JustJared had the opportunity to interview Michelle on set of “Oz: The Great and Powerful” back in October 2011. Be sure to also read his interview with James Franco over here.

On being a fairytale figure:
“It’s the best! There’s nothing better than making kids happy. Seeing little girls faces light up just at the sight of me.”

On if she will keep her tiara:
“I think that the tiara has a price tag that I couldn’t afford (laughs).”

On how she referenced the 1939 version of Glinda:
“Yeah we talked about her a lot, but Sam wanted to shy away from anything that referenced her to heavily. He wanted our very own Glinda, so there’s little nods in a few costumes and a couple of lines, but she’s a starting off point. I just think of her as where Glinda started, when you meet Glinda in the original Wizard of Oz she has a kind of calm, but that’s what we like to think that’s where she wound up and this is where she began.”

On the difference with her version of Glinda:
“I think that her character is intact but I think that she has, I don’t think that her goodness is ever a question, but I think she has struggles.”

On collaborating with the characters costumes and wand:
“Yeah I would say that the costumes were a big collaboration. Because it had a lot to say about what I was thinking, how I wanted her to begin, and the kind of sort of spirit Glinda has and the costumes are a big part in telling that story. I had a lot of ideas and it was fun to implement them and have people that were willing to collaborate and have the time, and the talent, and the budget to do that.”

On working on blue screen:
“There have been a lot of first times for me on this movie, the imaginary world, you see a big blue screen, but of course you won’t see a blue screen, you’re going to see things flying, the sun setting, you’re going to see things… so turning on sort of that side of my brain but often you’re not really able to have the real thing there when you do it so that and most of the movies at a time to do tend to be smaller, sort of more intimate, just a smaller crew. I like things feeling like a family so I tried to make this feel like a really big family but it’s a happy one because Sam is the dad and it comes down from there.”

On the chemistry on set:
“It’s a ball!”

On her first time walking on the yellow brick road:
“That was a momentous occasion I’ll have to say, I grabbed somebody’s arm and said ‘wait a second stop, were on the yellow brick road’. How many people get a chance to say, I’ve been thinking of stealing a little piece of the yellow brick road, but how many people get a chance to say that, it goes beyond cinema, it’s a part of cultural history.”

Favorite memory about the Wizard of Oz:
“The munchkins. I was in a school play or in a community theater play of Wizard of Oz, and I played a Lullaby League munchkin so I’m really drawn to them.”

Favorite sets:
“The graveyard was smelly…”

On what she’s learned of making this movie:
“Well I would say, I guess I didn’t realize it was this big, it didn’t seem this big.I don’t mean to be naive or anything, it’s just you know David Lindsay-Abaire polished up this script and Sam can have the most in-depth conversation, he can situate himself inside of any character and have the most in-depth conversation from that character’s point of view from how they behave in the scene. I would say it’s up there with the most collaborative environments I’ve ever worked on, and I got to make Blue Valentine, which was just two actors being allowed to do anything they wanted and follow any impulse at anytime no matter how ridiculous, insane, upsetting, whatever it was. I guess I didn’t think of it as being that big because I’d worked with Sam, talked to Sam and I knew that I was going to be there with a director who would direct me and he wasn’t going to be sort of more attached to technical things than sort of personal things. I’ve had to flex my imagination I think in a way that almost feels like a muscle that was getting underdeveloped or something. Some of the shots, we’ve done really long tracking shots that involve crowds. You land in your bubble and you walk through a crowd, you’re greeting the crowd, you’re saying your lines to James, you’re walking up the stairs, you’re in a long dress, you can’t trip on your dress, you have to keep your wand in your left hand, but you’re still talking to James, and then your relating to people and then your coming up the stairs, and that’s all in one shot and it’s a three and half/four minute take. It was so exhausting , after that I was like ‘phew, I got to get back into the theater’, the movies that I make they wouldn’t even have the capability, the budget, the crane, to make that kind of shot. Stamina, endurance, imagination those things are coming into play. It’s always nice to get better in areas that you are a little weak, so I’m enjoying it and I find it as challenging as any other movie that I’ve made.”