Robert Downey Jr. to star in Wizard of Oz Prequel?

(HMG) -  Disney is said to have a Wizard of Oz prequel on “a fast track of sorts,”  and the Los Angeles Times reports Robert Downey Jr. is in talks with producers to star as the wizard. The movie would be about the wizard before he came to Oz, when he was a charlatan in Kansas. The Times describes the wizard as “a more dark and complex character in this version than the desperate and doddering wizard of the MGM musical (played by Frank Morgan) would suggest.” The top candidates to direct, meanwhile, are American Beauty director Sam Mendes (who just got his plate cleared now that Bond 23 is on hold indefinitely) and Hairspray director Adam Shankman.  “The Whole Nine Yards” writer Mitchell Kapner wrote the script for the project, based on parts of a number of L. Frank Baum Oz books.