The role of the elder, villainous witch in Sam Raimi‘s Oz: The Great and Powerful currently has two actresses in its sight. Both Hilary Swank and Michelle Williams are up for the part but there seems to be a bit of a conflict. Director Sam Raimi wants Swank for the role but the studio, Disney, wants Williams. Disney is strongly opposed to Swank according to Vulture, but Raimi desperately wants her in the film.
Raimi has battled with studios before (he fought for Tobey Maguire on Spider-Man) and he usually goes to bat for his actors. Apparently Disney doesn’t want Swank, at all. And it makes sense, she hasn’t been too hot lately. She’s had a streak of bad films and isn’t exactly a box office draw. Williams isn’t a box office draw either but she is doing well in terms of critics. They’ve been eating her up in films like Blue Valentine and Meek’s Cutoff.
The film already has James Franco and Mila Kunis and with a July start date, we should see a resolution to this conflict shortly. When we do we’ll let you know.