Jon M. Chu counted himself a fan of “Depraved” lengthy earlier than he was employed to direct the big-budget film adaptation of the favored Broadway musical.

So it was a query of the place, not if, he ought to pay homage to Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the stage roles of Elphaba and Glinda, within the two-part movie, the primary of which landed in theaters on Nov. 22. After a lot deliberation amongst Ozs powers that be, it was determined they would seem within the film as the celebrities of Wizomania, an expanded present inside the present that performs out when Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) go to the Emerald Metropolis throughout the music “One Brief Day.”

“I instructed them, ‘I need you to expertise for the primary time what you gave us.’ I noticed Idina and Kristin as they have been workshopping the present on the Curran Theatre [in 2003]. I’ll always remember being blown away by their performances,” Chu remembers, lounging on the sofa at Manhattan’s Bowery Resort in an appropriately inexperienced sweater. “Once they have been on set, I believe actuality hit them and it was very full circle for them.”

“Depraved,” which launched such classics as “Defying Gravity,” “Common” and “For Good” into the Broadway pantheon, recounts all the pieces that occurs earlier than Dorothy lands in Ozand saunters down that iconic Yellow Brick Street. The story takes place earlier than, throughout and after “The Wizard of Oz” and charts the unlikely friendship of the green-skinned Elphaba (later often known as the Depraved Witch of the West) and the perky, pink-loving Glinda (ultimately dubbed Glinda the Good). “Half One” chronicles their time collectively at Shiz College, the place they’re pressured to be roommates and ultimately change into besties. The second film, which debuts on Nov. 21, 2025, picks up after Elphaba is absolutely accountable for her powers and has been declared an enemy of the state by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).

As “Depraved: Half One” opens on the massive display, Chu indulged Selection in a spoiler-filled chat about Menzel and Chenoweth’s cameos, sacred traces that have been (and weren’t) reduce from the script… and whether or not we’ll see extra of Dorothy in “Half Two.”

“Depraved” was initially being developed as one film. What did these earlier variations appear like?

After I walked in, everybody was already in high-octane mode of debating: Do we have to do that in two motion pictures? Different scripts that have been making an attempt to suit it into one film have been stripping many songs and altering the story in ways in which didn’t fairly make logical, emotional sense. You will get away with that on stage, however film audiences are harder. As we picked aside each script, I might ask sure questions that opened lots of dialogue. It turned inevitable that we needed to commit to 2 motion pictures.

I think about it didn’t take convincing to get Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel within the film. However how did you discover the appropriate second to incorporate them?

They weren’t simply going to come back to do no matter. Our interior circle considered all types of issues to current to them. Does Kristin play Glinda’s mother? Are they one of many individuals who says “The Wizard will see you now”? It all the time felt underwhelming. We needed to give them one thing huge. We had this part in “Wizomania” that wanted backstory that we didn’t want within the present: What’s the Grimmerie? And an understanding of how the Wizard got here to Oz. I used to be like, ‘What if we do that part as a play? It was alleged to be an amusement park experience like “It’s a Small World,” which was a enjoyable idea. But when it’s a present, then it’s kind of meta. Idina and Kristin play the 2 most well-known actors in Oz. They get to be glamorous and folks get to applaud them. Stephen Schwartz instantly knew what to do and added Idina’s Elphaba battle cry and interaction of pushing one another out of the best way. It’s enjoyable taking part in off the lore of two mega stars within the present.

Some quotable traces and lyrics, like “we’ll be late for Wizomania,” have been reduce. Have been these troublesome choices given how intimately followers know the present?

While you don’t have a stay viewers to play off, a few of the comedy doesn’t fairly work. I bear in mind when Ari learn that we didn’t have the road “the Wizard will see you now!” There was a motive for it; they have been extra progressed within the geography. In rehearsals, we didn’t have it and each time that second would occur, they might sing it anyway. Ari was like, “I promise you, we have to have it.” So I used to be like, “OK, let me determine it out. We constructed it in so there are two entrances now, but it surely was price it.” There have been debates on a regular basis. At first, when Glinda says “It’s good to see me, isn’t it?,” within the present she says, “No have to reply. That’s rhetorical.” However within the film when she mentioned the road, the joke didn’t land. Not due to the best way she carried out it. However as a result of there’s no viewers to provide the suggestions for it. We put faux Ozian reactions, but it surely was too meta, too early. That was a scary one to chop as a result of it’s like a Bible line.

Why did you embody a “The Wizard of Oz” homage with Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion strolling down the Yellow Brick Street?

“The Wizard of Oz” is doubtlessly a dream. It’s a world the place there aren’t any actual stakes. Realizing that Elphaba and Glinda stay in a world of actual stakes, we needed to reestablish with the viewers that this was actual. So we dropped everybody into the crime scene, possibly probably the most well-known crime scene ever in cinema and literature, of the long-lasting hat within the puddle. We see the total panorama of Oz. It’s this dwelling, respiratory place with actual cultures, so we instantly set up this isn’t a dream world. Seeing these 4 characters additionally triggers one thing in your thoughts; you join these characters with this place. And we are going to revisit these characters in film two.

