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‘Wicked’ Director Wants Fans to See Characters Soar

“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo, and Ariana Grande attend as Universal Pictures presents a special New York City “Wicked” Screening at Metrograph on Dec. 03, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images for Universal Pictures/AFP)
“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo, and Ariana Grande attend as Universal Pictures presents a special New York City “Wicked” Screening at Metrograph on Dec. 03, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images for Universal Pictures/AFP)
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‘Wicked’ Director Wants Fans to See Characters Soar

“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo, and Ariana Grande attend as Universal Pictures presents a special New York City “Wicked” Screening at Metrograph on Dec. 03, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images for Universal Pictures/AFP)
“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo, and Ariana Grande attend as Universal Pictures presents a special New York City “Wicked” Screening at Metrograph on Dec. 03, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images for Universal Pictures/AFP)

Jon M. Chu, the director behind the musical film "Wicked", felt pressure from both himself and the rest of the team at Universal Pictures to make a masterpiece.

"For ourselves to fulfill the promise that we had to these characters when we first walked into this, I'm really excited," he told Reuters. "We love the show. We love these characters."

"Wicked", based on the Broadway musical hit that tells the story of a green-skinned student of magic who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, pulled in $114 million at US and Canadian theaters, and $50.2 million in international markets during the Nov. 22 opening weekend.

Starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the movie is the first installment of a two-part film adaptation of the multi-Tony award-winning Broadway musical of the same name based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, which is based on the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

The first installment of "Wicked: Part 1" was written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, with songs from renowned composer Stephen Schwartz.

The fantasy-musical movie also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Yeoh.

The story follows Elphaba played by Erivo, an outcast young woman because of her green skin, and Galinda played by Grande, a popular young woman, who become friends at Shiz University in the mystical land of Oz. After meeting the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship is met with unforeseen challenges.

Chu views the film as an opportunity to normalize Hollywood's diverse talent, as the film includes actors of color, actors with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented groups.

Making the movie with "real" and "authentic people" in the lead roles was never a question for him.

"To me, it was normalizing this stuff. We don't even have to make it a huge conversation. It just is," he added.

Following the success of "Wicked," Chu teases that the second installment of the film will not disappoint.

"If you think you saw everything of Cynthia and you think you saw everything of Ariana, just wait, because the best is yet to come with them. It is juicy and yummy and all the things. I think people will be satisfied with where we end up."

"Wicked," distributed by Universal Pictures, will be available for at-home streaming that can be purchased digitally on December 31.

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Entertainment

Netflix’s ‘Missing You’ Lands in Time for New Year Binge Watch

In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
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Netflix’s ‘Missing You’ Lands in Time for New Year Binge Watch

In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
In this photo illustration a computer screen displays the Netflix logo on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)

It’s Netflix’s resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.

Since 2020, the streamer has released a UK miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: “Fool Me Once,” starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.

2025’s seasonal suspense series is “Missing You,” based on Coben’s 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar (“Slow Horses”) as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.

“They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them,” says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. “People have ownership over the show now, so like, ‘I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year’s Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.’”

“It’s perfect timing for the release, to be honest,” says co-star Ashley Walters. “Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day.”

The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.

“I’ve ghosted people before,” laughs Armitage. “Just people you don’t want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though.”

Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn’t a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.

“I’d just feel too guilty,” she admits, calling it “cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!”

Eleazar promises twists and turns along the way, adding that the actors weren’t initially given the final two scripts and had to turn to the book to find out what happens.

Coben “really is a genius at taking you up the wrong track,” says Eleazar. “You’re so sure that this time you’ve got it right and it’s this person or this thing, but you are inevitably always wrong.”

“I would love to know, actually, how he starts a book, you know? Does it start with an idea or does he think of the most inconceivable idea and go, ‘That’s how it’s going to end’?” she adds.

Armitage agrees that “Missing You” does justice to the “hair-raising” shock ending of the book; “It’s like the rug is pulled away at the last minute.”

And while audiences at home can binge-watch the whole five-part series as 2025 is still finding its feet, the cast will be busy with a variety of pastimes.

Lenny Henry, who portrays Kat’s father, jokes that he usually wakes up to a new year surrounded by roast potatoes, while wearing pajamas.

Armitage likes to be outside and start fresh by skiing down a mountain, while Eleazar has plans to celebrate in style: She and a group of friends have a tradition where they rent a castle and dress up in themed costumes.

Past New Year's Eve parties have included donning 18th century garb in France and last year’s Versace-themed fete.

“I will be celebrating and really hoping that everyone loves this show on the 1st,” she says.