In the past two weeks, director Jon M. Chu has watched Wicked: For Good an estimated 12 times to check on how it appeared in different formats.
But on Oct. 27, Chu saw the film with an audience for the first time at a screening for the Broadway and touring stage casts of Wicked, with Ariana Grande in attendance.
“It was electric in that room because I was with Ari. And you know all the Galindas and Elphabas are so supportive. They know every line. They know every joke. They’re judging us on what we keep in or keep out. It couldn’t have gone better,” Chu told The Hollywood Reporter at a private dinner in Brooklyn Tuesday. “After every number they would turn to Ari and applaud to her.”
Attendees at the dinner, hosted by Gold House and OpenTable at Win Son, included actors Darren Criss, Stephanie Hsu, Ronny Chieng and Conrad Ricamora, singer Laufey and her sister, Junia Lin Jonsdottir and Top Chef’s Melissa King. Chu’s parents were also in attendance, taking a night off from Chef Chu’s, their own renowned restaurant in Silicon Valley. Chu has been a champion of Gold House, which invests in and promotes Asian Pacific endeavors and presented him an award earlier this year.
While there is still the Nov. 17 premiere, as well as the coming reviews of the film, Chu said he felt that a sense of release in finally getting to share the movie with an audience, after holding on to it for the past five years. Chu said he has “a lot of confidence” in the film, adding that he was more nervous about reviews for the first film, which was released in Nov. 2024.
“I think the first movie had way more pressure on it because if that doesn’t work, movie two doesn’t work. And I had to test my instincts about what that movie could be. Could we actually split the movie into two? If movie one doesn’t feel like a complete movie, you’re done. You’re toast. So I think that was actually the bigger pressure,” Chu said. “The second movie was: Can we build this out and make it something that it’s not just a fairytale, but it’s about being as relevant as we could about what we really wanted to say in this movie when you look back at the fairytale?”
He notes that the second movie does stay fairly close to the plot of the Broadway musical (“We just wanted to go deeper,” Chu said), but that the hope is that the movie speaks to what’s happening in the U.S. now, particularly around the themes of standing up to power.
“In a way, it’s about who are we when we know the truth? Who do you become when the stories you’re told, the promises you’re given shatter in front of you? Who are you when you make a choice and you realize that choice has consequences and they’re hard consequences?,” Chu posited. “What happens when you look at your home and it’s no longer the home that you thought it was? And that your home isn’t actually even built for you. At what point do you still believe in the ideas that were given to you? And can those things coexist? I think for all of us, that’s the time we’re in.”
“We’re both wicked and good all at the same time. None of us are perfect and yet we have to see each other in order to grow into the vision that we believe we can be,” Chu added. “It’s not just for the people who can stand up for what they believe in, but it’s for the people who still live in their bubble, who are too scared to pop their bubble because they don’t have to.”
Chu made the rounds to all tables throughout the evening, chatting about Wicked and his parents’ restaurant, which has welcomed a number of celebrities and Silicon Valley elite over the years. At one point, he stopped to take a photo of golden sesame gelato milk bun dessert on the table, and in doing so, received a cinematography tip from a food influence in attendance: Hold the phone upside down and at a high angle. He followed the tip and nodded approvingly.
