The story of Oz before the arrival of Dorothy is retold in Director Jon M. Chu’s musical fantasy, Wicked.
Based on the Tony Award-nominated play, Chu’s film chronicles the unlikely friendship of Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, as they both study at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. But following an encounter with the Wizard of Oz, their relationship reaches a crossroad as their lives begin to take very different paths.
On November 9, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Chu discussed the making of Wicked during a Q&A moderated by Director Lee Daniels (The Deliverance). He also spoke about the film during a conversation moderated by Director Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) following the DGA New York screening on November 16.
During the Los Angeles conversation, Chu spoke about how he created the setting for the film.
“I really wanted to make Oz touchable, feelable, so, we built Oz. We built the Emerald City. We built Munchkin Land. We built a 60-ton train that actually goes on the road. We planted 9 million tulips... The wizard head actually moves in real time with a voice. These things were physical because it put our actors into a space where they could react in a raw, true way. Then, we got actors who had the ability to do that.”
He also spoke about his intention with the film.
“We wanted to continue that tradition of grand cinema. Cinema was also under attack in a way of like, ‘Eh movies. Do they exist?’ I remember sitting in the cinema in the dark as a kid and being taken away. I knew the one thing we wanted to do was whisk people away on a sweeping journey to another land and remind people what it felt like.”
Chu’s other directorial credits include the feature films In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians, Now You See Me 2, Step Up 2: The Streets, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never; and episodes of Good Trouble and Home Before Dark.
Chu has been a DGA member since 2007.