Boorman To Do Animated “Wizard”
Director John Boorman has one of the great, wide-ranging careers in movie history. “The Lord of the Rings” may have slipped through his grasp, but instead, the English director went on to make “Deliverance” (1972), “Zardoz” (1974), “Excalibur” (1981) and “The Emerald Forest” (1985) – all of which gave vent to his appetite for epic adventure. Now, Boorman, 76, is just about to start work on his first animated feature, a $25m version of another much loved fantasy, “The Wizard of Oz.” Ever the contrarian, Boorman says that the 1939 movie version is “clunky.” He promises that his movie will hew more closely to the book, and answer questions such as: Why is Dorothy so anxious to get back to “this ghastly place, Kansas”? Don’t expect a big opening weekend in Topeka, Mr. Boorman.
