Forget hearts, brains, and courage, what
'Oz the Great and Powerful' needs right now is a new lead actor. Robert Downey Jr., who has been attached to star in Sam Raimi's film about a young illusionist's arrival to the magical land of Oz, has just dropped out according to
THR. No reason was given, but this leaves Disney in something of a jam since they've just started prep work on designing the world of Oz. Since this is expected to be a large, important potential franchise for the studio, who else is Disney going to turn to but the ol' reliable Johnny Depp.
There's been no start date established for Oz as of yet, but the hope is for filming to being later this year. That could cause some conflicts for Depp, since he's already got Gore Verbinski's
The Lone Ranger and Tim Burton's
Dark Shadows on his dance card. Taking on Oz could force some shuffling of one of those projects.
This makes the second film Downey has dropped out of this year, with the first being Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi epic,
Gravity.
