“Wicked” and its sequel, “Wicked: For Good,” might be two movies, but in Jon M. Chu’s mind “it was just part of one giant arc.”
With “Wicked: For Good” set to be released on Nov. 21, Chu explained how the movie follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) growing in their complicated relationship.
Chu was speaking with Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay at the Middleburg Film Festival, where he was honored alongside his go-to cinematographer Alice Brooks and editor Myron Kerstein with the Creative Collaborators Award.
He went on to explain that “Wicked: For Good” dives deeper into the characters and explores the consequences of choices. It puts Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship to the test as they embrace their new identities as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and how the consequences of their actions will change all of Oz.
Chu said, “Choices are easy, but sticking with them, how lonely that feels, how you start to question your own choices. In Glinda’s point of view, what happens when you weren’t ready to make the right choice at first? Can you have the courage to pop your own bubble of privilege when you see injustices?”
With the film about friendship, Brooks and Chu shared how they first met while studying at USC. Back then, Chu was working on his musical thesis and had heard about Brooks. “I chased her down and forced her to help me on this,” Chu recalled.
The two worked together, and at the end of shooting, Brooks told the audience how they too have known each other for “more than half our lives.” And as a memento of that first collaboration, she shared a story with the audience: “One of my treasures is actually something Jon gave the entire crew when we finished, ‘When the Kids are Away,’ and it’s this little music box.”
Brooks had brought her own prop, that very music box that plays “When You Wish Upon a Star” that Chu gave her all those years ago. She went on to say, “For the last 25 years, I’ve been carrying this around with me because it’s a reminder of where my dream started. All we wanted to do was grow up and make musicals, and no one was making musicals. At the time, the Hollywood musical was dead, and we bonded over our love of musicals. And here we are, 20-something years later, having made this musical that’s impacted the world in such a major way.” Chu teared up seeing the gift he had given her.
As a symbol of their lifelong friendship, Brooks returned the sentiment. Chu said, “On the first day of shooting ‘Wicked,’ she got me a music box and she had engraved ‘unlimited’ on it.”
The story of friendship in “Wicked” resonates deeply with Chu and his collaborators. He likened it to the “Michelangelo Effect,” where two people give life to one another because they believe in each other and help uncover the best versions of themselves. “I think that’s the power of when you’re trying to reach for the moon and build a rocket ship to space, and you just have never done it before, and you look to that power.” Chu added, “We expect more from each other. We can argue and find our way through it. That takes years and years of trust… and there’s nothing better than looking back at the journey.”
The trio also talked about Elphaba’s “No Good Deed” and Erivo’s performance. For Kerstein, who has worked with Chu since “Crazy Rich Asians,” he recalled watching the footage for the first time. At the time, he was in his home in Altadena, cutting it before the L.A. fires. “That was just me crying in my house alone, looking at this footage.”
Chu praised Kerstein, likening the art of editing each musical number to a different puzzle. “Every structure is different depending on what you need emotionally. ‘No Good Deed’ could be edited in an action piece. And we actually had those versions. We like to do all these different versions, but when you have as much empathy as Myron and you see the world differently, you’re looking for the little things in this giant number. When the little things build up, that’s where it cracks, and so every number is engineered in a new way.”
Having worked together for as long as they have, Chu said the trust and friendship mean they can be hard on one another and relentless with each other. “When we’re working with friends, it’s not because it feels comfortable. It’s because we can feel comfort in the unknown. That means we can walk into that scary place together and know we’re going to trust each other to find it.”
Watch the video above.
