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Fans can now peek behind the curtain of Wicked with director Jon M. Chu, thanks to the digital release of the Universal Pictures musical movie hit. Wickeds home release includes several bonus features: deleted scenes, docu-style content, and a commentary track with stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivoas well as a solo commentary with Chu. All of the extras feature exciting tidbits about the magic that went into making the vision of a new Oz inspired by the Broadway musical. Chus commentary in particular digs into the lore inspired by The Wizard of Oz and the time period in which L. Frank Baum wrote the original Oz stories, and Wickeds many homages to the history of cinema. Heres what we learned from listening to him speak about the film all the way through.The Wizard of Oz is an American fairytale Universal Pictures In the Dancing Through Life dance sequence, Chu masterfully references classic Hollywood musicals while also conveying his affection for Baums novel and its place in American history. Its interesting, Wizard of Oz is such an American fairy tale. he shared, also nodding to the 1939 movie as well. It was written at the time of American transition, leaving the Depression, going into war. It sort of deals with the American dream, and I love that we get to reinvestigate the American dream in Wicked through a new perspective. And so we try to take from images of Americana in terms of travel, from the puddle, to horseback, to boat, to a road, to a train, to flight, and how that changes our history and our trajectory. Watch closely, and youll see there are connective threads from the films witch hat opening on the puddle to the moment Elphaba takes flight in the final act.The Flying Monkeys are Universal Monsters You know when we think about the flying monkeys, we often compare them to one of the many characters in the monster universe of Universal, Chu says early in the commentary. And so portraying them in the most physical and touchable, real way was something that we really wanted to do. Later, alongside the final act, he describes the creature feature moment of their creation, We get to do our classic Universal Monster moment, the creation of the flying monkeys. We want to take our time in this, that it was painful and that their hair was turning into feathers as well. Its like Frankenstein waking up. Even the shadow shot is a nod to those kind of things [the] American tales that we get to reinvestigate. And I love that its part victory as well. You can hear the music actually gets victorious. So its like, whose perspective are we [watching] from? And even Elphaba here on this shot, we dont knowis it amazing that she did thism or not? And then things start to fall apart. In the Heightsalmost had a connection to Wicked The events of the film kick into action when Glinda is asked one very important question. A question that was almost asked by a frequent collaborator of Chus. When that woman says, Glinda, is it true you were her friend? I got many calls from Lin-Manuel Miranda, who might have publicly also tweeted it that he wanted to be that voice and that person, but I thought it would be too distracting, he admitted. So, sorry Lin.The Wizard and I Elphabas I want motivation in Wicked is complicated. She doesnt actively wish she was another color besides green, Chu explainedits just everyones telling her that she shouldnt be green, and that sparks her self-doubt. The Wizard and I musical number, Chu says, is when she realizes No, you know what? Im good with being green.The kaleidoscope glass sequence added to that feeling. I love that the lights in there. And she can just dream of what it would be like if she wasnt in her skin. Again, this will all come back later. When the wizard asks her, Is that your hearts desire? You dont have to be green. And she actually sacrifices her own wishes or possible wishes for the goodness of the animals. And I think that shows a lot of the type of person she is and who we really want to get across. So this number is very important. Chu continues. Its the antithesis to Defying Gravity, where she has the possibility of flight. She has the possibility of taking it off, but shes not ready yet. Weve established that she does have visions here, that theres a celebration throughout Oz that has to do with her. She just doesnt know the context. But weve actually already seen it. And whether the audience picks it up or not, Im not sure. But well get it by the second movie.Yes, thats a novelty song homage in What Is this Feeling? Universal Pictures To Chu, Elphaba and Glinda rooming together and clashing represents the puzzle of Oz represented by the two of them: Elphaba, she comes in and you see sharper edges. Shes the Z in Oz, and Glinda is the O. So these two things will collide visually. The way he depicted this involves a fun homage. I love this because it always reminded me of Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, this famous number of campers writing to their parents at home. So I love the idea of being able to split screen here and play around with the form. Why isnt that song called Loathing? The dichotomy of the power between Elphaba and Glinda is clearly presented in this scene. While Elphaba is the one with the visible potential, Glindas power is her popularity, Chu explains. Actually, its very powerful to know how to communicate and how to convince everybody of something. Her power will come