Former “Scrubs” star Zach Braff is in talks to join James Franco and Mila Kunis in Disney’s “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” according to Deadline.com.
The prequel to 1939’s “Wizard of Oz” centers on a charming circus magician (Franco) who crash-lands his hot air balloon into the enchanted land of Oz. There, the locals mistake him for a genuine wizard and enlist him to defeat the rule of the Wicked Witch and help return Oz to its former peaceful ways.
Braff would play Frank, the magician’s loyal assistant.
Kunis is on board as the seductive, but conflicted, witch Theodora, while Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams are in talks to play two other witches.
Sam Raimi (the “Spider-Man” films and “The Evil Dead” series) will direct from a script by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Joe Roth, Josh Donen and Grant Curtis producing, with Palek Patel acting as executive producer.
“Oz: The Great and Powerful” begins shooting this July in Michigan.
Disney will release the 3D film nationwide on March 8, 2013.
Best known for his stint on “Scrubs,” Braff also wrote, directed and starred in the hit indie film “Garden State,” with Natalie Portman, in 2004. His new play “All New People” opens off-Broadway on July 25. On the big screen, Braff will soon be seen opposite Jessica Biel (“The A-Team”) and Chloe Moretz (“Kick-Ass”) in “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.”