In Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful, Academy Award-nominated actor James Franco reunites with director Sam Raimi for their fourth project together. “This is my fourth film with Sam Raimi,” says the talented actor. “He has become a very good friend. Sam is great at many things, but I would say the skills that stand out are that he’s a master of using great fantastical effects with human stories.

This time around, Raimi directs Franco in the role of Oscar “Oz” Diggs, a small-time magician in a travelling circus who finds himself cast into a fantastical land where he is heralded as the prophesied wizard. Franco describes Oz as “a pretty good magician but he feels he hasn’t achieved everything he wants to in life and maybe he’s barking up the wrong tree. He wants to be a world-famous performer. He is also a little bit of a Lothario. He has many girlfriends in the circus, but he also has one true love in Kansas, whom he is unable to commit to. Then along comes a horrible tornado and he’s whisked off to a magical world called Oz.”

A parallel universe

There were two reasons why Franco wanted to play the part of Oz. “First, I was a fan of the Oz books when I was young. “I read all of them at a very young age. I thought it was a magical world and a place that I would love to travel to. Secondly, when I got the script, I really liked how they handled my character, Oz, who is sort of the emissary to the Land of Oz and is a bit of a charlatan. He’s a bit of a cad and he’s a bit of a fool. I love the character. So here is a character that reacts to this beautiful and fantastic world but in funny and unexpected ways.”

Oz The Great and Powerful is a cinematic prequel to L Frank Baum’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story imagines the origins of the beloved wizard character whose backstory was never fully revealed by Baum in any of his 14 books about the Land of Oz.

Franco believes there are many reasons why people continue to love the Land of Oz stories. “The Land of Oz is a fully developed world that Baum returned to many times in his books and created with such detail. I think when people can be transported to a land where they feel there are very clear rules and geographical places and it’s just well designed, it’s nice to be able to visit a place that’s created with such authority. But also, the Land of Oz is, in other ways, I think a parallel universe for not just my character, but for everyone, where people can go and sort of live out and work out their own psychological issues or life issues in a way that makes it enjoyable because it is such a colourful, fantastic place.”

When Oz travels through the Land of Oz, he encounters three very different witches, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), the ruler of the Emerald City; Theodora (Mila Kunis) her innocent and vulnerable sister; and Glinda (Michelle Williams), the good witch. Franco enjoyed working with the talented trio of actresses. He says of Rachel Weisz, “Rachel is one of the best actresses around. She also works very hard. I didn’t have too many scenes with her but she’s an actress who likes to explore all the possible ways a scene could go.”

“I can say that Mila Kunis is my favourite actress to work with, ever. She is easy-going, smart; she has great instincts and I think we have good chemistry.”

Of Michelle Williams, who plays the good witch Glinda, Franco says, “Michelle is a very hard-working actress and she takes a lot of care with her character. I think her main objective, or one of her main objectives with her character, was to both be loyal to the classic conception of the character, but to bring a new life and a new spirit to Glinda.”

a perfect illusion in 3d

Although Franco did not need any stunt training for his role, he did have to learn how to perform magic tricks. “I was asked to come out here two weeks in advance so that I could work with the great Lance Burton, one of the most famous, if not the most famous magician, from Las Vegas. We worked together every day on certain magic tricks... producing doves out of nothing and producing fire out of my hand and turning that into a dove. Pretty advanced magic tricks!”

It’s no wonder that Franco admits that his favourite scene to film was the magic show in Kansas. “It was a great balance between silliness and an entertaining show,” says Franco. “Everyone put a lot of care into creating what would be a magic act in the year 1900. It was fun to go back and do that.”

When audiences see Oz The Great and Powerful in theatres, Franco says, “I think they’ll laugh and have fun. The film’s going to be in 3D, so I think audiences will be transported to another world.”

Adds Franco, “In our film, Oz is a magician. He’s a bit of an illusionist. So it’s sort of the perfect analogy or metaphor for what Sam and all the other filmmakers on this movie are doing. They’re creating an illusion to take the audience to another world.”

FRANCO FACTS

Auditioned for the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man

but was given the

part of Harry Osborn.

Went by the name of Ted

in high school and was

voted “Best Smile” at

Palo Alto High School.

Is a maths genius. Interned at Lockheed Martin, the American global aerospace, defence, security and advanced technology company.

His debut book of poetry is due for release in April 2014.

Does James Franco fit your imagination of the Wizard of Oz? Tell t2@abp.in