Cynthia Erivo
Michelle Yeoh is set to grace the land of Oz as Madame Morrible in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, and the Academy Award-winning actress gave some insight on the current filming process.
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She told ET that filming has been “great” so far. “Really good. Love working with Ariana [Grande] and Cynthia [Erivo],” she added.
She also previously shared how the film’s director Jon M. Chu, who worked with Yeoh on 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, convinced her to take the role. “He said he’s gonna send me the script, [ask me to] consider it,” she recalled. “Then, he goes off. Two days later, I get a message from him, and he has recorded a message from Ariana and Cynthia and him, saying, ‘Hi, Michelle. It’s imperative, imperative, absolutely — what was it? — imperative that you join us now.’”
Chu shared that Yeoh joined the Wicked cast back in December. “It took one tweet to convince the ICON (and dear friend) #MichelleYeoh to play our Madame Morrible in #WickedMovie,” the filmmaker tweeted along with an article by The Hollywood Reporter confirming the casting. “Am I the luckiest director in the world to get to work with her again?! Spoiler alert: yes I am. Welcome to Shiz.”
In the Broadway version of the beloved Wizard of Oz prequel, Yeoh’s character serves as the headmistress of Shiz and promises to introduce Elphaba to the famous Wizard himself, leading into fan-favorite number “The Wizard and I.”
The film adaptation is set to be released in two parts. Wicked Part 1 will be released next Thanksgiving (Nov. 27, 2024), and the second part currently scheduled for Christmas Day (Dec. 25) in 2025.
The filming for the highly anticipated Wicked films is officially underway, according to Instagram Stories from director Jon M. Chu as well as Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who are set to play Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch, respectively.
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“What a day today has been,” Erivo captioned a blank screen on her Stories on Wednesday (Dec. 7), tagging Grande and Chu. The director, meanwhile, shared an adorable Wicked-themed drawing made by his daughter “to commemorate the first day of shooting.” Grande reposted it, writing, “My heart.”
That’s not all the news going down in the land of Oz this week: Variety revealed that actor Ethan Slater has been cast as Boq, the love interest of Elphaba’s younger sister Nessarose, who later becomes the doomed Wicked Witch of the East. As previously announced, the film also stars Bridgerton‘s Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Elphaba’s romantic interest.
Based on the iconic Broadway musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz, Wicked follows two magical enemies-turned-best friends played by Grande and Erivo. The project will be split into two separate films, the first of which is slated to hit theaters in December 2024.
“We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two!” Chu revealed in a statement at the time. “With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”
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