Three studio chiefs, three possible leading men, a $200 million budget: Director Sam Raimi and cast spill the beans about their audacious attempt to riff on the yellow brick road in this month’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

Summer 2011, just months away from the start of production, director Sam Raimi finally finds the actor who would end up playing The Wizard in his new film Oz The Great and Powerful.  After reaching out to both Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp, James Franco signed on the dotted line and accepted the role.

“I met Sam to discuss this film around the Oscars two years ago,”; the actor recalls, “I was happy to do it, not only to work with Sam again but also because the character is so iconic.”;  Fast forward a couple of months and James was making headlines for his ill fated attempt at Oscar host, but that didn’t bother his director , “[Disney and I were] behind him from the moment his name came up and all through the project.”;

Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis came on board as the three witches and Sam “felt we had a proposition that could appeal to a pretty broad section of the audience.”;

And what did the actresses think of their director? “Sam is by far the most collaborative director I have worked with; he’s is incredibly respectful of his cast and crew,”; says Mila Kunis. “He brings passion to work – he even wears a suit when we’re shooting.”;

This film is the unofficial prequel to The Wizard of Oz and because of that (and some legal issues Raimi encountered along the way) there are no ruby slippers, no Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow or even Dorothy.  “We’re just going to have to make our own Oz,”; Raimi says of his final decision and to do this the director opted for a combination of actual sets and CGI. “I wanted the actor not to be in a blue-screen stage. I wanted them to be in a real place where they could see and touch the set pieces around them and really feel like they were there.”;

Despite all the issues they had to overcome Raimi is pretty pleased with his film. “It’s a love-poem to The Wizard of Oz,”; he says “I hope we’ve chosen right.”;

You can find out for yourself, Oz The Great and Powerful opens in theatres March 8, and if you’d like to read more from Sam and the cast, hit up The Hollywood Reporter’s website or pick up the issue on newsstands now!