Will Dorothy be a personality in “Half Two”?

Within the present, Dorothy is round. They should intersect, and you’ll solely tease it a lot. I gained’t say whether or not she’s a personality, essentially, in film two. There’s part of me that wishes everybody’s Dorothy to be the no matter Dorothy they need. And but, there may be interplay and a few crossover. So I’ll depart that as much as “Half Two.”

Is it true that MGM has the copyright to the Yellow Brick Street and the ruby slippers? Did you want permission to reference them?

We had boundaries of what we might reference or not. We by no means use the ruby slippers. Nessa has on crystal slippers as within the Frank L. Baum e-book, Gregory Maguire e-book and the present. I don’t suppose the phrase “yellow brick highway” is copywritten, however positively the form of the highway is. We couldn’t do the spiral. We needed to do a circle that continues to point out it’s not the place the highway ends.

How did you determine the place so as to add new characters and develop the plot?

We moved backward from “Defying Gravity.” What’s Elphaba’s superpower? Her superpower is her relationship with nature and gravity. OK, so then it’s worthwhile to know extra about her rising up. We added a scene the place she’s younger. Is it as a result of she’s inexperienced or she has this energy that everybody’s afraid of her? It’s a bit muddy within the present. It needs to be due to her energy and her inexperienced. So then we needed to present the ability. So when she’s born, all the pieces flies up. She expresses her frustrations and nervousness by this relationship with gravity. When she’s a child and she or he’s bullied, she doesn’t know easy methods to management it but.

We additionally see that Glinda says “I do know that was you down there” to Elphaba [about her powers] regardless that everybody believed Madame Morrible. It reveals Glinda is definitely sensible and conscious. She’s not this ditzy character. These issues have been essential to construct characters. You even have to point out passage of time, which is tough to do within the present and took area to do.

When first-look photos of the movie have been launched, folks on social media have been vocal about these photographs being darkish.

Sure. Inform them to show up their brightness on their telephone!

I used to be inquisitive about your response, understanding the film is brilliant and colourful and never essentially reflective of these footage.

I selected these photos particularly. It was so early, and we had simply began capturing. I wished photos that have been evocative and provocative to point out it’s not some brilliant, poppy story. We didn’t even have the consequences completed. The background was blue. I needed to have VFX put within the sky. I used to be coloring it on my iPhone. We’re not doing this by an actual course of. I really like taking part in within the shadows, however I did have my iPhone brightness very excessive. After I launched the photographs, actually from my iPhone, I noticed, “Oh, everyone actually doesn’t flip up their brightness that top.” I felt dangerous as a result of I did that. There was no going by the studio.

How did you determine easy methods to stage and decelerate components of “Defying Gravity”?

The nightmare of my life has been eager about “Defying Gravity.” Within the present, it’s very quick. She walks [away from] Wizard and goes into “I hope you’re joyful.” It goes so quick that it doesn’t really feel like the tip of the film and it doesn’t really feel earned. Her complete journey results in this. Doing it stay was useful. I didn’t understand how lengthy it might be till they acted these traces. We will’t add extra phrases to “Defying Gravity.” So, what if when she thinks she’s able to fly, she’s not, and she or he falls? That modified issues for us.

It was very scary. The entire time I used to be like, “OK, we’ll take a look at this and see how offended individuals are by this.” We positively crunched it in to not unfold it out so a lot. My very own mind was like, “I simply need to ensure that the quick model isn’t really working now.” We did these variations too, and we’re like, “No, we really need all of this. That is a lot greater than only a music. That is in regards to the ending of a film and journey of a personality that we’ve invested in it a lot.”

[Producer] Marc Platt was like, “Wow, you’re actually breaking the music up….” We had these moments. We kicked the tires up on a regular basis. There was not one stone unturned, not one factor that we didn’t query, as a result of we knew how essential this was. That’s why it saved me up at night time.

Is there a quantity you felt benefitted going from stage to display?

“One thing Unhealthy” is tough to do on stage. It’s within the classroom, and Dr. Dillamond has nothing to do. So this concept that they have been having a secret assembly with all these animals, and the animals weren’t upright, creepy human animals, however really animals, assist us empathize with them extra. There’s a neighborhood that’s being affected by this, and so they’ve been retaining a secret file of all these incidents which are taking place. There’s a darker underbelly to Oz.

Advertising and marketing for “Depraved” has been subsequent stage. How will you maintain the momentum for “Half Two” in November 2025?

I don’t know, however “Half Two,” I’ll say as a result of I’ve reduce “Half Two” collectively, is a doozy. You getting the meat. I didn’t know the context of the place we’d be in society proper now. It turns into eight instances extra related than earlier than once you’re speaking about fact and penalties of constructing the appropriate or incorrect selections. It’s intense.