The Wizard of Oz starring Gillian Jacobs

Welcome back to another edition of What If? A Series of Absurd Casting, a blog where I make the most absurd alternate casting choices for fairly popular films. Why settle for the original when you can ask “what if?” and add your spin on a film?

This edition of “What If?” is going to be a little different than our usual formats. The film of the week is the classic musical comedy-drama-fantasy The Wizard of Oz (1939) directed by Victor Fleming. Now for those of you that are not as familiar with this American classic, it stars the young Judy Garland and follows her journey through the land of Oz. Rather than recast the entire cast, I thought it might be fun to see how my alternate actress of choice would handle the circumstances that Dorothy faces along the way, maintaining the original characters. But as usual, I will make sure Dorothy creates a significant difference in the way things go down in Oz!

In The Wizard of Oz, a young girl from Kansas named Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) lives on a farm with her dog Toto, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry. By the way, the scenes in Kansas are all shot in sepia tone. One day after rushing home to check on her Aunt Em a tornado strikes and Dorothy is unable to get into the storm cellar and must remain in the house. Something hits Dorothy in the head once she’s indoors and knocks her out. The house spins its way up and around the tornado and crashes in Munchkinland in the incredible Land of Oz which is in technicolor. 

Dorothy is welcomed into Munchkinland by Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins. They also applaud her since the house landed on top of and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, although leaving her sister the Wicked Witch of the West furious and swearing revenge on Dorothy. Despite all of the excitement of Oz Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road to Emerald city in order to make it back home to Kansas.

Along the way the Scarecrow, who wants a brain, the Tin man, who wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who desperately wants to be courageous, joins Dorothy down the yellow brick road. The trio successfully get Dorothy to Emerald City with a few obstacles on the way A.K.A. dealing with the Wicked Witch of the West. But once they arrive to the Emerald City, the great Wizard of Oz says he can only help grant their wishes if they can retrieve the Wicked Witch’s broomstick. Will they be able to get the broomstick? Will Dorothy ever make it home? Will her friends ever get a brain, a heart, or courage?

This American classic always leaves audiences feeling all warm and gooey inside because of how sweet Dorothy is and the friendships she makes are truly one of a kind. But lets be real here, how on Earth is a sixteen year old girl that calm, cool, and collected after literally surviving a tornado and landing in some magical land. I still have no idea how I would have handled that load but Dorothy is a kind of girl that just isn’t realistic. I wish I could have that voice and ability to make friends. What if Gillian Jacobs starred as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz?

Gillian Jacobs

I believe Gillian Jacobs would be the ideal absurd alternate actress to play Dorothy become she completely contradicts the naïve attitude Dorothy has. Jacobs is the kind of character that you love and hate only because you can relate to her in the best and worst moments. To be completely honest, I think it would just be flat out awesome to see her wake up in Oz totally confused. So without further delay, here’s a sneak peek at The Wizard of Oz starring Gillian Jacobs!

Dorothy Gale (Gillian Jacobs) is just a normal teenage girl who lives with her dog Toto on her aunt and uncle’s farm. But when a sudden tornado hits, she and her house ends up in the magical land of Oz. Dorothy looks out the window and says, “Holy s*%^ Toto where the hell are we?!” She grabs a chair kitchen knife and runs out the door and sees a sea of munchkins and a pink lady in a bubble. She screams once again and shout, “Who are you and where am I? Tell me or else!” Glinda the Good Witch of the North replies, “Welcome to Munchkinland in the Land of Oz Dorothy, we are so pleased and thankful for your presence! Your home even managed to kill the Wicked Witch of the East!” 

Dorothy pauses and looks around in awe. She bursts out laughing and says, “You guys are too good no seriously what’s going on. Did I smoke too much pot or something?” One of the munchkin responds, “No Miss. Dorothy you’re our hero! You saved us all! We cannot thank you enough!” Dorothy says, “Holy crap you can talk wow. Um yea guys its me Dorothy I’m here to sort of save the day hooray!” Glinda then informs her that she must follow the yellow brick road to reach Emerald City and to receive further instructions on getting home form the great and powerful Wizard of Oz himself.

Once Dorothy has assembled her squad consisting of the Scarecrow, the Tin man, the Cowardly Lion, and of course Toto, they take Emerald City by storm. But they when the must face the Wicked Witch of the West Dorothy stops playing the sweet girl façade and lashes out how she really feels. While they are being chased by the Witches army Dorothy confronts her face to face like the strong woman she is. “Hey dude, not chill. Quite trying to take my damn slippers. I’m just trying to get out of this insane place so beat it punk,” says Dorothy. She runs up to the Witch with a bucket of water and pours it on her causing the Witch to melt. Dorothy says, “Oh yeah bye, who’s the bit- I mean Witch now? That’s what I thought.”

Dorothy follows Glinda’s steps of clicking her heels three times and repeating the phrase “There’s no place like home” and wakes up in bed in Kansas. She looks at her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and says “Oh man do I have a story for you guys. So I was in this magical place and at first I was like uh oh, having a bad trip, but it wasn’t…” FADE OUT

Thanks for joining us yet again on another episode of What If? Where we take films create an absurd alternate cast. I hope Gillian Jacobs as Dorothy will make you feel like you can take on any Witch trying to steal your nice ruby slippers. And don’t forget, there’s no place like home!