Sam Raimi is currently at work shooting his prequel to The Wizard of Oz, called Oz: The Great and Powerful, which takes the point of view of the Wizard and how he became the ruler of the mystical land. With James Franco, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz all on board and with a cast already firmly in place, Raimi has still found room for his old friend Bruce Campbell, who will show up in the film.
Campbell, the wonderful B-movie actor has appeared in pretty much every Sam Raimi film ever since having worked with the director on the cult classic: The Evil Dead, which was also their first feature film. The only notable Raimi film he didn’t have a role in was Drag Me to Hell. Campbell recently took Twitter to announce his involvement in Oz: The Great and Powerful.
I. Am. In. Oz. Sam Raimi refuses to tell me what character I will portray. Just know that the role is PIVOTAL.
Had this been a straight remake of The Wizard of Oz, it would have been great to see Bruce Campbell play the Wizard himself. That being said, whatever role he has he will completely rock it.
Campbell is one of the few actors who is unashamed by his B-movie history and embraces it, most of his filmography is chock full of them. The actor may only appear in small roles in Raimi’s films, but as he once said about Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, “They can’t make any more without me, my roles have been too pivotal.”
If you think about it, his roles in the Spider-Man films are fairly crucial. And one would think that his role in Oz: The Great and Powerful will just be as pivotal as he suggests.