Attention all musical lovers! After many years of anticipation, the movie version of Wicked has been released!
As many people know the two main characters actors, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are very passionate about this movie and their characters, but they weren’t the only ones who were truly in love with the story. Director Jon M. Chu is very passionate about Wicked, he has been “chasing Wicked” for around twenty years, trying to become a director for this film. After these twenty years he was finally told he could be director of the film. Chu started off at a young age, as a kid he made videos for his family and as he got older he made more videos, videos for weddings, birthday parties and so many more events! As an adult now, he shares the same passion for videography, but now on the big screen.
Another thing that made this movie truly magical was its fun and entertaining choreography. Choreographer Christopher Scott has done several other choreographing jobs, working with celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. He started his job by talking to actors and actresses about their role and the personality that comes with it so he could have their choreography enhance their character. He says that he has choreography experience with Hip Hop style dancing and pulled some of that into to film. Scott put lots of thought and effort into his choreography for this movie.
The set was also a big factor on this movie and the thought put into it. If anything filmed wasn’t filmed on a set it was filmed in a town called Ivinghoe, in this town there’s a farm they transformed into Munchkinland. They also planted about 9 million tulips for a backdrop in Munchkinland. After, the tulip heads were used as roofs for Munchkin houses.
Wicked is different from other musicals seen in theaters. Cynthia Erivo, the actress for Elphaba, did her own stunts and, along with all the other actors, she sung live on set. Not one of the songs in the Wicked movie were prerecorded. On top of that, Erivo decided to be painted green instead of having her bright skin faked by CGI. It is also known that Erivo and Grande didn’t have to act to be best friends, they actually are! When they first met the two spent about five hours just chatting! Their true friendship can be seen by many; from paparazzi to fans at the theater.
This movie was a huge success, with it earning more than $360 million in less than 10 days! Although this movie was only released a little less than a month ago, it has earned awards/nominations from the National Board Review, American Film Institute, Golden Globe Awards, and Critics Choice Awards. The American Film Institute titled Wicked one of the top 10 films of 2024.
