I'll repost my cast from the last time, but altered a bit with a different Dorothy plus Uncle Henry and Autie Em.
I'd want the movie to be much more serious than the 1939 one, while still being very uplifting and magical. This one would not be a musical(the original did that part perfectly anyway), and the tone would be both bright and darkly beautiful without going for full-blown Burtonesque macabre. For the director, as much as I disliked Pan's Labyrinth as a whole, the fantasy parts(all 15 minutes of them) had almost the exact look I want for this, so I'm giving the directoral reigns to Guillermo del Toro(I considered Alfonso Cuaron too).
Okay, so...
An unknown - Dorothy
Or at least an unknown-to-me. I thought over all the current 15-25 actresses out there and none of them really seem to speak to me. Ellen Page is the only one that might feel right. Count her as my choice, I guess, but there's probably somebody better out there.
The Scarecrow - Michael Emerson
For the moment, forget all that cold, calculating stuff we've grown to love him for over the past year and remember what he was like back in Season 2 in the vault, terrified and shy without being cowardly, because he still had that edge of confidence and wit to him. That's what I want the Scarecrow to be like in this. Emerson certainly has the right voice and facial look too, but I think they might want to use CGI to make him taller and thiner, or even get del Toro-favourite Doug Jones to be the body and Emerson just be the head and all that. Doug Jones was one of my first choices for the part because physically he IS the Scarecorw, but the bottom line is I've never seen him act. Then I remembered how awesome Michael is. Oh, and speaking of Michaels....
The Tin Woodsman - Michael Showalter
For those of you blessed enough to see
Wet Hot American Summer, you know that Showalter is actually pretty great at playing the straight(er) man in a comedy act(not that this would be a comedy or anything). This would be a great role for him to stretch his talents even farther. He's also one of the best physical actors out there.
Also worth noting is that I'd have Showalter wearing a green-screen suit with telemetric sensors the whole time, leaving only his face exposed, because the look I'm thinking of would require extensive CGI. He'd be a rusty clockpunk robot with plenty of exposed gears and springs, kind of similar to this (
http://www.mactonnies.com/mechanoidbabe.jpg) but even rougher.
By the way, you have no idea how hard it was for me not to just go ahead and use all three 'Stella' members as the leads in this once I had the idea for Showalter.
Jeff Daniels as the Cowardly Lion
This role was definitely the hardest for me to choose, mainly because it's so hard to think of a way to have the character not be silly and comedic. Not only is he one of the best, most versatile actors on the planet, I think Daniels' got a good look for this(even though I still don't know how much of him would be CGI), and is great at portraying timid and nervous/neurotic, which is exactly how I want the character to be in this. Instead of being a blubbering little boy, he's a horribly underconfident and unsure nervous wreck, who stutters and draws into himself, mentally backing away all the time the way the Lion physically tried to do all those times in the original, while slowly gaining some handle on his worries and finally learning to steady himself and stand up to his fears. I'm thinking he'd be a little bit of his Harry from Dumb and Dumber mixed with George McFly.
I seriously considered about 8 different people for this one, from Paul Giamatti to Sean Astin. I was halfway through typing the paragraph about Tony Shalhoub when Daniels sprung into my head and became one of my favourite choices in the movie.
The Wicked Witch of the West - Carol Kane
Those of you who have seen The Addams Family Values will probably understand where I'm coming from here. There's been a recent trend in movies of casting former-bombshell-now-middle-aged women as the icy *****goddess, to comedic affect and critical acclaim(Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Michelle Pfeiffer in Stardust, soon to be Susan Sarandon in Enchanted). I don't want to go that way for this part. I don't want an over-the-top psycho tyrant(I considered Tilda Swinton and Helena Bonham Carter too) either. I think for my vision of this movie, what would work best is a genuine, vile, sickening 14th-Century Pagan-type witch. She was creepy and repulsive enough in The Addams Family Values. Now imagine that without the black comedy.
Glinda the Good Witch of the North - Carol Kane
Because it would be a crime not to let Carol Kane show her sweet side too. The fact that she'd be playing both parts, however, would be almost incedental. I originally had her picked just to play the Wicked Witch, but after while racking my brain for Glinda the image of Carol in Scrooged(before she starts in with the crotch-kicking) came up. Just have her play it actually nice, and light her to look like an angel, and you've got it.
The Wizard - Jim Broadbent
I've had this locked in for a long time, well before I knew he was officially playing Slughorn(allow me to again mention how awesome that is). Broadbent is always great, and his acting style is ideal for how I want the Wizard to be in this. I'd also want him to base a bit of his performance on H.G. Wells(try to find some video of him if you can, it's so cool to watch him talk). Don't forget though, this is the REAL Wizard I'm talking about. He's only the man behind the curtain. There's still the matter of the illusion of himself the Wizard creates, and for that I'm thinking...
GIANT CGI ORSON WELLES
I think this would kick so much ***. Use the same technology they used to do this with Marlon Brando in Superman Returns and Sir Lawrence Olivier in Sky Captain, only better, to create a huge transluscent green and purple hologram of Welles' face. Use preexisting audio and computers to create a booming, echo-y, synthesized version of Welles' awesome cinematic voice, and there you have it, the perfect throwback to the Golden Age of 20th Century Cinema and at the same time an astonishing figure in its own right.
And finally
Ken Jenkins as Uncle Henry.
Can't really think of an Auntie Em right now.