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Jon M. Chu is no stranger to bringing Broadway hits to the big screen.
The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
What were your reference points did you look at the Victor Fleming movie?
Did you look at the novel that Wicked is based on?
Where do you start with creating such a vast landscape?
Jon M. Chu:Well, it was a big challenge.
So this idea of progress, and what does progress take?
It was really through story that we found how we were going to design it.
But it was challenging, you know, we’ve seen magic schools before.
So how do you make it unique to Oz?
We would always go back to those original drawings and things that made us delighted.
So to establish that facade at first was so important.
And at the same time establish this natural side what was Oz before [the Wizard] ever arrived?
Why was it important to you to delve a bit more into her backstory in this movie?
Well, we really had to gather our horses around the Elphaba character.
And that means moving backward in this character of Elphaba.
So it’s very late [in the movie].
But with Cynthia, we couldn’t do that.
I don’t take not take care of myself.'
So we had to build props and things that she needed as a character.
This is not a joke.
I need to find how I express myself when I move.
It’s the first time I’m making space for my movements.
Whether they like it or not, it’s my defiance.'
And that suddenly becomes much more emotional, it suddenly becomes so much more character-driven.
So everything we did was driven on that arc of, ‘Where is Elphaba?
Why are they necessary?
Why do they need each other to be the best that [they] can be?
And why does that hurt our hearts?’
To actually be the best that they can be, they have to go apart.
That’s the way I like to work.
Wicked arrives in cinemas on November 28.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of this year’s biggestmovie release dates.
