Jon M. Chu confirms Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will each have a brand new song in Wicked Part II
Director Jon M. Chu has confirmed Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will each have new, original songs in the forthcoming Wicked: Part Two.
Officially titled Wicked: For Good, the highly anticipated second half welcomes back both stars in their respective roles as Glinda and Elphaba. It will follow a now powerful Elphaba who's been declared an enemy of the state by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
Ahead of the trailer release, Chu spoke to Vanity Fair about the sequel to his Oscar-nominated Wicked: Part I.
He assured fans who might not be as familiar with the second act's score that 'there are some bangers.'
''No Good Deed' is just a f***ing banger,' he said. 'I don't even know how to use safe words for that. Cynthia on that thing is just ridiculous. And 'As Long as You're Mine' — it's just gorgeous.
'I think it's been reported we have two new songs,' Chu added, teasing: 'They're great additions to this movie. They were necessary in this movie to help tell the story.'
Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz returned to pen the new songs after writing the music and lyrics for the stage production, which opened on Broadway in 2003.
'To have Stephen Schwartz back behind the keys… it's pretty extraordinary to watch him work,' Chu noted.
Recalling the first time he met with Grande and Erivo, the Crazy Rich Asians director remembered 'the girls came to my house in person and sang 'For Good' on my piano.'
'The other half of the story that we never tell is that Stephen played their songs for them for the first time there as well,' he said. 'He's sitting there, and he is like, 'Would you guys like to hear the songs I'm thinking of for you?' And they were like, 'Yes, please.''
In April, the first trailer of Wicked: For Good was screened exclusively at CinemaCon. The clip, which was released later to the general public, introduced classic Wizard of Oz characters Dorothy, the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow to the story.
It additionally included a brief portion of Erivo and Grande singing popular Wicked second-act songs, 'For Good' and 'No Good Deed.'
The first Wicked film, based on the first act of the hit Broadway musical, was a box office success but divided critics.
'Wicked looks like every other film now. That's its problem. It may be the screen adaptation of the stage musical — itself based on a 1995 novel — but, within moments, it also tethers itself directly to the classic 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz,' The Independent's Clarrise Loughrey wrote in a three-star review.
'And while that film's Emerald City and Land of Oz have been cemented in the public imagination as brilliant-hued dream worlds, and the most famous demonstration of the Technicolor process, Wicked is shot and lit like we're being sold an Airbnb in Mykonos.'
Wicked: For Good is out in theaters November 21.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson sent gorilla poop to friend's ex
Dakota Johnson sent gorilla poop to a friend's ex-boyfriend. The Materialists actress admitted she sought out an unusual way of getting revenge on the mystery man when her unnamed pal was left with a broken heart. In a lie detector test with Vanity Fair magazine, the 35-year-old star was quizzed about her loyalty and admitted she would lie to police about her "lifelong" friend Riley Keough's alibi if need be. She was then asked to confirm whether or not she 'once sent a man who broke your friend's heart a gallon of gorilla s***.' She admitted: 'I mean, there's no way that he would watch this, so, yes, I did do that... 'And it's been quite a while. It's been some years.' The interrogator then asked: 'How would one order something like that? Asking for a friend." Dakota explained she had visited S*** She added: 'You can order any kind, any size." The polygraph administrator confirmed the Madame Web star was telling the truth. Dakota laughed when she was asked if she also knew how to 'order pubic crabs online,' but denied it was something she'd ever do. She said: 'No! Good Lord, I'm not a monster." Towards the end of the lie detector test, Dakota confirmed she hadn't told the truth throughout the 12-minute segment but her fibs had gone undetected. She laughed: "I'm a psychopath." Asked which questions she lied about, she said: "I'll never tell". The Splitsville actress previously admitted she is "very defiant" and doesn't like rules. She told Bustle: "I am a very defiant person. If somebody tells me I can't do something, I am shaking, even if I had no interest in doing that thing." Asked if she was like that as a child, Dakota replied: "Yeah. I think I just find rules and some structure really ridiculous, silly and stupid." Dakota will always "accept and accommodate everyone's feelings". But ultimately, she wants to follow her own instincts. She shared: "I've always been the kind of person who's going to do what I want to do. "I will accept and accommodate everyone's feelings and ideas and thoughts. But as long as I'm not hurting another human being in some way - even with my work, with agents or managers or whomever - I'll listen to everyone and take everything very seriously and then I will do what feels really right to me."
