Johnny Depp Out As 'Oz', James Franco In?

Will no one take the throne of Oz?

The title role in the Sam Raimi project "Oz: The Great and Powerful" has been up for grabs for the last two weeks after frontrunner Robert Downey Jr. dropped out of the project. Johnny Depp was next in line to be offered the role, but finally turned it down late last week. Now, James Franco is the next choice to play the "man behind the curtain."

Since his early days on the cult hit TV show "Freaks and Geeks", Franco has proved himself to be a versatile actor capable of both drama and comedy, much like the two veterans considered for the role before him. Coming off of an Oscar nomination for his performance in "127 Hours" and being set to host the ceremony, Franco definitely has a lot of momentum right now, and landing a role previously offered to greats like Downey and Depp would be another win for him.

"Oz: The Great and Powerful" follows the story of a young illusionist whose hot air balloon gets swept away to Oz, where he comes to rule as The Wizard of Oz. The Disney and Joe Roth production is a sequel of sorts to the original "The Wizard of Oz".

Since Sam Raimi is set to direct the film, Franco seems like an obvious choice: after all, Raimi and Franco worked together on all three "Spider-Man" movies. So far, Franco has not met directly with Raimi to discuss the film, and neither have made any public statements about it.

As of now, "Oz: The Great and Powerful" doesn't have a release date or a start date, but the film is said to be a "high priority" for Disney, with hopes of starting production later this year and releasing early in 2012.