( EW.com ) -- Close your eyes and begin listing all of the various characters , dialogue , imagery , creatures , props , sets , and songs you can from `` The Wizard of Oz . '' Chances are , it 'll take you about as long to finish as it took Dorothy and her companions to traipse their way to the Emerald City . That 's because the 1939 film is a part of our collective cultural memory , a work of American mythology so fundamental that it permeates our everyday lives . ( Do n't believe me ? Grab a box of Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts , visit the ruby slippers in the Smithsonian , or watch any one of these movies . ) So how do you go about making a movie that tells the story of what happened before Dorothy 's house flew over the rainbow and landed lickety-splat on the Wicked Witch of the East ? Basically , how do you make a prequel to everyone 's childhood ? `` Very carefully , '' says Sam Raimi . The director of the `` Spider-Man '' and `` Evil Dead '' trilogies was at first extremely hesitant to take on `` Oz the Great and Powerful '' —the huge and expensive family film out March 8 that Disney hopes will hit the same sweet spot as 2010′s `` Alice in Wonderland '' —for a very simple reason : `` The original is my favorite film of all time , '' he says. `` I did n't want it sullied . I did n't want to be involved in a production that might trade off the goodwill of that film , so I did n't even want to read the script at first . Luckily I did . And then I realized that it was n't at all what I thought . '' Tom Cruise in 'Oblivion ' : Two new posters . `` Oz the Great and Powerful '' tells the story of the man who would be wizard . James Franco plays Oscar Diggs ( a.k.a . `` Oz '' ) , a circus magician who travels via tornado to the land of Oz and meets its denizens , many of whom , like Michelle Williams ' Glinda the Good Witch , we 've already met . `` We tried to think of what made Glinda in the original film , but we did n't want to lean too heavy-handedly on that , '' says Williams on developing her iconic , if slightly loopy , bubble-traveling character . Meanwhile , Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis join in as the witches Evanora and Theodora , one of whom ends up as that infamous green crone with the bone-rattling cackle , the Wicked Witch of the West . Michael Ealy to play J.J. Abrams ' robot cop . In this week 's issue , EW goes behind the scenes of Disney 's big prequel , talking to its stars and Raimi—the brain , heart , and courage behind the whole operation—about taking on such a beloved property , the various copyright snares they faced from the owners of the original film , and what it was like rebuilding and inhabiting the merry old land of Oz . All you have to do is click your heels three times and dive in . See the original article at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Director Sam Raimi said he was hesitant to take on `` Oz the Great and Powerful '' Raimi : `` The original is my favorite film of all time . I think it has a lot more going for it than people give credit for.