Fairuza Balk has the unenviable task of stepping into Judy Garland's ruby slippers for Walt Disney's new film, Oz.
Elstree Studios, not far from London, is the feverish scene for this sequel to the immortal Wizard Of Oz, and it tells the story of Dorothy's return to the land over the rainbow. At the end of the yellow brick road, she finds that the Emerald City is in ruins and that a tyrannical Nome King had deposed her friend the Scarecrow. He is being held captive, while the Tin Man and the Lion have been turned into statues. It's all up to Dorothy to defeat the Nome King and right the wrongs before she can wish herself back to Kansas.
Fairuza Balk is just 10 years old (she was born May 21st, 1974), and comes of Minnesota farming stock, although her mother Cathryn is a performer and teacher of oriental dance and her father Solomon is a folk musician. The family came originally from Holland.
The search for a new Dorothy began last August with an open call for girls aged 9 to 12 in six American and two Canadian cities. The hundreds of hopefuls were whittled down to 12 finalists by November. This dozen were tested at the Disney studios in California before two were flown to London for the complete studio tests.
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