This text comprises spoilers for “Depraved.”
L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Great Wizard of Oz” stands as some of the tailored novels ever revealed. As early as 1908 — virtually the daybreak of cinema — “Oz” was being translated to the display screen, and the titular character of the Wizard of Oz has appeared in every of these variations. As such, the Wizard is a personality who’s been interpreted in a wide range of methods, on condition that he is been portrayed by actors starting from Richard Pryor, Jeffrey Tambor, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent D’Onofrio, and James Franco. In terms of the portrayal of the Wizard within the new movie model of “Depraved,” two actors particularly leap to thoughts: Frank Morgan, who performed the Wizard in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz,” and Joel Gray, who performed him within the authentic stage manufacturing of “Depraved.”
When Jeff Goldblum was introduced to be taking up the function in Jon M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation of the Stephen Schwartz/Winnie Holzman musical (itself an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel “Depraved: The Life and Occasions of the Depraved Witch of the West”), it initially gave the impression of a cute little bit of stunt casting. In spite of everything, Goldblum had just lately portrayed one other form of bumbling, clueless, charmingly fascist dictator: the Grandmaster in “Thor: Ragnarok.” Whereas all Goldblum needed to do in an effort to money his paycheck was cross out “Grandmaster” on his name sheet and write in “Wizard,” his work in “Depraved” is proof that he is too consummate a performer to merely cellphone in a “quirky Goldblum”-esque riff.
Goldblum’s efficiency in “Depraved” does what nice actors regularly do with materials that is been round for hundreds of years and completed quite a few instances earlier than: it breathes new, distinct life into it. After all, Goldblum is helped by “Depraved” taking a (comparatively) recent take a look at Oz and its iconography. Even so, there are little nuances to his characterization that make his Wizard an enchanting man backstage.
Goldblum’s Wizard is a personality unto himself
A big a part of the lasting allure of Victor Fleming’s “The Wizard of Oz” is its beguiling ambiguity relating to its validity. In different phrases: is it actually occurring, or is it all of the dream of Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her traumatized noggin making a fantasy land inside her thoughts that is been populated by faces from her humdrum Kansas life? Given this method, and the way influential each it and the movie that options it have been, the character of the Wizard has typically been a reactionary one. That’s to say, he’s usually used as a stand-in for one more character’s hopes and/or fears. In Dorothy’s case, it is each, as his preliminary look as a foreboding projected picture represents a domineering parental determine at first, altering to Morgan’s bumbling “humbug,” somebody who means nicely and can assist present recommendation to her and her pal’s plight.
Whereas alternate takes on the Wizard in such media because the collection “As soon as Upon a Time” have allowed the character extra autonomy, many of the direct variations of Baum’s books maintain the Wizard as a purpose, a wild card, a deus ex machina, or some mixture of the three. Earlier than “Depraved,” the variation that sees him as his personal character is the movie the place he is the protagonist: Sam Raimi’s “Oz the Nice and Highly effective.” A response to the success of the “Depraved” stage musical, the movie takes a distinct method to a “Wizard of Oz” prequel, with this model of the character (Franco) being a magician and con artist named Oscar Diggs who leans into the “man backstage” trope, making his character akin to a few of Raimi’s different coward heroes, like Ash in “Military of Darkness.”
Goldblum’s soak up “Depraved” is, at its core, a variation on all that is come earlier than, as is unavoidable with such well-worn materials. But his perform within the story is nearly the antithesis of how he is used within the 1939 movie. Though Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) see him as a purpose and a little bit of a deus ex machina, this man is neither. He is a turning level that they have to now react to, and it is this Wiz’s personal private goals that trigger battle with them, Elphaba particularly.
Goldblum makes his Wizard each heat and menacing
As a lot because it’s based mostly on a beloved stage musical, a preferred novel, and, after all, on Baum’s fictional world and all its attendant variations, “Depraved” is a difficult bit of fabric. Chu and his fellow filmmakers double down on this trickiness by leaning into the connection to the 1939 “Wizard of Oz,” revealing proper from the opening moments of the movie that their story will lead instantly into the occasions of that film in some vogue. Fortunately, not one of the solid (together with Goldblum) is being known as upon to do imitations of the actors from the 1939 film, however the very intention of “Depraved” is to reconfigure what we thought we knew concerning the story and these characters so there’s nonetheless an expectation that these figures ought to behave considerably like their Twentieth-century counterparts.
To that finish, Goldblum’s flip deftly threads the needle of these expectations. After all, he can activate that signature Goldblumian quirk with no drawback, bringing his particular model of allure to the bumbling wizard. But that is additionally the actor who introduced such menace to his performances in “The Fly,” “Deep Cowl,” and “Hideaway,” and when the Wizard is revealed as being behind the oppression and enslavement of the realm’s animal inhabitants, it is not an arbitrary shift. In different phrases, Goldblum does not must reconfigure his efficiency and out of the blue snigger manically or shout or something of the type. As an alternative, he permits what beforehand appeared cute and endearing concerning the Wizard to out of the blue appear tainted, unsavory, and even damaged.
Once more, that is all inside a comparatively brief quantity of display screen time for his function in “Depraved: Half One,” however Goldblum does a lot of the heavy lifting to permit for the mandatory flip within the plot, the tone, and the path of the movie simply earlier than it breaks for its cliffhanger. All indicators level to Goldblum having far more to do in subsequent yr’s “Depraved: Half Two,” and after Elphaba and Glinda, he’s the character I am most wanting ahead to seeing extra of. Who is aware of — in the best way that it combines Goldblum’s greatest strengths as an actor, the function of the Wizard of Oz could develop into a career-best for him.
“Depraved” is in theaters in every single place.
