After years of enjoying Wicked as a musical, the fans are eager to see Glinda and the Wicked Witch’s story come to life on the big screen. Spinning out of the mystical and magical world of The Wizard of Oz, the upcoming movie has already shown its grandeur and magnificence in its previously released trailer and images. Now a new featurette elaborates on the pains and pleasures of bringing this brilliant world to life.
“If you want to be inside that world, you have to build it,” says director Jon M Chu as he goes on to describe in great detail the set construction and design. The featurette gives us a good behind-the-scenes look at various locations in the movie like the Emerald City, Munchkinland, and the Wizard himself. “To see all those details, all of it adds to the things that you can imagine, says Cyntia Erivo of working on the practical sets. Chu further explains that the team grew 9 million tulips, created a train “that takes two days to move because its 16 tons,” and an enormous forest because “it’s all in the details.” With the scale and scope seen in the clip certainly, the Wicked team has pulled a mean feat, Chu adds,
“All of this just didn’t take production design. It took special effects, took visual effects. It’s pretty mind blowing to think it can go from drawings, and ideas and a dream to sitting here today.”
What to Expect From ‘Wicked’?
Billed as the “untold story of the witches of Oz,” Wicked follows Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, yet to discover her true power, and Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, yet to discover her true heart. The two meet as students at Shiz University and develop a profound friendship. Though things take a turn when following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads, and their lives take very different paths.
The movie has a star-studded cast including Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Shiz University’s headmistress, Jonathan Bailey as a roguish and carefree prince, Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, Marissa Bode as Elphaba’s favored sister Nessarose, and Jeff Goldblum as the legendary Wizard of Oz. Further rounding off the cast are Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James as Glinda’s compatriots Pfannee and ShenShen, respectively. Keala Settle plays a new character created for the film, Miss Coddle, while Peter Dinklage voices Dr. Dillamond.
Wicked drops in theaters on November 22. You can check out the new featurette above.
via Collider