In advance of Wicked‘s home release, ComingSoon caught up with director Jon M. Chu about the film’s special features that will be on the digital, 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD release. The musical film will be available on digital platforms to purchase or rent beginning on December 31, 2024, while the official 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD release is set for February 4, 2025.
“The film tells the untold story of the witches of Oz: Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power; and Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart,” reads the official synopsis for Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. “The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.”
Tyler Treese: Wicked’s home release is really exciting because it’s already such a rewatchable film. You’ve seen the film more than anybody in the editing process. What do you hope people really take away from these subsequent watches? Because each time I see it, another layer’s peeled back. I love all the animal politics. What do you hope people take away from this?
Jon M. Chu: Well, there is a lot of layers. Every detail, every inch of this has been thought through. We have a lot of texts, actually, to serve, whether it’s the Wizard of Oz, the original, Wicked the movie, or Wicked the book. So, for me, it’s a chance to dive in even further. I’ve loved that audiences have accepted this movie and received it in ways that they’re digging already in, in movie one, going back to the theater over and over again, finding little nuances, little hints of things as breadcrumbs all over the place. So the fact they get, at home video, scenes that were never in the movie or that got cut out of the movie, which breaks my heart as well. But it was always to serve the bigger, grand scheme of what the movie was trying to do, and have a rhythm that could be sustainable. So I’m excited for them to dig in further. If they’re looking for more memes, this is the place to look. If they’re looking for behind-the-scenes stuff, it’s great. They get the sing-along version along with it, and they get commentary of every frame from me or even the two girls. So, there’s a lot more content to come if you’re sick of this. I’m so sorry, because it’s a lot more to come.
I can’t wait to check out the commentary track. I watched all the deleted scenes. I love that we actually got to see the inside of the train with Marvelous. How much did that hurt, the cut? Because, it’s so detailed and beautiful to look at.
I know. The fact is, it didn’t hurt the cut. It hurt my heart because I love those things. These girls were so plugged into these characters that I could put them in any situation, and it was interesting to see how the relationship would unfold. The train specifically was so great because we had them looking out the window and we saw all these different areas of Oz that we’d never get to see in any other part of the movie. But ultimately, that’s the moment of the movie. Like, you just want to move on. The train arrives, and you wanna get them to Emerald City, because we have a lot more to go. We have like, another hour of movie. So it always came to that point, like, let’s not hold back. Let’s get them there, because we have a lot of juicy stuff to come. So again, home video, you get some opportunities to share some of that. But that broke my heart.
Yeah. There’s this great 40 minute making-of featurette. What I really enjoyed about that was getting to see just the detail on all these sets. Like so much of it was practically done. It’s so easy to just think everything is CGI now, and it really shows how much hard work is into it. How much does that really help you and the actors having that real canvas to work out? Because it really adds a lot of heart to the film.
Good. I’m glad you feel that. You know, it doesn’t just help us, it helps VFX, because VFX would tell us, “Build as much as you can. It really helps us. It gives us reference points.” So this isn’t just physical sets, this is both of us working together. I think that’s the actual magic. I have full digital characters and all that stuff. But for the actors of course, and for me, I get to walk into a space…I’m not used to sets anyway, because, In The Heights, we’re there in Washington Heights shooting and I’m looking at, hey, that ladder inspires this, that random chair inspires this, the architecture. So I needed physical space to be able to play and work with to make it more unique. And so that’s what we did in Oz with Nathan Crowley, our production designer. You got to build those things. So when the actors came in, they’re like, “Oh, where would Glinda sit? She would sit, oh, right here. Oh, where would Elphaba stand? Right here? You know what? She needs something here. Okay.” And then we would work on a scene. I’d be like, “Where are we?” And they’re like, “We wanna sit on the ground for this scene, Jon.” We’re like, “Okay, let’s try it.” And it doesn’t feel like we’re constructing it. It feels very natural of how these real characters would actually act.
Yeah, there’s a real truth that comes out in this film and that aspect of the leads actually singing live. Does that create an electricity on set to have that? How does that add and aid, just the excitement throughout the film?
Yeah. I mean, not only does it add electricity to every scene because anything can happen if the actors can go anywhere with it, then all the bets are off. Then our camera has to stay with them. Or if our camera can go in, we wanna try a shot. And the actors are feeling that we can really riff with each other. It sort of breaks out this idea that you can think of these things alone, that it makes it something that we all have to contribute in our own little way. And it turns into something neither of us could have done alone. And to me, that’s the magic of movies. It’s one of the very few mediums where it involves many artists and many storytellers to work together. And when it’s done right, you do something that’s elevated and transcendent, actually . You should have been on set when they would sing live. I mean, you have a pianist in the corner, you can’t hear the pianist, because it’s all in their in ears. So we’re standing there in silence. I have my headphones, I can hear, but when their voice is echo in that room, it is magical. It is. When you say electric, it absolutely, 100% is. And the camera, I know, picks it up. So we try to sweep up every, we call them butterflies, every butterfly moment to sweep them up into bottles. So Myron Kerstein, our editor, could really work with that. So it was just a process, and we trusted the process, and I think the audiences, no matter how big the movie is, it’s feeling those little, little bits, and I think that’s what makes the magic.
