Wicked Director Wanted to Cast ‘No-Namers’ as Elphaba, Glinda  

When Jon M. Chu signed on to direct evilhe originally wanted to find two “unnamed” people to play the lead roles of Elphaba and Glinda. Cho believed that the story and the iconic music would be enough to sell the film.

“I wanted to have a very clear slate coming to Wicked,” Cho told SFX Magazine via Gamesradar. “It’s a big enough property in itself that we can discover a couple of people. I was like, ‘We’re going to find names without names.’

However, Chu’s mentality began to change during the testing process. Cho realized that casting talented actresses to sing these songs and capture the characters’ emotions was extremely important. It was about finding the right people, even if they weren’t unknown actresses.

“Then we got calls from all these amazing actresses who wanted to audition, and we saw everyone, and they were all really great. Anyone could have played this role, except there were two people who were supposed to play this role for this movie,” Cho said. Especially at this particular time.” “What we discovered when we were testing everyone is that the songs are so important to this movie and so emotionally important to this movie, that the person doing them has to go in and out of the song so easily that it’s like butter; Like you don’t even notice it. That means having good pieces in their skill set.”

Who’s involved with the bad guys?

Ultimately, Cho cast Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Throop and Ariana Grande as Galinda Upland. Wicked begins with Elphaba and Galinda as students at Shiz University who eventually become friends. Their encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz causes a rift in their relationship, as they eventually set off on paths to become the Good Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Wicked includes Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marisa Pudi, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Kayla Settle, and Peter Dinklage.

Chu is directing Wicked from a script by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. Wicked is an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical by Holzman and Stephen Schwartz. Producers include Marc Platt and David Stone.

Wicked opens in theaters on November 22, 2024. This is the first of two Wicked film adaptations. Part 2 will be released on November 21, 2025.

(source: SFX Magazine via Gamesradar)