Return to Oz
Short description
Return to Oz follows Dorothy after she is back in Kansas, where her family, worried about her state of mind, places her in the care of a doctor who uses electricity in his treatments. She escapes the clinic with another girl and finds herself in Oz once more, but the land she remembers is in ruins. Its people have been turned to stone, and her old companions are missing, held by the Nome King. A witch named Mombi, able to take on other faces, also stands in her way, and Dorothy sets out with new companions to free her friends and restore the rightful ruler.
The film is directed by Walter Murch, who wrote the screenplay with Gill Dennis, and produced by Paul Maslansky. Fairuza Balk plays Dorothy, with Nicol Williamson as Dr. Worley and the Nome King, Jean Marsh as Nurse Wilson and Mombi, Piper Laurie as Aunt Em, and Matt Clark as Uncle Henry. It was released in June 1985 and runs 109 minutes. Made for about 25 million dollars, it took in roughly 11 million worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 29,700 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 from about 1,100. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 38 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Fairuza Balk performed all the stunts herself.
- The first film with the new Walt Disney Pictures logo featuring the rainbow and castle.
- To move his legs, Michael Sandin (1961-1989) stood inside the Tick-Tock costume upside down and facing backwards.
- The actress Fairuza Balk’s slippers were handmade with imitation rubies, and their magical appearance was enhanced by the use of rotoscoping during post-production. Glass beads imported from Austria and glued on with a special spray were used as rubies. This later caused problems, as the heat from the set lights melted the adhesive, and the beads began to fall off the slippers during the actress's movements. Eventually, the slippers were only put on immediately before filming. The actress later kept one pair of the slippers for herself.
- Disney fired director Walter Murch approximately a week after filming began due to financial concerns. Furthermore, it turned out that the filming was behind schedule. Murch turned to friends Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas for help, and they persuaded Disney to rehire Murch. Lucas even promised to become the director himself if Murch fell behind schedule again. Murch stayed on schedule, but the studio leadership changed during post-production. The new leadership showed no interest in the project, resulting in minimal advertising before its release and a limited theatrical run.
- To feature the ruby slippers in the film, Disney had to pay royalties to MGM, the studio that released Victor Fleming’s (1889-1949) “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939. The ruby slippers are not mentioned in the original book by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919). They were invented in 1939 specifically for the newly invented “Technicolor” technology. In the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900), Dorothy wears magical silver shoes and loses them upon returning to Kansas. In the book “Ozma of Oz” (1907), one of the source materials for this film, Dorothy and her friends meet King Nom, who possesses a magical belt with properties similar to those of the silver shoes. This was also mentioned in one of the early drafts of the screenplay for “Return to Oz,” according to which King Nom cut up the ruby slippers and made himself a magical belt.
- Once, Walter Murch invited his friend George Lucas to visit the set. Lucas came, and at one point began walking around the soundstage, where he met Rick McCallum, who was working on a project of his own. Lucas and McCallum became friends and later even worked together on the Star Wars prequels.
- While working on this film, Walter Murch did not intend to shoot a sequel to Victor Fleming's "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) as such.
- Initially, the characters who became the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion in the Russian adaptation were intended to play more significant roles, but due to budget constraints, their roles had to be reduced to episodic ones.
- During post-production, Emma Ridley (who played Ozma) was re-voiced by the director's daughter, Beatrice Murch. It was decided that Ridley's own voice sounded too British.
- During the filming of one of the scenes at the end of the film, actress Fairuza Balk became ill from the heat. The temperature in the pavilion exceeded 43 degrees Celsius, and the actress fainted.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