later, but as fun as it is to think about loathing and roommates loathing, it actually has a big thematic theme for us. And I love the fact that even though Glinda can win every social situation, the one thing she wants to have magic and be accepted by Morrible is the thing that Elphaba has.The song, he continues, is called What is this Feeling? and people think its called Loathingbut actually its not loathing at all that is happening between them. We always say, We always resist the people who are going to change the rest of our life because no one wants to change. So, its not even necessarily loathing, its just this person is going to change the rest of my life. You dont want that, so its funny to see that, because they will. Elphie and Fiyeros forest meet-cute Chu also teased a very important relationship in Wicked: For Good between Elphaba and Fiyero. As seen in the movie, the pair actually meets before Glinda meets Fiyero. We dont get into their full relationship with this movie, so again, these are just breadcrumbs that were leading the audience very slowly, the director says. Sometimes its hard, you know, what you want to plan to pay off later that doesnt go into full fruition into this movie. But in a weird way, this movie is about possibilities and choices. And that by the end, Elphaba makes a big choice, and there are a lot of possibilities for where that choice can go. And movie two is more of the consequence of some of those. The Wicked Witch of the Wests hat Universal Pictures A relationship almost as important as the one between Galinda and Elphaba thats set up in this film is the relationship Elphie makes with her black pointy hat. Chu talks about the moment Galinda considers gifting it to Elphaba as a joke enabled by Pfannee and ShenShen.I love this moment because it could be constricted in many different ways, but Glinda actually isnt a bad person here. She is being pushed by Pfannee and ShenShen to give her the hat, and by seeing the book, the sorcery book, that Elphaba brings in, it sort of pushes her even more to give her the hat. Its a very delicate moment because we dont want Glinda to be mean, and shes not. Shes just young and shes being pressured. When her roommate gives her the hat, Elphabas probably aware of the jokebut theres also something about it that speaks to her. I love that Elphaba doesnt have a big reaction to the hat of sort of like, What the heck is that? Instead shes actually drawn to the hat and that it actually has an interesting connection. That it isnt just circular, that it has the edge to it. That these two will be bonded for all time as a symbol and as a partner in this journey that shes about to go on. She doesnt even know it yet. And when she tilts her head here as she looks at it, I love that moment because it felt like she and the hat were one. A sisters pair of shiny shoes One of the fun Easter eggs from the film is Nessaroses shoes, a future iconic object in the realm of Oz lore. If you look at the crystal shoes, its designed to look like two tornadoes, or a tornado on each heel. And its beautiful, Chu points out. The shoes were made distinctive for this iteration of the story, which goes back to the original books crystal pair; the famed ruby slippers were created for the Judy Garland picture. I dont even know how it fits or if its even comfortable, because it doesnt look very comfortable. Ive never tried it on, but its beautiful, he says of the intricate, unique design. The Ozdust duet Universal Pictures In the Broadway musical, its a gag when Elphie dances like she doesnt care what anyone else thinks. But for the film, Chu wanted to play the scene a different way. [It was] much more important to us in this story that we still felt the hurt. That even though she doesnt know what to do, shes just making space for herselfand even if making space for herself is humiliating and hard, that she just knows that she has to do it. Some people say it looks like shes casting a spell or something, and maybe she is, over her own self and telling herself that she just has to be here And its defiant but not too defiant, he says, praising Erivos interpretation of the moment. Defiant like, Im here even if it feels like the worst thing in my life. Because if we gave her too much of a defiant moment like Im here and you have to deal with it and Im better than you, it wouldnt play as strong.Galinda/Glinda is changed for good In the duet we also get another huge moment. We see Glinda blossoming in this moment and [Ariana Grande] is doing an amazing job of playing this line because up to this point shes basically played a comedic character with a little hints of Intelligence and sensitivity. But here she takes off the mask fully and you can see it in her eyes. I mean, this is not an easy scene by any means, Chu shares about the moment Grande and Erivo make their connection through touch. In those two hands touching, which will be a symbol for the rest of the movie every time they touch, this is the heart of the movie. I knew when I saw this in rehearsal and started to weep uncontrollably after watching them do it [that] this is what the movie would be aboutthis relationship and coming to see each other at their bare bones. And then the two of them could be bonded for life to be against the world. This public display of allyship, he explains, provides a space to see how they can to inspire a young generation of Ozians to witnesses the power of acceptance. It also shows the unlimited possibilities of what