!["Oz the Great and Powerful."](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/d0/b6/d0b6d88378c5ba78c67bc432bac848a9.jpg?itok=jSCh5IOD ""Oz the Great and Powerful."")
The new film "Oz the Great and Powerful" is coming to theaters everywhere beginning this Friday, March 8, but the yellow-brick road (or carpet, at least) ran through the Emagine Royal Oak Theater this past Tuesday. The carpet was rolled out for a special advanced screening of the film, shown to local Detroit cast and crew who took part in the film.
Yes, resembling an Oz-like dream, Michigan - for a short time - was an attractive site for Hollywood films. "Oz the Great and Powerful" was the last major film production shot entirely in Michigan, before politics intervened and the special tax incentives the state had laid out to help boost our struggling economy were minimized.
But despite Governor Rick Snyder's latest budget proposal for the state (which lays out a plan to eventually do away with the filming incentives altogether), two very influential people walked the yellow-brick carpet to support "Oz" and the state's tax incentives in general.
One was Chris Dodd, the current Chairman and CEO of the MPAA who was joined with Michigan Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, a Republican with a difference of opinion with the Governor when it comes to the Michigan tax incentives. Also there was the Executive Producer on the film, Grant Curtis, along with several Detroit locals who either appeared in the film, worked on the film behind the scenes, or both.
Please click on the video link for a video segment shot live on the yellow-brick carpet, containing interviews with Chris Dodd and Randy Richardville, Grant Curtis and other local Detroit cast and crew of "Oz the Great and Powerful."
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