About a week ago news broke that Sam Mendes was attached to direct a new WIZARD OF OZ film at Disney titled THE GREAT POWERFUL with Robert Downey, Jr. circling the role of the Wizard himself. It looks now though that Mendes may have some competition for the gig. Adam Shankman, who produced this year’s Oscar show and has directed BEDTIME STORIES and HAIRSPRAY, is gunning for the job and has even told Disney he wants off one of their other projects.
Shankman had been developing BOB: THE MUSICAL, a property that has been around as long as I can remember (I believe Norm MacDonald was at one time attached to star, so that should give you an idea of how far back this concept goes). The film stars an regular guy who wakes up one morning and finds himself trapped in a musical. It’s a genius of a concept but for whatever reason, the project has had a bitch of a time getting off the ground. It looks like it’ll suffer another setback as Shankman has told Disney he wants off BOB.
It could be just a posturing movie by Shankman to prove to Disney execs he’s serious about directing GREAT POWERFUL. It was noted that BOB isn’t a very high priority at Disney right now while POWERFUL is hotter than a snake’s ass.
Before you become concerned that Shankman, a guy who’s made a career on being family-friendly, would deliver a more kid-friendly movie than Mendes, reportedly the reason Shankman wants the job is because he sees this as his chance to break out of that mold and direct something decidedly more adult.
Now just because Shankman and/or Mendes want the job, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s theirs. Disney has yet to make a decision and could still be interviewing candidates we haven’t heard about yet. It does, however, spell bad things for BOB: THE MUSICAL, which looks to sink deeper into development hell.
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