At any point do you wonder about what makes one witch choose to be great and what inspires another to be terrible? What divides close friends apart until they become mortal enemies? Get ready, the story of two dearest witches is coming to the big screen in Wicked. Yes, that’s true. After quite a while of delays and rescheduling, the Broadway musical has been adapted into a movie.
What is the cast saying about the film?
Cynthia Erivo talks about her new role in Wicked. She showed up on The Ellen DeGeneres show where she spilled the tea to guest host Tiffany Haddish about featuring as Elphaba in the highly anticipated film. “It’s really, really, really exciting. It’s really cool,” she said. “It feels like it might be the role of a lifetime.”
Cynthia and Ariana Grande have been bonding to prepare for their roles as Elphaba and Glinda, separately, I saw her a couple of months ago, we’ve been FaceTiming and talking,” Cynthia told to Variety. “I get to speak to her a lot now. We’re gonna be in each other’s lives for a bit.”
“The most exciting thing about bringing [Elphaba] to the screen is getting to ground her out and seeing the reasons why she is the way she is. Finding the beginning stories where we know her and just trying something different and new. I’ve never played anything like that before,” shared Cynthia.
Who is in the cast?
Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights director Jon M. Chu announced that he’d be leading the movie in February 2021. As per the People, he tweeted, “Too late for second-guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes and leap…” #WickedMovie @UniversalPics #StephenSchwartz #WinnieHolzman #MarcPlatt it’s time. So… Twitterverse, who should we cast?”
“Too late for second-guessing
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) February 2, 2021
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap…”#WickedMovie @UniversalPics #StephenSchwartz #WinnieHolzman #MarcPlatt it’s time.
So… Twitterverse, who should we cast? pic.twitter.com/ZaAeAJTq9f
The chief stayed quiet about news of the movie’s cast until November 2021, when he announced that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Ervio would feature as Glinda and Elphaba. He took to Twitter and wrote, “Goooood Newwwws!!! The incredible #CynthiaErivo and @ArianaGrande will be our Elphaba and Galinda in @WickedMovie @UniversalPics Get ready for a match-up like you’ve never seen!!! In pink and green!!!
Goooood Newwwws!!! The incredible #CynthiaErivo and @ArianaGrande will be our Elphaba and Galinda in @WickedMovie @UniversalPics Get ready for a match up like you’ve never seen!!! In pink and green!!! pic.twitter.com/t1eH82mCe7
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) November 5, 2021
He posted the great news on his Instagram account too and wrote, “These two witches!! 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 what they bring!! It is otherworldly. Ahhhhh!!!”
Ariana Grande’s addition to the movie’s cast satisfied a long-lasting dream. Back in 2011, she uncovered that playing Glinda would be her “fantasy role.” She tweeted, “Loved seeing Wicked again… amazing production! Made me realize again how badly I want 2 play Glinda at some point in my life! #DreamRole.”
Arianna took to her Instagram account and wrote, “thank goodness 💘 @jonmchu @cynthiaerivo @wickedmovie.”
What’s Wicked about?
Wicked examines the unlikely friendship between Glinda the great witch and Elphaba the wicked witch of the west. In light of Gregory Maguire’s book by the same name, Wicked gives knowledge into how Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship in their youth-led to their roles in the iconic movie The Wizard of Oz.
When will it be released?
There will be not one, however, two Wicked films. Director Jon M. Chu affirmed that the two-part movie will debut “on successive Christmas holidays beginning December 2024.”
Wait, why will there be two parts to the film?
To preserve the integrity of Wicked without modifying a lot of the storyline, Chu expressed his choice to expand it on April 26.
He took to his Instagram account to post a screenshot on official Wicked letterhead that read, “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one WICKED movie but TWO!!!! With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprises to the journeys of these beloved characters.”
