Get out of my brain, Skot!

On the Daily Ozmapolitan, I found this link: boxoffice.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/07/24/click-your-heels-together-producers/

Apparently, Skot C. has hacked into the e-mail correspondence of Sam Antony Milazzo and I OR came up with this himself.

In this open letter, he challenges movie producers to pick up on the Oz books. That's what I've been saying for the last two years or so. And, it seems, some folks have listened, although, a large-scale feature film has yet to be realized.

Alpine Pictures is producing Dorothy of Oz, an adaptation of Roger S. Baum's first (and seemingly best) Oz book.

There is also a computer-animated adaptation of The Tin Woodman of Oz in the works. It will be to test out some new software, and will be put together by computer animators all throughout the world, Wiki-style. Last I heard, it is planned for a 2008 release.

The SciFi Channel is producing Tin Man, featuring Zooey Deschanel and Alan Cummings as DG (Dorothy equivalent) and Glitch (Scarecrow equivalent), respectively.

Although nothing has been heard for awhile (unless someone has heard something), Oz Kids creator Willard Carroll is producing a Bollywood Oz movie. That means for India. Only thing I've seen is a weird picture of an emerald Taj Mahal.

On an off-note, the movie The Haunting completely ruined the idea of anything resembling the Taj Mahal in Oz for me. Remember, it isn't a gift, it's a tomb.

And there are fan films, too. Sean Pollock is working on a Sims Patchwork Girl of Oz. I wonder if he's seen Thundertoad Animation's version... Someone else is synching a Sims movie to the Colonial Radio Theatre's audio adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. There is a fan movie in the works on YouTube called The Princess of Oz, which seems to largely feature the Patchwork Girl and the Scarecrow. Although it's a documentary and not a story, I guess The Wonders of Oz is also a fan production, along with Gabriel Rodriguez's upcoming Return to Oz documentary, The Joy That Got Away.

Is the time right for an Oz feature film? I'd say it's overdue, and so do some of the wonderful Oz fans out there who have contacted me through the blog. Sam and I want to see a good adaptation done right. We want a faithful adaptation of the story that is not dull, and will not follow Eragon's special effects-driven style. There is an excellent story to work with here. It doesn't need to be bogged down with a lot of extra curliques and new details, although some touches wouldn't hurt. (Like my idea of showing how Dorothy's parents died, thus setting the mood for how we find the small Kansas farm and it's keepers at the beginning of the book.)

But some of Skot's comments here... Sam and I have been over most of these. It's like he dug into our brains. Who knows... maybe he's read my blog...