New behind-the-scenes footage for the upcoming Wicked films has been released. It featured never-before-seen clips from the actual film and an exclusive sneak peek at the production process behind the mega-musical film.
The new video also shows the moment director Jon M. Chu announced to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande that they will play Elphaba and Glinda, the two main characters in the film.
Chu revealed at the start of the video that Wicked is the "one" movie that he had always dreamed of doing. The video features clips of Erivo's Elphaba walking down the stairs and Grande, in Glinda costume, clapping the clapper in between takes.
Tony-winning actress and singer Erivo revealed that on her 25th birthday, she decided to see Wicked on Broadway.
"I'd never heard or seen anything like it. I remember it was like a rainy night, and I felt really alive. I felt like I was floating on air," she recalled watching her first ever Wicked show.
Meanwhile, Grande, a self-confessed Wicked fan since she was ten years old, revealed that she had the privilege to watch the Original Broadway Cast Production of Wicked with Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
"I just felt an immediate bond," Grande admitted before clips of her getting asked what her dream role was; it was Glinda. "It was always been the thing that I listen to when I'm nervous, when I'm needing an escape, when I need comfort."
Like any other artist, Grande auditioned for her role of Glinda in Wicked. Just Jared reported that Dove Cameron, Amanda Seyfried, Reneé Rapp, and Taylor Louderman also auditioned for the part.
"I went in for my first audition, and I just remembered being like, buzzing," Grande recalled. Chu also remembered Grande coming in, and he thought that she was "an Ari I've never seen before."
As for Erivo, Chu said that her audition left a mark on him, as she was "so raw and vulnerable." In a Zoom interview, Chu broke the casting news to Erivo, which sent her to tears.
"It's been a really long journey, and I'm really grateful for it. I never thought in my lifetime that I would get to be a part of something like this.
When Chu broke the news to Grande, she also broke into tears, thanking him and confessing her love for the character.
"I want people to see Wicked and experience it the way they've never experienced it before. I want them to feel what I felt going into that theatre for the first time. I want to make them laugh, to make them sing, to make them feel that after they've watched it - they've been changed for good." Chu concluded.
Wicked: Part 1 is slated for release in November 2024.
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