So, Robert Zemeckis, the guy who brought you Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, What Lies Beneath, The Polar Express, and Beowulf, will not direct a remake of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz.
A Deadline report tying Zemeckis to a potential Oz remake caused a furor among bloggers yesterday, most of whom apparently see the Yellow Brick Road as hallowed ground belonging to Judy and Toto and no one else.
Well, except that long before Judy Garland went hopping on all those yellow bricks, Dorothy Dwan played Dorothy in a 1925 silent version of L. Frank Baum’s novel – which has some curious sociopolitical undertones completely missing from MGM’s rainbowesque version.
And before Dwan, future The Maltese Falcon and 42nd Street star Bebe Daniels played a nine-year-old Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a one-reeler made in 1910.
I’m no fan of The Wizard of Oz – don’t despair; I don’t dislike it, either – but here’s wondering: since a Zemeckis-less Oz seems to be a no-go at this stage, then what about a remake of the considerably less revered The Blue Bird, an Ozish tale that starred Shirley Temple back in 1940?
Best Animated Feature Oscar contenders
According to Academy rules, if less than 16 animated films are in contention for this category, only three of them will be shortlisted for the award. That’s the case this year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its list of 15 eligible films for the 2011 Best Animated Feature Oscar:
Idiots and Angels, Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Tangled, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Warners’ Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Despicable Me, Alpha and Omega, My Dog Tulip, The Illusionist, The Dreams of Jinsha, Summer Wars.
Hollywood Publicist Ronni Chasen Murdered; Had Represented Natalie Wood, Hans Zimmer
Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was fatally shot multiple times on the chest while driving her Mercedes Benz during an attack on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills early Tuesday, Nov. 16. She was 64.
At some point or other, Chasen had represented the likes of Natalie Wood, Hans Zimmer, Richard Zanuck, and Irwin Winkler.
According to the Los Angeles Times blog L.A. Now, Chasen had just attended an after-party for the premiere of Cher and Cristina Aguilera’s upcoming movie Burlesque.
Chasen lived in Westwood.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Lawsuit Against Dick Clark Productions
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), no stranger to scandal and controversy, has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Golden Globes show producer Dick Clark Productions (DCP), TheWrap‘s Tim Molloy reports.
The HFPA complaint states that “DCP acts as though it has unilateral right to license the broadcast rights for the Golden Globe Awards on whatever terms it pleases, without HFPA’s knowledge or authorization,” and that DCP is “attempting to assume complete control over the rights to the show.”
According to a DCP spokesperson quoted in Molloy’s piece, “We are confident the case has no merit in either venue. Our respective rights under the contract are clear. The HFPA cannot unilaterally change the basis on which DCP and the HFPA have done business for almost three decades.”
Here’s wondering how all this will affect the 2011 Golden Globes ceremony. And I can’t wait for the all-but-inevitable on-air Dick Clark jokes.
Photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association