McFarlane himself is setting the record straight at Empire Online that he hadn't even heard the Fanning rumor. "If we just do a sugary sweet Dorothy that everybody has seen over and over for 50 years, as far as I'm concerned, that's too obvious. I'm happy to go with whoever will get the most people in the seats, but sometimes that can change from month to month." As for the status of the project, it might go into production early next year. But McFarlane admits these things can go awry. The script is undergoing a second rewrite, and plot elements like the main character being Dorothy's granddaughter aren't even locked down. Plus, the whole thing might not be as dark as you think. I think my "Twisted" version is a little scary for Warners to embrace. I essentially pitched "Lord of the Rings." It was big, it was bold and it wasn't a very pretty place. It was bad-ass! [...] To get the new audience you're going to have to put some edges on this thing. My version would rock! But they're all like, "We're spending $100m here, we can't go totally nuts, Todd!" So I've told them that the movie I like is the one they're willing to make!"