Todd McFarlane Talks "Oz" Movie; believes people care

From worstpreviews, Creator of "Spawn," Todd McFarlane, spoke to IGN about his upcoming project based on "The Wizard of Oz." It came from an idea by McFarlane that was fleshed out and pitched by "A History of Violence" screenwriter Josh Olson. Olson will write the script with McFarlane on board as a producer. Fans of McFarlane's toy line will know of his off-kilter take on the subject which featured a dominatrix-looking Dorothy and Toto as a freaky looking warthog.

McFarlane recalled, "Someone in Hollywood saw (the Oz toys). They phoned and said, 'Hey Todd, you have a pitch that you could come out here with?' And of course I went, '... Yyyesss... Yes I do...'"

He continued, "We actually went in there and for a while had Michael Bay going around with me pitching it. We had props, visuals, toys, storyboards, posters... I made little models of the city. I think it overwhelmed them. They said that they needed 20 minutes for a pitch and I was like, 'I need at least an hour and fifteen. I'm going to act out this whole movie and show you the whole thing because this movie is going to cost at least $140 million to make. I don't want you to not know what you're buying.' Anyway, it took a little longer than I would have liked, but eventually someone at Warner Bros finally went, 'It's crazy. It's crazy enough that it might be worth starting the process.'"

McFarlane said one has to be a "realist" about the changes that will be made to soften the dark tone of his original concept. "If you're asking someone for $140 million, they're completely the client. So you get to this moment in life where... they're not making the movie exactly that I would have made, but they're making something. It is dark and moody, but it's always been a PG-13 movie. You might not see that in the toys because the toys weren't built with that PG-13 in mind. The bondage Dorothy, in my pitch, is literally an eight second scene. Just one scene of her in that."