James Franco, the Oscar co-host and Best Actor nominee of 2011, has landed a new role. Deadline Hollywood reports that Franco is to play the title character in the upcoming film, Oz, the Great and Powerful. Sam Raimi, the director of the Spiderman Trilogy in which James Franco had starred in, will direct this prequel. Apparently James Franco accepted the role after Robert Downy Jr. and Johnny Depp had declined the role of Oz. James Franco is also coming out in another movie this year called, Caesar: Rise of the Apes.

Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire have already finished writing Oz, and it has been learned that the plot will be about Oz’s life before he was a wizard, and when he was a circus performer from Omaha. It’s also been rumored that Mila Kunis will be starring as the Wicked Witch, Theodorah, but no official announcement has been made. The movie has reported to start filming in July of this year.