“Evil” | Scene structure

Hello. I'm Jon M. Chu, the director of “Wicked.” “And Elfie. Can I call you Elfie?'' “Well, that's a bit fancy.'' So we're about halfway through the movie. Then, two completely different roommates moved into this semi-small dorm room. And that's Glinda and Elphaba, played by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who bonded over sharing stories with each other. So we can say that this is the beginning of their real friendship – their first date. This is a very iconic scene. “Popular” is one of the songs everyone knows from “Wicked.” This is probably the most used thing in a talent show, so there was a lot of pressure to get this right and find a way to go into this cinematically. But of course, everything here hinges on Ariana Grande's showboating performance that showcases her power to transform Elphaba into a potential star. “It's exactly what they need.” And Ali is truly a master of comedy. You can see it in everything she moves and the way she interacts with Cynthia Erivo. When you actually listen to it, her beats and pauses are amazing. Our costume designer, Paul Tazewell, designed this beautiful new word for her, a peignoir, that I learned. The peignoir is now iconic on all the dolls and objects, and I even designed this giant chandelier for her that she swings from. It looks simple, but it actually requires a lot of manpower to execute. There's actually a man on top, turning it and helping her move around. This was a lot of fun for us. We had to really allow the songs to come in and take their time. Since everything is live, we put a pianist in the corner so she could use her own tempo. “You're popular, you're going to be popular.'' And the concept of this work is that it's a dorm room, so instead of going into a huge closet, the closet contains all the bags you saw in the previous scene. did. I love this moment when she grabs her ruby ​​slipper and taps it three times as a nod to The Wizard of Oz. But all of these devices, while seemingly simple, were pulled and closed by grown men in confined spaces, and each took months to properly engineer. One of the biggest things that Cynthia really wanted was to not just be a passenger, but really want to be a part of it. In fact, she is not as resistant as she is portrayed. In fact, I really enjoy the attention and friendship. “It doesn't necessarily mean you'll be popular.'' Just that mirror. It's very heavy and has a lot of technology packed into it. It's actually very dangerous. Later she actually steps on it. So it took months just to design, including this one that folds and falls back. And I love this moment when she has swans flying around her. This was repeated about 18 times. The floor needed to be oiled. Her peignoir didn't get caught in that hanger. But then again, Ali is a master of physical comedy and she does it like she was born to do it. “what?”