The Wizard Of Oz: The Prequel

Cinema Romantico's sources have indicated that, contrary to reports tabbing Sam Raimi, Ridley Scott has been hired to direct a prequel of the landmark 1939 film "The Wizard Of Oz." In an interview with the Provo Basin Standard Scott was quoted as saying "This version (of 'The Wizard Of Oz') will be the most historically accurate yet."

According to the Provo newspaper the prequel will be based in part on the forthcoming book by Idaho State Professor Stanley Cost entitled "The Great And Powerful Oz: A Search For The Real Wizard" which, centered around recent archaeology findings in the Canadian Rockies, posits that L. Frank Baum's beloved children's book was founded more on non fiction than fantasy.

A discovery late last year of a thread of burlap 95 miles west of Mount Columbia determined to have been torn from a balloon's sandbag dated to 1893 corresponds with the timeframe of a small Canadian community called Emerald Township, located in the province of Alberta which, through extensive research, Cost claims was once governed by an ex-medical quack.

"It is believed he was a man called John Whistler, nicknamed the Wizard for his medical practice of mysterious potions," explained Professor Cost, "who fled from the authories via hot air balloon after it was discovered he was charging patients for false remedies."

Scott explained via phone the movie's main intent will be to capture a "realistic portrait of the mythical wizard." This means cutting the original version's much beloved song and dance numbers. "You can't show a seriously unbalanced man scamming an innocent community and then cut to a scarecrow singing. You just can't. In these harsh economic times it's obviously not what the people want," said Scott.

He also advised the new film will not contain any flying monkeys "since, as you know, flying monkeys don't actually exist."

The film's release date has yet to be confirmed.