‘Crazy Rich Asians’ helmer, Jon M. Chu has taken over the directors chair to follow the yellow brick road for Universal’s big-screen adaptation of the musical ‘Wicked’.
Chu takes over from Stephen Daldry who had to leave the project last October due to scheduling conflicts.
‘Wicked is a prequel story to the Wizard of Oz and tells the story of everything that happened before Dorothy dropped down in Oz, mainly that of Elphaba (the eventual Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch).
Sharing his delight on social media, Chu said “Most of my life I have felt out of place, weird and different. I hid behind my camera because people liked to be filmed and I could disappear.”
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“But when I saw Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s ‘Wicked’ over 15 years ago as it was being workshopped in San Francisco I couldn’t unsee it,” he continued “So to think that I have been invited to bring this timeless story to the biggest screens all around the world for people to experience with their family, best friends and total strangers… of all walks of life, ages, shapes and colours is like I’ve been invited to Oz by the Wizard himself.”
Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics to the Broadway show, is adapting the screenplay with Winnie Holzman. Marc Platt, a producer on the musical, is also producing the film.
