This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. This was one of the easier selections—Chu’s sensational adaptation managed to delight mega-fans of the Broadway juggernaut as well as newbies freshly dazzled by the story of Elphaba, Glinda, and the ramifications of their epic friendship.

Spoilers aplenty!

Black hat seated atop her head, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) peers around the corner of the Ozdust ballroom, excited to attend her first party ever.

She tentatively takes her first steps down the stairs, silhouette illuminated by the spotlight, when the music suddenly halts and her peers begin to laugh.

The excitement quickly drains from her face as she realizes that the acceptance she so desperately craved did not come. Once again, she is alone.

We watch as she makes her way toward the center of the room, her expression changing from wide-eyed wonder to hardened resilience.

She places her hat down on the ground and begins to dance.

“When Cynthia came in, as she learned some of the movements, she found that, ‘Oh, my movements are different,’” says Wicked Director Jon M. Chu. “This is what I think Elphaba would do. Instead of being something funny that she does [like the stage production], the choice of hey, she needs to find her space, and how she finds her space… And how defiant is it?”

Moments later, Glinda (Ariana Grande) will join Elphaba in her dance in what is arguably one of the most pivotal moments in the film. She steps out — timid at first, until eventually, she and Elphaba gather momentum. Smiling at one another they move fluidly, tears streaming down Elphaba’s face, her eyes disclosing her pain.

Center L to R: Cynthia Erivo (as Elphaba), Director Jon M. Chu, and Ariana Granda (as Glinda) on the set of WICKED

“The decision to play it in silence without music was very scary, and we debated that many times,” says Chu. “But when you look at Cynthia, that uncomfortable feeling that you get to be in her shoes, that was really hard to shoot.”

Filming this scene with no sound, and virtually any dialogue, forces viewers to fully internalize the awkwardness and to absorb Elphaba’s pain. It causes viewers to question if their own actions would have been as brave.

To capture the heartbreaking nature of this scene required a delicate balance of vulnerability from the actors, precise camera angles and proper lighting. Chu says there were “700 lighting cues” and each one was filmed “one take at a time.”

“We could not just cut into it, because the emotions were just too heavy,” he explains. “And so every time our camera goes around, we’re doing 360, lights have to come on and off so we don’t get camera shadow and we could still see [Elphaba’s] eyes.”

Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu

“I love that she is surrendering to who she is, and that hat isn’t a dunce cap for her,” Chu says. “It’s actually a real sort of spiritual connection. So when she puts it on, it is an acceptance of who she is, no matter what that is.”

L to R: Cynthia Erivo (as Elphaba) and Ariana Grande (as Glinda) with Director Jon M. Chu on the set of WICKED.

The beauty of Wicked is that yes, it is a fairytale, the heart of which is about friendship. But beyond that, it is a story that dissects the true meaning of evil, jam-packed with powerful political messaging that Chu beautifully interweaves whilst maintaining the magical and whimsical nature of the world. The beauty of using film as a medium is that it’s able to add depth and nuance to characters that are already beloved by so many.

“It’s a timeless tale of what happens when you feel oppressed, or what happens when you feel out of place or different,” Chu explains. “When you have Cynthia singing the words to ‘Defying Gravity,’ even though we’ve heard it many, many times — it sounds different coming from her. It means different. She’s exposing different wounds.”

Amidst moments of raw vulnerability, there are also moments of pure joy. One of the most viral, cinematic feats of Chu’s Wicked is the giant musical number, “What is This Feeling?” Filmed with various settings, costume changes, sweeping transitions and hundreds of extras, it’s pure creative genius.

“We start with, ‘Ok, what do we need to communicate in this song that this stage show can’t?’” Chu explains of the scene’s conception. “One, we have to do a passage of time… Two, we had to show the jealousy and the actual superpowers… Then, what’s happening at the school? And we also had to talk about ‘Dancing Through Life.’ If Shiz University students have a certain style of dancing that has certain angles and a certain sharpness, and ‘Dancing Through Life’ is going to break that…Then ‘What is this Feeling?’ establishes what Shiz is at this point that we’re going to break later.”

Of all the musical numbers, “What is This Feeling?” is perhaps the most expository. It helps establish the initially fraught relationship between Glinda and Elphaba, and immerses viewers into life at Shiz.

“‘Oh, this is what gym class looks like at Shiz? That’s so cool.’” Chu continues. “‘Oh, what about science class? What about this class? And then [choreographer] Chris [Scott] goes with his team and they create movement for all those things. And then we start shooting that on my iPhone, and we start cutting together a piece through our rehearsals and through storyboards of what it’s going to feel like, and then we start shooting it.”

In the nearly two years it took to film Wicked, Chu says his actors truly immersed themselves in their characters.

“Ari was Glinda for that period of time and so was Cynthia — they might still be a little bit of those people.”

At times, their reactions in certain scenes during filming surprised him. In “No One Mourns the Wicked,” the film’s opening musical number, Glinda is forced to watch as the Munchkinlanders celebrate the death of her once dear friend, and then force her to burn the effigy.

“I did not expect when [Ariana] saw this effigy on fire that she would break down just as a person watching it,” he says. “And I had to continue to tell her like, ‘I don’t think we can go there yet. This is the beginning of the movie. People don’t know. Let’s hide it as much as you can. You are trying to help these Munchkins. You love them.’ And so her restraint in that and trying to keep it in, I think that’s the fight that we’re watching there. And she does such a brilliant job of not showing it too early, really because she’s good at it. But at a certain point she can’t hide it… And she does such a great job walking that fine line of both the comedy, but also those little inches of guilt.”

As Chu settles into post-production for part two of Wicked, set to be released in November of 2025, he shares only mild teasers.

“I have said in the past that if movie one’s about choices, movie two is about the consequences,” he says. “The question of what happens when the home that you love and you’re trying to protect doesn’t want you anymore? Is that a home?”

As Oscar buzz begins circulating around Erivo, Grande and Chu himself, he says he is content with “whatever happens” when it comes to awards.

“We had a responsibility to the Wizard of Oz, to this legacy, to Wicked and to Kristin [Chenoweth] and Idina [Menzel], and I think that that’s what we’re most proud of,” he says. “And whatever happens may happen in the future, but if it were up to me, they deserve it all for how hard everyone worked and how detailed everything had to be.”