With the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” forever ingrained in pop culture history, seven-time Oscar-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley knew it was the necessary starting place to develop “Wicked.”
At the Variety FYC screening presented by Universal, Crowley told Clayton Davis, Variety’s senior awards editor, about his close collaboration with director Jon M. Chu, who recently won the Critics Choice Award for best director.
“He really wanted to push the design as far as he could into this magical place with building the sets. I love practical building when you’re with all the crew. Sometimes you’re in mud … I find it just overwhelmingly good fun.”
Marc Platt, the Oscar-nominated producer who received his third nomination this year for “Wicked,” following his work on both “La La Land” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” described this undertaking as his most personal project. When he read Gregory Maguire’s novel in the ’90s, he immediately recognized what a great movie it would be. However, following the show’s Broadway premiere in 2003, it took over two decades to come to life.
“I waited a long time for a number of reasons—mostly because I didn’t want to screw it up,” Platt recalled. “I felt pressure on myself and an obligation to the fans who protected and loved these characters. It meant so much to them … the bar was very high for me.”
Platt isn’t the only “Wicked” cast member who recognized the show’s potential for the big screen before knowing Chu’s vision. Ariana Grande, who earned her first Academy Award nomination for her turn as Glinda, admitted to loving the show since its Broadway premiere in 2003.
“There’s a huge difference between being a fan of something and having to become it,” Grande explained. “Loving ‘Wicked,’ loving the songs and [then] having to actually feel and live them and assign your own feelings to them, it’s quite a journey. I really wanted to get to know Glinda beneath the comedy because I’m a firm believer that the comedy will only play if it is the truth.”
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An element of the show that fans of “Wicked” have instantly recognized is the “Defying Gravity” climax, representing a crucial moment in the story’s core friendship. Best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo, who plays the Elphaba, describes filming the iconic scene as “fun as hell.”
“But it’s one of those things that don’t permeate if you don’t go through the hard work,” Erivo explained. “I want you to feel like it’s easy … I want you to feel the pain that she’s feeling because the pain is real to me. It comes from a very real place.”
Grande echoed that sentiment, touching on the more profound emotional weight behind her performance. “Glinda’s first real friendship happens after the Oz Dust Ballroom scene,” she said. “That’s the first time in her privileged, fluffy life that someone has held up a mirror and invited her to access that part of her that’s truly, deeply good.”
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The level of preparation for their roles required months of training, both vocally and physically. Erivo described the intense discipline behind it, emphasizing the work she and Grande put into mastering their performances.
“The training we both had to do on our voices in order to make those sounds took time, for both voice and body,” Erivo said. “It isn’t easy to sing in a harness up in the air. But these women deserve our all. So we threw ourselves into it—whether it was a 2 a.m. wake-up call, a 5 a.m. makeup call, or a two-hour workout.”
After singing a couple of beautiful notes from “Defying Gravity,” the two shared how Grande burned her butt and needed an ice pack while Erivo, who hates onions, was thrown off a bit when it was included in the lunch servings. Lots of chuckles and laughs later, it still became the most iconic moment in the movie.
For the cast and crew, bringing “Wicked” to the big screen has been a labor of love, with plenty of joy left to go around.
