“Sam Mendes is the front runner to direct “Oz The Great And Powerful” by Mitchell Kapner, with Robert Downey, Jr. circling to play the Wizard”
Mendes was previously working on the 23rd Bond film… until the studio pissed us all off by delaying production. So he’s rebounded quite nicely. Kapner’s credentials include producing and creating the story (not the screenplay) behind Romeo Must Die and the script of Into the Blue 2: The Reef.
Kapner’s story (originally reported with the title Brick) is based off of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books and ideas. It focuses on a young circus magician named Oscar Zoroaster who accidentally lands his hot air balloon in a mysterious land. His full name is rumored to be Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs (O.Z. P.I.N.H.E.A.D.). Interesting.