OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Production ... - Visual Hollywood

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (2013)
PRODUCTION NOTES
people was an interesting challenge. Every single thing about it interested me."
Joey King as China Girl
Like the characters of Annie/Glinda and Frank/Finley, China Girl (actress Joey King) also exists in
the opening scenes in Kansas as a young girl confined to a wheelchair who watches Diggs perform
his magic act, then begs the magician to help make her walk again, which he cannot do. Later, when
Diggs first meets the CG character, her village, made up entirely of porcelain, has been destroyed.
As Oz begins investigating what happened, he finds the diminutive glass doll hiding in her teapot
home, unable to walk because her legs have been damaged.
"Her legs are broken and, this time, Oz can do something about it," James Franco relates. "He does
rise to the occasion in helping her, to the point that his magical 'cure' causes her to think that he is
this Wizard everyone is expecting."
"By the end of the film, this family's been formed," actor Braff chimes in about the bond that develops
among Oz, Finley and China Girl. "This ragtag group of outcasts, in a sense, has been brought
together and formed a family. They were by far the underdogs who, individually, couldn't have
done anything on their own. Together they become this small band of heroes who save the day."
Bill Cobbs as the Master Tinker
"There are many different groups of people in the picture," Raimi states. "In Glinda's Kingdom,
Quadling Country, we have the Tinkers. The Tinkers are led by the Master Tinker, played by Bill
Cobbs. He does a wonderful job because he's very world-wise and soulful. He's wise to the Wizard's
true motivations, but Glinda inspires him to have faith. So even a wise man can learn something as
far as matters of the heart."
Ted Raimi as Skeptic / Tinker
Adds Raimi's producing partner, Grant Curtis, "The Tinkers are these 90-year-old gentlemen who
can't see six inches in front of their faces, yet they're these amazing inventors and architects in the
Land of Oz. The Master Tinker is another person that Oz meets along his adventures who imparts
wisdom that allows him to be the full individual he becomes at the end of the movie."
The Winkies
Raimi's Land of Oz is also populated with the Emerald City guards, called The Winkies, a group the
director describes as "10-foot tall soldiers that the Wicked Witch employs to terrorize the citizens of
Emerald City. They're her standing army, along with an Air Force of sorts, her Winged Baboons."
Tony Cox as Knuck
Of course, the world of Oz would not be complete without the Munchkins, "the little people in the
Land of Oz who like to sing and dance, make pretty clothes, and are generally quite merry," states
the director. "They are going to become the unsung heroes of our story. They're going to make up
the 'underground' of the Emerald City, those people who believe in Glinda and the cause and are
working secretly against the Wicked Witch."
© 2013 Walt Disney Pictures
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