By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jon M. Chu, the director behind the musical film “Wicked”, felt pressure from both himself and the rest of the team at Universal Pictures to make a masterpiece.
“For ourselves to fulfill the promise that we had to these characters when we first walked into this, I’m really excited,” he told Reuters. “We love the show. We love these characters.”
“Wicked”, based on the Broadway musical hit that tells the story of a green-skinned student of magic who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, pulled in $114 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters, and $50.2 million in international markets during the Nov. 22 opening weekend.
Starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the movie is the first installment of a two-part film adaptation of the multi-Tony award-winning Broadway musical of the same name based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, which is based on the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”
The first installment of “Wicked: Part 1” was written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, with songs from renowned composer Stephen Schwartz.
The fantasy-musical movie also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Yeoh.
The story follows Elphaba played by Erivo, an outcast young woman because of her green skin, and Galinda played by Grande, a popular young woman, who become friends at Shiz University in the mystical land of Oz. After meeting the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship is met with unforeseen challenges.
Chu views the film as an opportunity to normalize Hollywood’s diverse talent, as the film includes actors of color, actors with disabilities, LGBTQ+ actors and other historically underrepresented groups.
Making the movie with “real” and “authentic people” in the lead roles was never a question for him.
“To me, it was normalizing this stuff. We don’t even have to make it a huge conversation. It just is,” he added.
Following the success of “Wicked,” Chu teases that the second installment of the film will not disappoint.
“If you think you saw everything of Cynthia and you think you saw everything of Ariana, just wait, because the best is yet to come with them. It is juicy and yummy and all the things. I think people will be satisfied with where we end up.”
“Wicked,” distributed by Universal Pictures, will be available for at-home streaming that can be purchased digitally on December 31.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Rollo Ross; Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft)
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