[Warning: Major spoilers ahead for Oz the Great and Powerful.]
Already earmarked by Screen Rant as one of 2013's riskiest movies, Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful has featured some odd and underwhelming marketing. One of the movie's more head-scratching promotional moves has been to make much of which of Oz's three great witches will turn out to be the destructive Wicked Witch of the West. Will it be Rachel Weisz's dark and ingratiating Evanora, Mila Kunis's modern-minded Theodora, or Michelle Williams' sweet-voiced Glinda?
Some have speculated that Raimi was preparing a serious curveball as to the Wicked Witch's identity. However, as of yesterday, leaked images display who will be playing the Wicked Witch – and for many more, it was simply a confirmation of past suspicions.
In a post on the German-language comic book forum Comicforum.de, several scanned images show the first unimpeded shots of the Wicked Witch in full makeup. These photographs (scanned from as-yet unknown publication) confirm that Mila Kunis will indeed be putting on the green face and pointy chin of the iconic villain. You can view these images below.
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CLICK IMAGE FOR MAJOR SPOILER!!!
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UPDATE: Now, a new clip from the film:
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Truth be told, this will not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has followed the previews and production diaries for Oz the Great and Powerful. Though the film's promotional materials have tried to cast doubt on all three of the witches, visual cues throughout have strongly suggested that Theodora is actually the Wicked Witch. Indeed, the witchy cackle that overlays the end of some of the movie's promotional spots belongs fairly blatantly to Kunis. And, of course, early production reports for the movie stated outright that Kunis was slated to be cast in the role.
The confirmation that Kunis will be playing the Wicked Witch does raise some interesting questions. Since the actress will have two very different appearances in Oz the Great and Powerful, one must wonder exactly how she becomes the movie's villain. Given her apparently spiky relationship with her sister Evanora, will a dispute between the two push Theodora into grabbing magical powers beyond her control? Or is her "normal" appearance when she meets Oscar Diggs (James Franco) merely a magical illusion?
These kinds of questions bring up some interesting narrative possibilities, but also illustrate that the effort to keep the Witch's identity a secret was more or less a nonentity. At the very least, we can move forward and comment on the fairly great job the production has done in recreating the look and feel of the Wicked Witch from the original Wizard of Oz. We can also speculate just how well Mila Kunis will fit under the hat of one of cinema's most memorable archvillains.
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Oz the Great and Powerful will cackle its way into theaters March 8th, 2013.
Source: Comicforum.de [via Bleeding Cool]