L Frank Baum’s children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which first appeared in 1900, had already assumed a mythical mantle when the 1939 MGM classic cemented Judy Garland’s Dorothy, the ruby slippers and the yellow brick road in the collective consciousness.
Since then, film-makers and artists from Walter Murch to the late David Lynch have mined its dream logic and darker undercurrents. “The Wizard of Oz is a film with very great power,” Lynch once remarked. It’s “like a dream ... There’s a certain amount of fear in that picture, as well as things to dream about. So it seems truthful in some way.”
Novels such as Geoff Ryman’s wildly imaginative Was, Danielle Paige’s Dorothy Must Die and Gregory Maguire’s revisionist Wicked form part of a thriving post-Baum canon. Maguire’s book spawned one of the highest-grossing screen musicals of all time, in last year’s Wicked: Part One. The keenly anticipated translation to screen is finalised with the imminent Wicked: For Good.
“It’s such a nice place to play,” says Jon M Chu, director of the Wicked sequence. “It’s daunting, of course, but it makes you examine what the original L Frank Baum book means to you. What does the 1939 movie mean to you? What do all the different versions mean? It brings you back to your childhood, to the power of stories and how they shape us. Re-examining that is fascinating.”
RM Block
Chu can’t pinpoint his first encounter with the material. “It was always there. We had it on VHS. I grew up in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, and there was this old theatre, the Stanford Theatre, where we’d watch it. I don’t remember the first time, exactly, but the iconography always stayed with me: the yellow brick road, the forest, Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow.”
On stage, Wicked: The Musical has grossed more than $1.35 billion from playing at more than 100 theatres around the world. Wicked: Part One did as well with critics as it did with audiences, defying expectations and alleviating the online consternation sparked by early trailers and first-look images. Last Christmas Chu’s film soared to the top of the global box office, earning more than $750 million in ticket sales and revitalising the movie musical with a marriage of spectacular design, flouncy dresses, emotional clout and soaring performances from Cynthia Erivo, as Elphaba, and Ariana Grande, as Glinda.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘If we do this wrong, people will say the movie musical is dead,’” Chu says. “So we had to trust the process. We had to trust that the film would speak back to us, that every person would inch us closer to the truth. That’s what I’m proudest of.”
Splitting the story in two was a controversial choice, not least as Wicked diehards typically (and loudly) favour the first act. The arresting world of Shiz University, where Elphaba and Glinda first collide and connect, intersects with the enduring boarding schools of A Little Princess, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Harry Potter. The first act also closes with the show’s most iconic song, Defying Gravity.
Chu has always been on the other side of the argument. “Part two is the meat,” he says. “That’s the whole point of Wicked. It’s the look back. Part One is about finding yourself. Part Two is about what those choices cost you.
“We made both films concurrently. One day we’d shoot a Shiz scene, the next a battle sequence. So the stakes were always high. I’m excited for the world to finally know what Wicked really is. After Part Two, people won’t see them separately. It’s one journey.”
The story becomes darker and politically charged in Wicked: For Good as Elphaba, branded the “Wicked Witch”, becomes a forest-dwelling fugitive fighting against corruption in Oz. Her compromised former friend Glinda, now “Glinda the Good”, enjoys fame and privilege as the glamorous face of Oz.
As propaganda paints Elphaba a villain, she works to expose the deceit of Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard and Michelle Yeoh’s evil headmistress, Madame Morrible. Elphaba protects animals and friends, notably her love interest, Fiyero (played by Jonathan Bailey). The act unravels the mythology of The Wizard of Oz and finds a fascinating focus in the complications of female friendship and rivalry.
“The mantra was always, ‘It’s about the girls, stupid,’” Chu says. “Most movies end in a kiss. Friendship is messier, harder, more complicated. Wicked asks, what’s the value of a friendship when it’s time to let go? That’s the story I wanted to tell.
“The production design, orchestrations, editing, sound mix and colour mattered. What shade of green should Emerald City be? What colour should the yellow brick road’s grout be? Every choice led us back to one question: What are the girls going through? Even when they’re apart, how are their choices affecting each other? That’s what grounded us.”
Chu grew up in Los Altos, California, the youngest of five children in a tight-knit Chinese-American family. His parents – a Chinese father, Lawrence, and a Taiwanese mother, Ruth – ran Chef Chu’s, a Silicon Valley restaurant that became a favourite among the Asian community and tech bros of the region.
When I think about musicals that affected me, like Cabaret or The Sound of Music, they were about something bigger than their plots
— Jon M Chu
As a boy, Jon did his homework at a small table near the kitchen. “Film-making is like cooking,” he says. “On set you’re just gathering ingredients. There’s no pressure to make the dish yet. The edit is where you season it. The mix is where you garnish.
“That perspective, which I learned from my parents’ restaurant, takes the pressure off and keeps it joyful. My mom was in the front. My dad was in the back, working hard. I saw the burns on his arms, the grease, the mess – but also the artistry. He’d draw dishes before cooking them.”
A self-taught camcorder film-maker before attending the University of Southern California’s film programme, Chu made his feature debut with Step Up 2: The Streets. Then, inspired by the kinetic thrills of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Smooth Criminal videos, he created The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, aka The LXD, an online series blending superhero myth with street dance.
In 2011, during the craze for novelty-format concert films, he directed the 3D hit Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Ten years later he brought Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights to the big screen. Chu additionally formed a dance crew, ACDC – short for Adam/Chu Dance Crew – with the actor Adam G Sevani, further collapsing the line between film-maker, participant and musical. Predictably, he is still a huge genre fan.
“When I think about musicals that affected me, like Cabaret or The Sound of Music, they were about something bigger than their plots,” he says. “That’s the power of movie musicals: it’s not about being bigger, it’s about being deeper.
“You get insight into a character’s inner workings you’d never get through dialogue alone. Three notes can do what a paragraph of dialogue can’t. Three lyrics can shift the meaning entirely. Then add movement – how someone leans against a chair or spins to a couch – and camera movement on top of that.”
Away from musicals, Chu’s breakout hit was Crazy Rich Asians, with its vibrant depiction of contemporary Asian culture, its charismatic ensemble and its old-school romantic-comedy charm.
“That movie came at a time when I’d hit my 10,000 hours as a director,” he says. “I didn’t need to prove I could direct. I needed to ask what I wanted to say. Talking about being Asian can box you in, but I wanted to show how it feels to be an American visiting Asia, between generations.
“When it connected with audiences it was such a shock. But also a comfort. I got tired of talking about diversity. I just wanted to do it. With Crazy Rich Asians I didn’t want to debate identity, I wanted to show it, to tell a story that felt real to me ... Sometimes just showing people is the most powerful statement you can make.”
Wicked: For Good opens in cinemas on Friday, November 21st
