Isn’t this news wonderful? After nearly 10 years of development, the long-awaited film adaptation of Broadway’s Wicked is making headway as it finally landed its stars, director and potential start dates.
After being revealed by Universal in July 2012, the musical has been a great hit on the Great White Way.
The show is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, tells the interconnected story of the Wicked Witch of the West (and Glinda the good witch) long before Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale dropped in. The prequel sees two aspiring witches meet as students at Shiz University. They navigate friendship, romance, magical training, and learning to embrace themselves.
By 2012 Deadline It was reported that Stephen DaldryHe was being considered to direct the big screen event. However, he had already left the project in October 2020 due to scheduling conflicts. It was confirmed in February 2021. John M. Chu — fresh off the success of directing Crazy Rich Asians And In The Heights — had been tapped to lead the musical adaptation.
“Most of my life I have felt out of place, weird and different,” Chu wrote via Instagram at the time, sharing a screenshot of the news. “I hid behind my camera because people liked to be filmed and I could disappear. My short films made me feel valued and I was able to wow people with them. I felt GREEN in all of the ways. But I saw. Stephen SchwartzAnd Winnie Holzman’s WICKED over 15 years ago as it was being workshopped in San Francisco I couldn’t unsee it. So to think that I have been invited to bring this timeless story to the biggest screens all around the world for people to experience with their family, best friends and total strangers … of all walks of life, ages, shapes and colors is like I’ve been invited to Oz by the Wizard himself.”
After a long casting process the filmmaker announced via social networking in November 2021. Ariana GrandeAnd Cynthia ErivoGalinda and Elphaba were respectively his roles.
“These two witches!!,” he captioned his Instagram snap, alongside screenshots from FaceTime calls with the two songstresses. “The emotional moment I got to tell @cynthiaerivo and @arianagrande that they were our Elphaba and Galinda in the @WickedMovie for @unistudios 😭😭😭Wait until you see the results! It is amazing. Ahhhhh!!!”
The viral casting news quickly caught the attention of OG Elphaba. Idina Menzel, who wrote via Instagram, “Congrats to two amazing women. May it make your life better, as it did for us. We are so grateful. @cynthiaerivo @arianagrande 💚💖.”
The Rent Star opposite actress Kristin Chenoweth during the original Broadway run, reunited with the Oklahoma native during the 2021 Tony Awards that September, where they sang an emotional rendition of “For Good” from the production.
Continue scrolling to see everything we know about the highly anticipated Wicked movie:
