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Oz’s Tin Man Retooled in Awesome Steampunk Prequel

This article is over 14 years old and may contain outdated information

A fan-made movie on the Web tells an amazing origin story for the Tin Woodman from the Wizard of Oz. One word: “Steampunk.”

Once upon a time, there was a tin woodsman who helped a girl from Kansas (and her little dog, too) find her way home. We all know how this story goes, thanks to Frank Baum’s novel, the classic movie we all grew up with, and so many other retellings of this tale. The story we don’t know, however, is how the woodsman got stuck in the woods where Dorothy found him. A new indie movie tells the Tin Woodman‘s origin story. Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man may very well be a case of a fan adaptation surpassing the source material.

The Oz books say the Tin Woodman was a man who was targeted by the Wicked Witch of the East, who cursed his axe in order to prevent him from marrying the girl he loved. The curse caused the axe to strike his body, and each damaged part was replaced by a tin smith until there was nothing left, not even his heart.

The movie takes this story and expands on it, fleshing the story out and making it infinitely more beautiful, tragic, and – at the end – utterly heartbreaking. Try not to tear up at the end, I dare you.

Heartless was made by White Stone Motion Pictures, a group that has a truly impressive collection of short videos on their site. One can only hope someone sees this company’s work and gives them enough money for a big-budget movie or a fully-funded TV show that lets them run wild.

Source: Geeks are Sexy

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