James Franco is a man of many talents. He's an Oscar-nominated actor, director and producer of movies. He's a multimedia artist, a novelist and a college professor. He's done a stint on General Hospital and cohosted the Academy Awards. Heck, he's even eye candy a model for Gucci.
Is there anything left for Franco to do that he hasn't done already?
There sure is!
"I'd love to do a musical," Franco told me while promoting Oz the Great and Powerful, his new Sam Raimi-directed movie based on novelist L. Frank Baum's tale about how a circus magician became the Wizard.
But not on Broadway. "Probably a movie so they could augment my voice if needed," he said.
Rachel Weisz, who plays the evil witch Evanora in Oz (in theaters on Friday), admits she "often" thought about breaking out into a song and dance number à la the Judy Garland classic The Wizard of Oz while shooting the 3-D flick.
"I think Evanora was born to sing," she said.
Michelle Williams, who plays good witch Glinda in the movie, admits there were times when she wanted to show off her vocal chops.
"In the beginning, there was talk that maybe it would be a little musical," she said. "I was asking Sam everyday, 'Can you push that part through? I think it would be so great. It would add so much whimsy to the film.'"
"I wanted to have a song and dance number but I held back," Raimi said. "I told myself, 'This is not the Wizard of Oz. This is a separate story.'"
For more scoop on Oz, check out E!'s Oz the Great and Powerful special premiering Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.