A Very Welcome Return to Oz

 When I was three-years old, my mom showed me The Wizard of Oz for the first time.  Like most young viewers I was mesmerized by the initial color change, enamored with the inimitable soundtrack, enthralled by a parade of truly unique weirdos, and terrified of the Wicked Witch of the West.  Dorothy's classic adventure marked my introduction to motion pictures and remains a triumph of ambition and imagination that I will undoubtedly one day introduce to my own kids.

Naturally when I heard Sam Raimi was filming a prequel in 3-D, I was highly skeptical.  Engaging in prequels or sequels from any source is tricky business, as such decisions are almost always financially motivated.  To be fair, a number of remakes over the past decade improved considerably from their immediate predecessors, including Batman Begins, Casino Royale, The Departed, King Kong, The Muppets, Ocean's 11, & Star Trek.  But when the chosen target is one of the most beloved fictional stories of all time, the pressure escalates.  Audiences don't want their childhood memories tarnished, nor do they need a product that simply regurgitates something they've already seen.  

Much to my surprise, Oz the Great and Powerful eluded both scenarios.  Borrowing charitably from Alice in Wonderland, Shrek, Avatar, and The Princess Bride among others, Raimi's Oz was a clever, vibrant, often very funny film that should please viewers of all ages.  Judging from opening week box office totals, we can probably expect several follow-ups in the coming years.  Though generally not an advocate of 3-D, its use in Oz was appropriate, doing nothing to diminish the brightness and providing ample opportunities to enhance the visuals.  The iconic twister and viscous flying monkeys in particular, were given a boost in this format.  

Though the film didn't reference Dorothy, Toto, or the Tin Man, and only briefly acknowledged the Scarecrow and Lion, the basic plot was familiar enough.  The opening prologue established Kansas as the latest destination for traveling magician and hustler Oscar Diggs (James Franco), who bears the pseudonym "Oz."  Though primarily concerned with his own bottom line, he feels destined for a life much greater than his own.  After being booed off his stage for refusing to heal a young girl confined to a wheelchair, he is visited by a former flame who intends to marry another man.  But before declaring his true feelings, chaos erupts.  An enraged carnival strongman chases him through the fairgrounds until he escapes in a hot air balloon.  Unfortunately, the balloon flies straight into a tornado, compelling Diggs to shout desperate promises of change should his life be spared from certain death.  We know where he'll end up.  Following his crash in the unfamiliar title land, he reluctantly attempts to fulfill the prophecy of the all powerful Wizard who will destroy the evil Witch and restore order to Oz.  

Originally Robert Downey Jr. was approached for the leading role, an inspired choice who surely would've provided boundless charisma.  When he backed out, producers reportedly contacted Johnny Depp, who passed.  Although he played Harry Osborne in Raimi's Spiderman trilogy, Franco had to fight for the part, which he eventually grew into after a somewhat shaky start.  But despite a game effort, I couldn't help thinking the film might've benefitted from an older, more dynamic performer.  Far more successful were Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz as Glinda & Evanora, two witches with wildly divergent agendas.  Williams was especially convincing, imbuing the sweetness and protective spirit we might expect from a much younger Glinda.  Unfortunately, the third witch Theodora was played by Mila Kunis, who lacked the authority needed to portray the franchise's most prominent villain.  Oddly enough, a role swap with Weisz likely would've solved this problem.  The makeup artists certainly didn't do Kunis any favors by making her look like Jim Carrey's long lost sister from The Mask.  

The logistics involved in recreating Oz must have been challenging given copyright restrictions.  L. Frank Baum's original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, remains in the public domain.  However, the classic 1939 film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Judy Garland is owned by MGM studios, which handicapped all future interpretations of the story.  This includes character likeness, certain iconic images and colors (like the look of The Emerald City), and of course the music, which explains why the new Oz lacked all those timeless songs we remember.  

But against all odds Raimi and writers Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire overcame these obstacles, delivering a smooth ride that while heavy in nostalgia, also offered genuine surprises.  These included a visit to the Dark Forrest and an extended finale that avoided predictability on numerous occasions.  Initially, The Wizard's plan of attack seemed like a rehash of the ending to The Three Amigos.  Talk about a goofy inspiration.  And yet audiences were fooled, along with the films villains and some of its heroes too.  Among these was veteran Bill Cobbs as Master Tinker, probably the only cast member old enough to have seen the original The Wizard of Oz in theaters.

The other refreshing element to this newest Oz was its unexpected sense of humor.  In fact, this movie contained funnier material than the majority of so-called comedies over the last couple of years.  I especially liked a visual gag involving the introduction of the munchkins.  Another throwaway showed the famous directional arrows in Oz pointing to "Chinatown."  I also very much enjoyed the antics of Finley the Monkey.  As voiced by Zach Braff, Finley was sarcastic to a fault, and took offense to the appropriate assumption that he must love bananas simply because of his species.  This playfulness meshed well with a story containing both cynicism and a lot of heart.  Like the original film, Oz the Great and Powerful smartly connected characters from early scenes in Kansas with traveling companions down the line.  And though the film was decidedly unambiguous in presenting reality as more than a dream, it remained committed to the vision of its director from start to finish.  

In the end, despite a few misgivings, Oz still has a great deal to cherish.   

A Night in San Jose with Harrison Ford

Who needs Los Angeles?  Cinequest, one of the most respected film festivals in the country, is currently taking place only a few miles from my apartment.  Over the course of two weeks, an estimated 95,000 people will flock to a four-block radius in downtown San Jose for an event that offers 188 films (from some 2,000 submissions) representing 44 countries around the globe.  In addition to 80 world & U.S. premieres, the festival will host several big screen classics, workshops, parties, and awards.  One of these is the Maverick Spirit Award, given to those who "stand out from the crowd, daring to create and innovate with a personal yet global vision," a description thought to blend the spirit of world cinema and Silicon Valley.

This year's recipient was Harrison Ford, who drew huge crowds circling city blocks on Sunday night.  Somehow I didn't hear about his upcoming appearance until a few days ago, so about 90 minutes before the event, I drove downtown and purchased "Rush" tickets, meaning I'd only get into the theater if they didn't sell out.  Waiting patiently in the cold, 49 degrees for my confused east coast brethren, I was surrounded by media, festival employees, nuts in costumes, and one truly bizarre man in his fifties who kept raving about Elisha Cuthbert, the sexy blonde from his favorite movie, The Girl Next Door.  Umm . . . awkward!  But an hour outside proved worth the wait.  Once the thousands of previous ticket holders were seated inside, our significantly shorter line got the green light to enter.  

A few minutes after 7 p.m., Ford was introduced to a thunderous ovation worthy of his stature.  Now 70 years old, the action hero possessed a seemingly amused, but respectful perception of how his fans react in his presence.  He has reached an iconic status matched by only a handful of peers like Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Robert De Niro, to name four.  And yet if you factor popularity abroad into the discussion, as well as films known to the largest number of moviegoers, a case can be made that Ford is in fact the greatest living movie star.  I felt privileged to have seen him just three weeks after attending a night of comedy with 75 year old Bill Cosby.  As one ages, he or she inevitably becomes increasingly aware of mortality and the fact that we get few opportunities to be in the same room with the celebrated figures we admire.  To this day I feel lucky to have seen George Carlin perform before he died.  And although Sunday evening merely consisted of a Q & A on stage, I felt similarly about seeing Ford.  

Over the course of an hour, Ford was asked about his career, work ethic, script choices, and humble beginnings.  Born in Chicago to an Irish Catholic father and Russian Jewish mother, Ford claimed he stumbled into acting by accident.  While attending college, he was looking for an easy way to boost his grades and chose drama without reading the full course description, which dictated his involvement in a play.  Shortly after he took part in a new play that involved an executive for Columbia pictures.  He was soon offered a seven year contract that would pay him $150 a week, but he stubbornly walked after becoming unhappy with small roles in junk films that were often ignored.  A slightly better offer from another studio lasted only 18 months when Ford again got out of his deal and turned to carpentry, from which he could earn a better living.  A few years later he was offered a supporting role in George Lucas' American Graffiti, but he turned down their offer of $485 a week, as he made $16 an hour as a carpenter.  When they found a little more money in the budget Ford said yes, even though he had recently had his first child.

