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‘Wicked’ Director Chu: ‘There’s a Light at the End of This’

‘Wicked’ Director Chu: ‘There’s a Light at the End of This’

Last updated on: November 23, 2024 at 3:01 pm by DeWayne Hamby

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‘Wicked’ Director Chu: ‘There’s a Light at the End of This’ 2024-11-23T15:01:25-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

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The long-awaited big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked” released this weekend from Universal Pictures, quickly climbing to the top of the box office charts with critical acclaim and an estimated $165 million global intake. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “In the Heights”) and starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, “Wicked” is the first chapter of a two-part immersive, cultural celebration. “Wicked Part Two” is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 26, 2025.

Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba, Ariana Grande is Glinda and Director Jon M. Chu on the set of WICKED, from Universal Pictures

Before everything came together—the lavish sets, the impressive choreography and the extraordinary musical numbers—for Chu, the journey to the screen began with a simple song . . . and “the dreams that you dare to dream.” Now, as those dreams are coming true, the director reflected on why “Wicked” has amassed such a large and loyal fanbase, how he places a priority on his own family, and explains the lessons he hopes viewers will take from the production.

You’ve created a winning film. It’s just amazing. Everywhere we’re seeing, people talking about it. And I think one of the things when I would look through your interviews, I noticed your introduction to all this was through the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” That kind of unlocked this whole world for you. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Well, my parents came over to America from China and with “The Wizard of Oz,” that song was particularly a centerpiece to how we were brought up. Those lyrics, “The dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. They wanted that for us. That movie would play all the time, and those songs would be sung. So, it’s a particular dream, one that I got to actually pursue my dream of becoming a filmmaker, which at that time seemed crazy, but also to be able to make a movie at of this scale and scope with Universal Studios, who went to their parts and did those things, and then to actually do it through Oz with “Wicked” is mind blowing, to be honest,

Your newborn daughter was born, and you had to miss the premiere. To me, that kind of flies in the face of this stereotype of the whole machine of Hollywood where family comes second.

I come from a big family. I’m the youngest of five. My dream, ultimately, was to have a great family. You can’t dream without a great family. And they’ve always been there. So, as we were building our family, a little bit later in my life. I think it was like 40 when I had my first child, and seven years later, that morning, I was supposed to go to the premiere. My whole family and my wife’s whole family were here, and we’re supposed to go. Everyone was dressed up, and four in the morning my wife nudges me, “My water broke.” That’s not the due date, by the way. Of course, there was no question. She had some space between her contractions. So, we just hung out on the on the deck, on the porch of the hotel room, and we watched the sun rise, which is why we put “Sky” in our in our daughter’s name. And just went. That was the most beautiful way to have a baby. While the movie is playing at the premiere, the baby is born. And actually, throughout the whole production, we were raising kids. We had a baby while we were shooting, too. took days off of while shooting. And I guess that’s part of the message of the movies that I like to make is that it’s about connection. It’s about community. And yes, making movies is a very selfish job. Of course, “It’s my vision and my thing and what we’re trying to do,” but if the heart isn’t there, if what we’re making doesn’t mean anything to us, then what are we doing? And I think for the movies that I like to make, is instill that in so much of the movie that you can’t escape it. So, people who go see the movie don’t leave with pessimism but leave with optimism. That doesn’t mean naïveté, but a sense that there’s light at the end of this.

The story of “Wicked” has become so sacred to so many people, and so many people have latched onto it. Why do you think that is? What do you think it offers? I noticed in one interview you mentioned it as “an American fairy tale.” So what is it you think that appeals to them so much, and what do you think they’ll walk away with?

I think for “Wicked,” specifically, deconstructing the dream that we all have for ourselves when we grow up. We’re told fairy tales. We’re told stories that frame the world as we know it. And we have to have those. I had to have those to be able to dream that I could be a filmmaker one day. But there is a certain point when you get to LA and the reality hits you of how hard it really is that you have choices, whether to back down or to keep going and to still believe in the dream. And I think that’s what “Wicked” sort of unpacks. We set the story of Oz, and we slowly see the layers of how maybe false it may be. Is the yellow brick road really meant for you? And is there someone on the other side of the curtain who’s supposed to make your all your dreams come true? Or do you need to partake in this journey yourself. And those questions, I think, happen every generation, maybe multiple times, in a generation. We decide who we are. And I think there’s not enough movies that declare who we want to be, and I think Elphaba and in a weird way, Elphaba and Glinda represent both of those sides. Because Elphaba has the courage to say who she is and say, “No one’s going to bring me down.” And we hope for us to be that strong. And yet we’re sort of Glinda. We’re sort of the person who’s, like, wants that, but kind of likes to live in our bubble. And I think our future really holds and when we decide to pop our own privilege bubbles and actually look at each other and actually go through the hard things and make hard decisions. And so to me, that’s what isn’t here, that I think we all feel right now, and makes it feel urgent.

With all the “Wicked” stuff out, I’ve noticed the past few days there’s this talk about the theaters banning singing, and that that really is a testament of the musical. Because it’s touched people so much that you have to say, “Listen, you need to quiet down and let other people experience it.” What do you think about that?

I mean, I don’t know if that’s a hard rule, because I went to a screening late last night and all those people were singing. I think there’s an etiquette. You want to hear Ari and Cynthia sing this. They spend a lot of time (rehearsing), but at a certain point, yeah, let er rip. I love interactive movies where everyone’s just having a great time.

I think this is going to be one of those movies where it’ll be perennial, and people will continue to sing. I hear there’s a sing along on a December 25.

There is a sing along. I hope it becomes a perennial thing. I hope people go, because every, every day that we were making this movie, we felt empowered. Every day that someone would lay out their own journey of what it feels like to be different or what it feels like to be silenced. But when you see these performances, and I think I include this movie, and even movie two, where it gets a little bit more complicated. If this movie is about choices, how hard and courageous it takes to be choices, the second one is consequences, and consequences are even harder to stick to “ Why would you fight for a home this ‘there’s no place like home?’ Why would you fight for a home if it doesn’t want you there? How much are you willing to fight for the dream? So I love that. I hope this will people get to stick around and watch the whole the whole thing.

Thank you so much for your time today. Very much. And God bless you on your new baby too.

I appreciate it. She was right here. My wife was just here feeding her, and she’s only 10 days old. So, God bless my wife! She’s an angel.

“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle and Peter Dinklage, is now playing in theaters. Watch the interview with John Chu and DeWayne Hamby below.

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