Jon M. Chu Had to Watch Wicked Bootlegs Before Making the Movie

Director Jon M. Chu saw Wicked earlier astir everyone other successful the world. Chu was 1 of the assemblage members fortunate capable to spot the amusement successful its archetypal pre-Broadway San Francisco tally mode backmost successful 2003. And, arsenic the communicative goes, helium sat determination watching the amusement and began to ideate what it would beryllium arsenic a movie.

In the decades that followed, Chu recovered himself directing aggregate philharmonic films, including Step Up 3D, Jem and the Holograms, and In the Heights. But helium continued hoping and dreaming astir making Wicked. That imagination becomes a world this week erstwhile the movie hits theaters.

io9 spoke to Chu successful Los Angeles earlier this period and helium told america astir the travel helium went connected to marque the film—a travel that included watching bootleg recordings of the amusement connected YouTube due to the fact that the producers had ne'er officially filmed the signifier show. Read astir that and much below.

This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity. Read the archetypal portion of our interrogation here and travel backmost aboriginal this week for more.

Chu with his stars – Universal

Germain Lussier, io9: Wicked is simply a communicative fans similar yourself person been waiting to spot for a agelong clip and, with that anticipation, comes unit and expectations. How did those origin successful your determination to marque this movie?

Jon M. Chu: I’ve been waiting for this for years. I chased it. I called [producer] Mark Platt. He ne'er called maine back. I called Universal. They ne'er called maine back. So to get the telephone during the pandemic, to say, “Hey, you privation to get in?” I knew precisely however to marque this movie. I volition ne'er hide watching this successful San Francisco and feeling what it felt like. It felt similar I was watching a movie for the archetypal time. I filled successful each the gaps. I virtually thought she was flying astir the room. She wasn’t, apparently. And truthful I knew with the powerfulness of the tools we had connected the movie broadside [what] we could truly bring to this communicative and yet besides support it. This had ne'er go an animated movie. It ne'er became live-action. They ne'er adjacent changeable the signifier show. So that work laid dense connected me. But I besides cognize movies are from a perspective. So I had to perpetrate to what I knew and loved astir this. And the girls [Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo] helped support immoderate of those moments arsenic well. And past we would bash the champion we can.

io9: Since you’re making Wicked into 2 movies, you person the quality to adhd to this story. What was the process similar to marque definite immoderate additions oregon changes were  approved by the likes of [musical writers] Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, oregon [original publication author] Gregory Maguire?

Chu: So we started with, “Hey, I americium walking into this and I person ideas but I’m not going to accidental thing due to the fact that I privation to learn.” So we spent—and this was each connected Zoom due to the fact that it was during the covid lockdown times—every time I lived the theatre kid’s imagination sitting down connected Zoom with Winnie and Steven and Mark [Platt] and [producer] Dana Fox, who I brought successful to help. And we would beryllium determination and we went done each enactment of each publication successful beingness of Wicked. “Why did that country get enactment successful there?” “What was a country that was an alternate scene?” “Why did this enactment get written?” “How did you travel up with that lyric?” And I didn’t springiness immoderate input astatine that time. I conscionable wanted to soak it in.

So for months and months and months, I’d soak it in. Sometimes I’d inquire a question. “But wherefore would you bash that?” “Oh, is that what you think?” “Okay, I didn’t get that I’m going to enactment a small pin successful there.” I’ll enactment a pin successful there. So yet we had each these pins successful things and I could gully from the show, I could gully from the full script. I could gully from a infinitesimal that we talked about. I could gully from their idiosyncratic acquisition and wherefore this came in. And past it started to necktie unneurotic successful that way.

There was a definite constituent wherever I had to accidental to them, “Okay, I’ve learned each that I can. Now you request to crook implicit the keys. Can you spot me? And if you can’t. I recognize that. We didn’t discarded time. I learned a lot. But if you can, this is the infinitesimal that if I’m going to person the responsibility. I person to person the authorization to beryllium capable to marque these hard choices that you whitethorn oregon whitethorn not hold with. But I cognize your bosom and I cognize I’m going to present this for you.” So that’s what we’ve got too.

Grande and Erivo – Universal

io9: What different things did you bash to hole to marque the movie?

Chu: I mean I knew the soundtrack successful and out. And I decidedly was like, “Do you guys person a recording?” And they were like, “We don’t person a recording.” I’m like, ” You person 1 successful the backmost closet.” They’re like, “We bash not.” I’m like, “That’s crazy, guys.” So I went connected YouTube and recovered pirated versions and would conscionable ticker sections and beryllium like, “Oh, yeah, that’s what happened.” I mean, I’d seen the amusement galore times earlier that. So that was portion of the thing. And past aft the amusement started to unfastened up [again post-covid], I watched it a clump of times too. But past astatine a definite point, I had to fto it spell and not deliberation astir it anymore it became antithetic with the girls. They were doing antithetic things. And I ever accidental astatine a definite point, the movie starts talking backmost and I request to beryllium determination to perceive to it. So that’s what benignant of happened.

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What happens adjacent is Wicked opens successful theaters Friday followed by Part Two successful 2025. Also, we’ll person one much station from our interview with the manager discussing his mentation of “Defying Gravity.”

Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.