His big break came a few years later when Lucas was auditioning actors for an unheralded science fiction film called Star Wars.  Lucas had told Ford he only wanted new actors in the film, although at the time Richard Dreyfuss was among those auditioning.  As a favor, Ford agreed to read with some 300 people, though after failing to find the right actor for Han Solo, Lucas offered him the now famous role.  When the interviewer mentioned Star Wars, the crowd went bonkers, prompting Ford to ask sarcastically, "You've seen that film?"

Ford spoke about his two collaborations with Peter Weir on Witness, the only time he was nominated for an Oscar, and The Mosquito Coast, which remains one of his favorite roles.  These films provided his first opportunities to tackle more challenging, adult roles.  He also appreciated his good fortune to portray a fascinating character in Regarding Henry, the first produced script from a then unknown J.J. Abrams.   He discussed his approach to screenplays and how he sometimes stops reading if he can't relate to the characters.  According to the actor, you can fix certain things in a script, but not a lack of understanding when it comes to life, humanity, and character.  The script has always been preeminent in his decisions, though he balked at questions asking who have been his favorite costars and directors.  He said everyone brings different approaches to material and he doesn't love anyone more than anybody else, just as he doesn't have a favorite among his five children.

Ford was asked about the responsibilities of bringing famous characters from other mediums to the screen, such as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive and Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger.  He has always responded to sympathetic figures and reported that while filming Patriot Games, he had a major disagreement with Tom Clancy over his choice to portray Ryan as having regret over attacks abroad.  The author saw a harder character, while Ford believed integrity was more important and eventually won out.  International relations proved unexpectedly relevant in his role choices over the years.  He also doesn't respond to revenge films, although he was quick to point out that he doesn't begrudge others for making those types of movies.  This was a significant contributing factor in his turning down the Mel Gibson role in The Patriot.  He also turned down the part of Bob Barnes in Syriana, a role that would earn George Clooney a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  Ford didn't appreciate the response to Arabs in the initial script, although this element was toned down in later drafts, which he thought offered a higher level of respect.

He was asked about his tendencies to work with directors more than once, somewhat uncommon for a star of his magnitude.  In addition to Lucas and Weir, he has worked with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Mike Nichols, Sydney Pollack, & Alan J. Pakula at least twice.  Ford mentioned that he usually enjoyed the repeat collaborations more, having an increased familiarity with those directors the second time.  He was also asked about the challenge of doing stunts as Indiana Jones, which earned another round of applause from the audience.  Ford discussed the process of becoming accustomed to the physicality of the role, which involved running, jumping, falling, punching, taking a punch, and using the famed bullwhip.  He also admitted to knowing virtually nothing about Archaeology, which drew laughs.  He suffered substantial injuries throughout his career, tearing his ACL on the set of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he later repeated working on The Fugitive.  While making Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he experienced a back injury that halted production for nearly a month.

Overall Ford was typically dry but a terrific sport, answering a series of questions he's probably been asked hundreds of times over the years.  He loves to work and currently has four projects at various stages of production.  Next up is 42, in which he will play baseball executive Branch Rickey, who helped break baseball's color barrier when he signed Jackie Robinson in 1945.  He discussed the responsibility to tell this story, which represented a crucial moment in American history.  Without Rickey and Robinson, Ford believes the Civil Rights Movement may have progressed much later than it actually did.  Interestingly, the veteran had to fight for the role, as director Brian Helgeland didn't want a star and initially saw Rickey as a character part.  But Ford finally won him over after a meeting where he discussed his approach to this sensitive material.

The interview ended with Ford reflecting graciously about how good life has been.  His success has enabled him to take part in other ventures of interest, such as becoming a pilot and serving on the Board of Directors with Conservation International.  He wishes everyone would do their part in eliminating violence, from bullies in the school yard to war overseas.  He also briefly teased the next Star Wars installment, scheduled to hit theaters in summer, 2015.

Harrison Ford has done amazing things in his film career, so many that there wasn't even time to touch on The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, Working Girl, Air Force One, his many franchise sequels, or the upcoming Ender's Game.  He ended by jokingly telling the audience, "I really don't need any of you."  That's probably true, but whether he wants to admit it or not, moviegoers have always needed him.  And if he suddenly retired tomorrow, his legacy is intact.