Eddie Redmayne In Talks to Play WIZARD OF OZ Creator L. Frank Baum
There's a biopic in development based on the life of L. Frank Baum, the creator and author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film is called Road to Oz, and according to The Tracking Board, Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne is in contention to play Baum.
New Line Cinema is developing the project and it will focus on the early days of the Oz author before he became famous for his work. Redmayne seems like he would be the perfect fit for this role. The actor recently finished shooting Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl and is next set to star in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
I don't know much about the life of Baum, but before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he worked in theater, as a clerk, and edited and wrote for a newspaper and magazines like the Evening Post. He also urged the extermination of all America's native peoples, writing:
"The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth."
Apparently he said stuff like this as a way to generate sympathy for the Indians. The guy definitely seemed to lead a very interesting life, and I'm curious to see how it's portrayed in this biopic.