the future of Oz could beand yet they will be influenced by the propaganda of the wizard and Madame Morrible later on in part two.Ariana Grande made Popular her own Since bringing the emotion more to the Ozdust dance between the two of them meant the friendship is forged more there, he didnt want to lose its impact by continuing the seriousness in Popular. This allowed Ariana Grande to make Popular her own, down to the extended la-la-la-lahs. This new ending to Popular, we werent sure if we wanted to do an extended ending of it, the director explains. But when I saw that hallway, her in the middle of that hallway with the pink morning light coming through[that] if Ari could do it all in one shot and show how skilled she is at being Galinda, I think this hallway that it would be an instant classic. And so we popped this in last minute and she learned that choreography at the last second. And every time she did it, everyones smile was on their face. I mean that was a tour-de-force to see her. Ariana Grande at her peak Galinda, owning that space that silhouette, that iconic moment is sort of solidified in my brain forever. I hope the audience feels that too.The OG Broadway cameos Universal Pictures The leading women of the Ozdust players, of course, had to be played by the original Glinda and Elphaba: Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. Chu knew this very well. Theyre playing the wise women, telling the history of Oz and how the Grimmerie came to be, and that they used to be the only people able to read the Grimmerie, but there was a prophecy of a new person that would be eventually able to read it when they pass, Chu explains. We find out later that its going to be Elphaba, but we tried to set up that history here. Whether people are actually listening or not, I have no idea, but we had to set up what the Grimmerie was and just to have them do it, its just so fun. He recalls how secretive the shoot had to be. It was the middle of the night, and I think they, to see this giant set that we had built for a movie of a legacy that they built, these characters that they built from the ground up was a beautiful thing for them to see. We were all, again, all in tears all the time, and that Idina gets to do her iconic war cry and same thing with Kristin. She gets to do her soprano, so fun. The Wizard was inspired by Walt Disney Chu had a blast creating the wizard with actor Jeff Goldblum, who did things like magic and showing them little tricks and tap dancing and stuff. He continued to describe how they came up with this version of certain type of man of tomorrow. Chu explains, This idea of the ultimate storyteller was something that we talked a lot about. How far would you go to delight people? Even if it takes you to a place of this action and violence and hatred or fear make things more entertaining. And what are you going to compromise for that? So setting him up as a playful Peter Pan-like character, Walt Disney-ish type character. Its sort of a wish fulfillment that were all able to do together.Even the Wizards Oz diorama felt very Worlds Fair or early Disneyland model. And what would you want more than anything than Walt Disney to walk you into his like map of Disney? So I love this moment that he gets to present to them. Thats what his thoughts will look like: Wish fulfillment. Pull them into his sandbox. He actually says Come into my sandbox and Play with my toys, thats something I always wish I had. And that sort of taps into a childhood fantasy of somebody that you want to fully trust. And probably shouldnt. Wicked is like a Marvel musical movie Universal Pictures Thankfully not like Rogers: The Musical from Hawkeyebut with the action and big set pieces, Chu says Wicked is like a Marvel movie plus musical fantasy [and] coming of age. We kept saying this is the craziest movie weve ever madehow can a genre have all of these things and plus be a musical? I dont think weve had experience like this before. He explains how all these elements had to come together in the final act, with Defying Gravity setting up the next film. We see the alarms being raised against Elphaba and reactions from the other characters: the disappointment in Nessa [as their] father has a heart attack. And Glinda is sort of relieved of the danger by Madame Moribble, [who is] going to take her under her wing, and how complicated that is for her. I think that moment is really hard. And Ariana just plays it perfectly, and then we see Fiyero flying out. We dont know where hes going to. Who is he going to? And then of course Cynthia flying in and her declaration threat to the wizard. In this sequence, the stage is being set for the storys next acteven Boq stands alone in a Shiz overtaken by disarray. I love this moment, I love this shot. Everyones singing. It just builds and builds, Chu says, and adds how it all comes to a head with Elphabas war cry. [Erivo] was singing it live on her rig. Were spinning her around and she was like, I need to do this live. Let me do it. And every time she did this note, our whole crew would just try to hold back our applause and yelling until she finished the note. And then it was just pure applause, like standing ovation in the room. Shes on the wire. Now she probably has tears in her eyes usually doing it. And then to be able to end on this, her final takeoff.Wicked is now out in theaters and on digital; Wicked: For Good continues the story this Thanksgiving. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
