OZ The Great And Powerful – Glinda – Interview With Michelle Williams – #DisneyOzEvent

THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES. HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF INTERVIEWS PUBLISHED SO FAR.
Interview with James Franco – OZ
Interview with Mila Kunis – Theodora
Interview with Mila Kunis – Theodora – OZ Spoilers
Interview with Rachel Weisz – Evanora
Interview with Director Sam Raimi
Interview with Michelle Williams – Glinda
Post on the OZ Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in LA
While in Los Angeles for the #DisneyOzEvent we had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Williams, the actress in the role of Glinda. Williams is just lovely, and very sweet. Here are a few of my favorite portions of the interview.

We talked about the bringing the character of Glinda to life.
Q : You were amazing. What was your inspiration?
MICHELLE : Um, thank you. I thought a lot about her, and I’ve watched that movie passively for years, and watched it with my daughter. Sam said something really interesting to me in the beginning. He said there’s a reason that Glinda, the Good Witch doesn’t go down the Yellow Brick Road, and that she’s not on the journey, because she’s one dimensional. She needs to learn about herself, and thus she’s like the least relatable character. And I thought, right, that’s a good point. We want people to feel like they’re on a journey with Glinda, too, and that she isn’t this sort of crystalized version who knew it all along and, we want her to have struggle, we want her to be human. But what is she allowed, how can she still be good, and innocent, and believe the best in people, but still have a struggle?
Obviously, she’s struggling for the freedom of these people, and she’s struggling a little bit with her own self doubt. I thought a lot about transformation. She’s not somebody who’s had a perfectly easy ride. She lost her father. She’s in charge of these, these sort of refugees, but she doesn’t really know how to protect them and how to make them see. I can’t say that those aren’t things that I’ve weighed in my life. And so I thought a lot about transformation and how Glinda transforms these dark and dire situations, how she transforms tears into bubbles, that she makes the best out of a rotten situation because of a way that she chooses to look at it. That takes a lot of energy and it’s not entirely human.
It is a super-human quality, I have seen it on Sam, our director. One wife and five kids. It’s amazing. He’s such a cool guy. He had that attitude, you know. It’s like a really tough job to make a movie that’s this big. Can you imagine, all those personalities, like a hundred and fifty people, all their personalities, all their jobs, all their questions, and Sam is the funnel for all of it. And he maintained this exuberant and this buoyancy, and this belief in the possibility, and he was interested in what everybody had to say. I think a lot about my daughter, but I also, kinda thought a lot about Sam as kind of Glinda the Good Witch. And I thought about Joan of Ark and, you know, heroes.

We also talked about being a Mom and finding balance.
Q : How do you balance your career with motherhood?
MICHELLE : How does anybody do it. It is like an Olympian undertaking. Okay, what have I figured out? What have I really learned. Um, they’re all such hard lessons, too. I’m trying to get comfortable with the moments, to get comfortable with the fact that it’s gonna feel like a scale, and that I’m never gonna arrive at a perfect balance, and it’s always gonna be a give and take. Something’s always gonna feel like it’s suffering, like it’s underserved. And that’s really hard on your heart, to feel like you’re not being the best parent that you could be, or you’re not being the best at your job that you could be, but, that’s what I’m really trying to get peaceful with – the fact that I’m always going to feel like that and that is the equation for as long as I choose to or have to stay in this position where I work and where I parent. It’s so hard.
It’s just so hard. It’s really overwhelming. I mean, I’d be more apt to ask you guys, like what works for you? What are the tricks, what are the hints? Like, what do you give up? A big epiphany for me recently was, I am not gonna wash my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. I find it so hard to make some time for myself. I am not gonna spend fifteen minutes pre-washing. Why would I do that? I’m looking for time everywhere, in every corner, every day, and here I am, pre-washing my dishes. Not any more. Silverware, going in there. Knives, going in there. I try and buy back time where I can. A friend of mine said something to me once that really stuck with me. He said, everybody thinks that you should spend your time making money, but I think you should spend your money making time. I’m like, yeah.

That’s a picture of our group, taken right after Williams told us she sometimes reads blogs and finds them to be a great place for finding advice. She even thanked us for blogging and sharing our stories about parenting, family and life. So see, you never know who might be reading your blog!
Here’s the newest trailer for OZ The Great And Powerful.

Synopsis – Disney’s fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved wizard character. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well. “Oz The Great and Powerful” is produced by Joe Roth, with screen story by Mitchell Kapner and screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire. Grant Curtis, Palak Patel, Josh Donen and Philip Steuer are serving as executive producers. “Oz The Great and Powerful” opens in U.S. theaters on March 8, 2013.
“Oz The Great and Powerful” opens in U.S. theaters on March 8, 2013.
OZ Website and Mobile site: www.Disney.com/TheWizard
OZ The Great And Powerful on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OzTheGreatAndPowerful
OZ The Great And Powerful on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneyozmovie
I attended this event as a guest of Disney, with all expenses paid. As always, any personal opinions reflected in this post are my own and have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.