Rachel Weisz is in talks to portray the evil witch Evanora in director Sam Raimi’s semi-prequel to the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ titled ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful,’ Slashfilm is reporting. The news comes after it was announced that James Franco has been cast as the man who becomes the wizard, and Mila Kunis is set to play Evanora’s evil sister, Theadora. ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ will follow Franco’s character, a snake oil salesman and illusionist, as he flees the traveling circus he has been working for. He ends up in a hot air balloon, which is whisked to Oz by a tornado. The salesman must then fight real magic…

Director Robert Zemeckis won’t be helming the proposed live-action ‘Wizard of Oz’ remake after all, Slashfilm.com is reporting. The news comes just a couple of days after rumors started circulating that Warner Bros. was eying Zemeckis for the job. The movie, which is believed to be a shot-for-shot remake like Gus Van Sant’s 1998 reworking of ‘Psycho,’ is still in its preliminary stages. But Warner Bros. hopes to start shooting soon, as it plans on working off of the original 1939 script. However, it has competition from the new Disney film ‘The Great and Powerful Oz,’ which Sam Raimi has reportedly signed on to direct. Robert Downey, Jr. has also…

Meinhardt Raabe, one of the last surviving Munchkins from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ died on the morning of April 9, the New York Times is reporting. The 94-year-old actor is presumed to have died from a heart attack. Cindy Bosnyak, Raabe’s caregiver, said he was taken to a hospital after he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida. He had lived at the community home since 1986, and had complained of a sore throat prior to collapsing. Raabe graduated from the University of Wisconsin and was a World War II veteran. He also played Little Oscar, the mascot of Oscar Mayer meats,…

Neil McDonough, who is slated to appear in the upcoming film “Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li”, recently talked to Yahoo about his role in 2008′s Sci-Fi channel miniseries “Tin Man”, the channel’s retelling of the classic tale of the Wizard of Oz. McDonough said on his character, the eponymous title character; “Last year, I had the great fortune to play Wyatt Cain in ‘Tin Man’, that could have been my favorite performance of anything I’ve done. That was a character that was really close to me… I do enjoy playing villains, and I had a great run the last year or so doing it. I certainly would love to…

Watch the infamous “Wizard of Oz” hanging scene, where rumor has it that a munchkin supposedly hung himself during the making of the film. If you look carefully toward the middle of the path you will notice something swinging between the trees as the scarecrow trips. Is this really a suicide? or something else? I personally think its just a piece of equipment or part of the set dressing falling…but you be the judge!