Ariana Grande said at a Wicked post-screening, November 12 at the DGA theater: “In Munchkin land! Inside the Munchkin huts, there were Munchkins sleeping everywhere!”
Director John Chu wanted Oz to be a physical place, not just CGI. That meant nine million flowers in the field as well as big set pieces for the actors to ground themselves in.
He continued, “It gave us a touchstone, so that [the cast] can then build characters, real characters that can have real reactions to certain things. Even the process of acting it, to see a giant wizard head that actually moves, which took a crazy amount of engineering, or the [shoe and clothing] boxes in ‘Popular.’ It seems simple, but there were giant men in small spaces and wiring that could crush your toes if you get too close. And the chandelier [that Grande swings from] had a guy up there for safety to spin her around. She’s actually very, very high. These things were there in place so that we could take the characters seriously. And I think credit to Marc [Platt, the film’s producer], who defended us against the studio in every way.”
In addition to the physical world of the Emerald City there’s the emotional world. Chu and cast members–Cynthia Erivo, Grande, Marissa Bode and Ethan Slater–spoke about how Oz holds such prestigious place in the cultural imagination.
“‘Wizard of Oz’ is so personal to everybody; it’s personal to my family,” Chu said. “As immigrants in my family came over, that [the idea of] the yellow brick road, the wizard that would give you your heart’s desire. We all have our pieces in this. It’s the American fairy tale, about the American dream here.” Regarding the story’s timely themes, Chu said, “What’s happening now didn’t exist when they wrote it, but these scenarios always did. Everyone always rose above it. The resilience of the people always rose above it. And I love that, that we get to remind people that you have to just keep walking. So for me, it was: How do you get the big scope and use the tools of cinema to sweep people [up]? I really believe that movies – I saw with ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ – really can change things, really can make a difference.”
A Universal Pictures release, “Wicked” hits theaters November 22.
