Wicked: Mila Kunis Tapped to Star in Wizard of Oz Prequel

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You thought La Kunis was intense in Black Swan? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

News reaches us that Mila Kunis, refusing to be downbeat about not scoring a deserved Best Supporting Actress nod in Darren Aronofsky’s wild trip of a movie, is set to appear alongside Oscar co-host James Franco in Sam Raimi’s upcoming Wizard of Oz prequel, The Great and Powerful.

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New York magazine’s Vulture blog is reporting that the 27-year-old is walking away from the Hughes brothers’ live-action remake of Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s 1980’s manga classic Akira in favor of doing the backstory to the Wizard and Oz’s witches.

Kunis is tipped to be playing the part of Theodorah, who is the younger sister of Evanorah who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West (in which case, the reboot to the original movie from 1939 could be all but assured if this prequel does the business). Playwright turned screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire (whose work has most recently been seen in the Nicole Kidman vehicle Rabbit Hole) is behind the script, which is under such lock and key that no major plot spoilers have leaked out.

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Raimi’s gain could be Akira‘s loss, however, with that movie now in doubt, in light of Brad Pitt reportedly passing on it too. The world of remakes and prequels seems to be as cutthroat as the rest of the film industry but Kunis presumably won’t mind if it scores her subsequent Oscar glory. The path to the Gold Brick Road might have begun.