Michelle Williams Adds Depth to Glinda The Good Witch in OZ: The Great and Powerful

Michelle Williams got her big break starring in Dawson's Creek, and since then has proven to the world that she has some fine acting chops. After the teen drama, she made a splash in 2005's Brokeback Mountain with her deceased husband Heath Ledger.

Michelle has immersed herself in heavily dramatic movies like Blue Valentine, but currently she is filming the prequel to The Wizard of Oz. She'll be playing the role of Glinda the Good Witch, and putting her own spin on the role. A role she says was extremely one dimensional in the classic film.

I wanted to know if this “Oz the Great and Powerful” which she’s currently shooting for Sam Raimi has sort of a “Wicked” take (in terms of prequel) on “The Wizard of Oz.” Of course, that would scare folks who don’t want to be sued by the “Wicked” people, but the tales do sound similar.

“It’s definitely not ‘Wicked’ inspired. It’s a movie that would pre-figure the ‘Wizard of Oz.’ So I don’t have to do a Billie Burke imitation. I’m playing a younger Glinda, so I’m not bound by Billie Burke’s performance. I don’t get to say, ‘Toto, too!’ Thank goodness!” - Orlando Sentinel

Instead, Williams has found herself ensconced in Detroit for the rest of the year, shooting Sam Raimi's fable Oz: The Great and Powerful. She's Glinda, the good witch, a fact that has impressed her daughter.

"It's a dream come true for both of us. It's a magical world," Williams says. "She comes every day after school. Big beautiful sets. Amazing costumes. Magical apparatus. Apparati? Wands and flying."

Raimi says there's a reason Williams is so bewitching: "I needed a combination of a good soul and a great actress. She's very quick with a smile. It makes you feel special to be with her. She's very warm." - USA TODAY

“I’ve already watched the ‘Wizard of Oz’ a lot, because it’s one of my daughter’s favorites. But Sam didn’t want to be bound to Glinda of old, anyway. He wanted a fresh take on it.”

Williams said she was attracted to playing an earlier incarnation of Glinda, one who is still discovering the true extent of her powers.

“In the ‘Wizard of Oz’ film we all know and love, she’s omniscient and doesn’t have a lot of human qualities. She’s not fully realized in that way -- she’s not a dimensional person. That’s where she ends up, and my Glinda is where she’s starting out.” - LA Times

Oz: The Great and Powerful is set to release on March 8, 2013.

Official Synopsis - Walt Disney Pictures' fantastical adventure "Oz The Great and Powerful," directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum's beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.