wanted. [Laughs] So, we have some really interesting looks.

In the book, Mary Elizabeth makes a fanzine. If you were to make a fanzine, what would it be about?
MW: Is it taboo to say Harry Potter? That’s definitely one of the things I’m the biggest fan of. Or like, Lord of the Rings or comic books. Yeah, I guess it would be either that or food. Just food in general. The two things I love the most are Harry Potter and food.

So did you freak out then, when you found out Emma Watson was your costar?
MW: Yeah. I was so excited. I've read every [Harry Potter] book, like gotten them at midnight when they came out, and dressed up. I mean, it was definitely a big deal. I slowly release tidbits to her about how excited I am, but I don't want to let it all come at once. I think she'd get a restraining order or something.

To read the rest of our interview with Whitman, just keep reading.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was written 13 years ago, and this Fall, the adaptation is being brought to the big screen by its own author, Stephen Chbosky. Chbosky wrote the screenplay and directed the film after carefully casting the coming-of-age drama, picking young, talented actors like Logan Lerman and Emma Watson to play high-schoolers Charlie and Sam. At a set visit of the film I attended last year with several other reporters, we talked to Chbosky about turning the novel into a film, shooting the movie in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and why he knew he had made the right casting decisions.

How was it adapting your own novel for the screen?
SC: It really is, as cliché as it sounds, it's a dream come true. I've wanted to make this movie. I first thought of the title of this movie 20 years ago this Fall — or, the title of the book and movie, 20 years ago this coming Fall. So I always felt that it would probably be both. And so yeah, it is a dream come true.

Had you intended for it to become a movie when you were writing the book?
SC: I hoped that it would, yes.

It's been 13 years since the book came out; where do you think Charlie is today?
SC: Um, you'll have to read the sequel [laughs].

What changes did you have to make to shift the book's letter format to a narrative screenplay?
SC: I didn't have to make many changes; I just had to be very specific about the execution. You have to see it; it's hard to describe intellectually. You have to just see it. What I found was, I wrote the book as a series of letters because I wanted the reader to feel very intimately connected to Charlie, and so it was finding a point of view from the film that would lead to the same connection. And luckily with Logan Lerman, it's not very difficult to get that sense of connection.

Find out what else Chbosky said about the film, and why he chose Watson to play Sam after the jump.

In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, out Sept. 21, Ezra Miller plays supporting character Patrick, a gay teen who helps Charlie (Logan Lerman) adjust to life in high school. When I visited the Pittsburgh set last year with a few reporters, we sat down with Miller to talk about his role and his experience filming the movie. Miller talked about why Patrick's sexuality doesn't matter to the formation of the character, explains how he feels about being part of the adaptation of such a beloved book, and sings the praises of his lovely costar Emma Watson, who plays his stepsister.

What do you like about your character, Patrick?
Ezra Miller: I like how vivacious and unapologetic and proud he is. And I like more than anything that he is a real, sympathetic individual and that — despite the fact that the character is gay — that plays really no part in the formation of the human being. I just remember reading Patrick and realizing that, 'Oh no. This character has no basis in being gay.' That he's a fully formed being and that is an aspect of him, as [it] is an aspect of us all. Our sexuality — it's not the defining quality. It's just one element.

Did you ever think about playing Charlie?
EM: No. It's funny because when I read this book, I was 13 years old and, you know, when a 13-year-old boy reads that book, [he's] identifying with Charlie. And so, initially, there was maybe some sort of thought of like, 'Oh, that's the character that I remembered most immediately,' but no. When the script came around, it was Patrick and it had to be. No, no, [there was] never a real consideration of wanting to play Charlie. And when I got the script, Logan "The Ultimate Baller Champion" Lerman was already attached, so that was just sort of a thrilling, obvious thing. And at that time, there was no way to possibly expect what he was going to do with his character, and I already trusted him fully.

In the book, Patrick and Sam have a deep connection, so how was it working with Emma and establishing that?
EM: Oh, man. Far too easy! Unjustly easy! They should've thrown me someone a little harder to handle so it could've been a bit of a challenge. Emma's one of the most severely mind-blowing forces of my peer group in acting right now, and I think based on what's come before this, people just have no idea what she's capable of. She has become, in these short weeks, one of my dearest friends — I think that will be the case forever — and she is the type of artist who is going to make her true self known in time, and I personally look forward to watching an entire population of Harry Potter fans get their minds twisted into small, pretzel-ish knots over what this girl can do. That's exciting to me.

Read more of Miller's interview to find out just how big of a Harry Potter fan he is after the jump.