Wicked: For Good will be ‘delicate' with Dorothy, director Jon M. Chu says
'Wicked: For Good' director Jon M. Chu has insisted the movie will be "delicate" with Dorothy Gale.
The upcoming blockbuster - which will follow on from the events on 2024's 'Wicked' - will introduce the young girl from Kansas as she embarks on her journey down the Yellow Brick Road, and while Chu, 45, has said Dorothy will have a more prominent arrival in the flick than she does in the stage play of which 'Wicked: For Good' is based on, the filmmaker emphasised they would "tread lightly" around the character.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about Dorothy and her crew's walk down the Yellow Brick Road, Chu said: "That intersection is the place that we were first introduced to Oz.
"We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does."
He added: "We're delicate. We're delicate. We're delicate."
The 'Crazy Rich Asians' director emphasised 'Wicked: For Good' is more about the friendship of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) than it is about Dorothy - who was famously portrayed by Judy Garland in the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz'.
He explained: "I think the meat of what 'Wicked' is all about happens in movie two. To me, this is why this story exists.
"This is where our childhood dreams collide with our adult selves."
'Wicked: For Good' - which will be based on the second half of the Broadway musical - will follow Elphaba and Glinda after they parted ways in the first movie.
Now a fugitive, Elphaba flees to the western skies and forests, while Glinda rises as a public figure manipulated by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
Chu teased: "Our heart was broken when Glinda can't make the choice that we want her to so badly at the end of movie one, and it feels empowering for Elphaba to fly away from society.
"In movie two, we get to see the consequences of those choices. The temperature is up."
As the film heads towards its November release, Chu said he was still doing "little tweaks here and there" on 'Wicked: For Good'.
He said: "We're almost there. We're inches away. I have a couple choices of things to flip around in the timeline; I can't quite tell.
"So I'm at the very last moment. They're trying to rip the movie away from me right as we speak. I will not let it go until they rip it out of my hands."
While 'Wicked: For Good' will mostly stay true to the stage musical, Chu teased the two new songs written by original 'Wicked' composer Stephen Schwartz that would feature in the movie.
He said: "I think it's been reported we have two new songs. They're great additions to this movie. They were necessary in this movie to help tell the story.
"To have Stephen Schwartz back behind the keys—it's pretty extraordinary to watch him work."
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