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson Admits She Once Sent Gorilla Poop to a Friend's Ex: 'Yes, I Did Do That'
Dakota Johnson prides herself on being a good friend, even if that means getting messy The 50 Shades of Grey alum confessed to sending gorilla poop to a friend's ex following a breakup The actress, who recently split from Chris Martin, did not share who was involved in the smelly situationIf you do Dakota Johnson's friends dirty, she'll do you dirtier. On Thursday, June 5, the Materialists actress, 35, took another lie detector test with Vanity Fair after previously taking one six years ago. In her most recent sit-down with the outlet's polygrapher, Johnson admitted to an unusual way of getting back at a person who caused a close friend heartache. After being questioned about her loyalty, which included lying to cops about 'lifelong' friend Riley Keough's alibi if need be, she was asked to confirm whether or not she 'once sent a man who broke your friend's heart a gallon of gorilla s---.' 'I mean, there's no way that he would watch this, so, yes, I did do that,' Johnson said. Seemingly realizing how bizarre the act seemed, she added, 'And it's been quite a while. It's been some years.' 'How would one order something like that? Asking for a friend,' the interrogator asked, off-camera. For Johnson, her go-to website for finding fecal matter is 'You can order any kind, any size,' the Madame Web star said of the site. The person administering the polygraph said her answer was 'truthful.' The actress also giggled when asked about knowing how to 'order public crabs online,' but denied that she had ever made that type of purchase. 'No! Good Lord, I'm not a monster,' she said. The 50 Shades of Grey star, who recently split from Chris Martin after a nearly eight-year on-again, off-again relationship, didn't disclose which of her friends she fiercely defended by mailing their ex gorilla poop. Johnson and the Coldplay frontman, 48, were first romantically linked in 2017. "It feels final this time," an insider told PEOPLE of the breakup. Reps for the stars did not respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment. The now-former longtime couple were photographed together two weeks ago as they stepped out in Malibu together on May 16. Before that, in January, the pair held hands in India, while the singer was there touring with his band. A source previously told PEOPLE in March that Johnson and Martin had actually been engaged for 'years' after first sparking engagement rumors in 2020, though they were "in no rush to get married" at the time. After news broke about their latest split, the Daddio star was seen in New York City without her engagement ring on two occasions — Monday, June 2 and Wednesday, June 4. Throughout the years, Johnson has been known to keep quiet about her love life. In May 2018 during the Global Gift Foundation USA Women's Empowerment Luncheon, her mother, Melanie Griffith spoke highly of the musician, saying "I adore him!" But when asked about her daughter's relationship, the Working Girl star, 67, replied, "She is very private about her life and I respect that." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Later that year, Johnson seemingly acknowledged her relationship with Martin during a September 2018 interview with Tatler, while also remaining tight-lipped. 'I'm not going to talk about it, but I am very happy,' Johnson said, per E! News. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson blames Madame Web flop on people ‘who don't have a creative bone in their body'
Dakota Johnson has laid the blame for Madame Web's dismal showing at the box office squarely at the feet of people at studios who 'don't have a creative bone in their body'. Johnson played Cassandra Webb, a New York paramedic who crosses paths with three young women, played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O'Connor, whom she must protect from a mysterious adversary who wants them destroyed. 'It wasn't my fault,' Johnson told the Los Angeles Times about the film flopping. 'There's this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee. Or made by people who don't have a creative bone in their body. And it's really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way.' 'And I think unfortunately with Madame Web, it started out as something and turned into something else. And I was just sort of along for the ride at that point. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.' The Daddio actor has spoken previously about 'drastic changes' made to the script after she had signed on, as well as her unhappiness at creative choices being made by executives at Hollywood. 'Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms,' she said in March last year. 'My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they're not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bulls***. Even if films start to be made with [artificial intelligence], humans aren't going to f***ing want to see those.' The Independent has reached out to Sony Pictures for comment. However, Johnson may have relented on never starring in superhero films. She said last year that she 'probably will never do anything like it again because I don't make sense in that world'. She has told the LA Times now that she doesn't 'have a Band-Aid over it'. 'There's no part of me that's like, 'Oh, I'll never do that again' to anything. I've done even tiny movies that didn't do well. Who cares?' The Independent's Clarrise Loughrey labeled Madame Web 'a desperate comic book misfire that seems embarrassed by its own existence,' in her one-star review. Johnson will be seen next in Celine Song's Materialists, where she stars opposite Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, as a New York City matchmaker who finds herself 'torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex'. The A24 film, set to be released internationally on 15 August, has garnered much buzz online, where fans have celebrated it for being a return to the style of the classic 90s' romantic comedy.
