How The Wicked Cast & Crew Survived The "Mind F--k" Of Filming 2 Movies At Once

How The Wicked Cast & Crew Survived The "Mind F--k" Of Filming 2 Movies At Once By  Abigail Stevens Published 14 minutes ago Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Wicked and Wicked: For Good were filmed simultaneously, and the cast and crew have shared some of their strategies for keeping the story and arcs straight when they were jumping between scenes and settings each day. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the two movies are a joint adaptation of the Broadway musical, which itself has a shorter runtime than the first movie.

There was plenty of debate surrounding the Wicked production about whether splitting it into two parts was the right move, which has also been discussed again by critics in the wake of Wicked: For Good's weaker reviews. However, Chu and screenwriters Winnie Holzman (who also wrote the script for the Broadway show) again defended the choice in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"We began to realize that we could give a lot more detail and nuance and intimacy to what Glinda was going through, and that everything we would add to Glinda would enhance Elphaba's arc and journey as well," says Holzman. The two movies, however, were one huge production, which could be confusing to the actors having to embody different points in their characters' arcs.

The filmmakers were also challenged with keeping the story and its evolving tone straight. "It was a mind f--k, as they say," says Chu. Chu created a "war room" for Wicked with numerous drawings and models to keep track of everything. They also had specific color choices and intended themes to "anchor" each scene, which is visible in the completed movies.

"Some of the intentions for the first movie were desire and choice and yearning and longing and dreams, and the second movie was sacrifice and surrender and consequence," says cinematographer Alice Brooks. Wicked is a much brighter movie, as Elphaba and Glinda consider what they want out of life while at school, while Wicked: For Good shows them navigating the truth of their dreams.

Glinda and Elphaba smiling in the mirror in Wicked

Grande and Erivo both had "giant, annotated [scripts]" to aid them in performing their storylines cohesively, while Erivo also adopted the clever strategy of having different perfumes for where Elphaba was at in her arc. This, in particular, seems like a good way to leverage a sensory trigger to take Elphaba from curious student to powerful witch, beyond relying on written notes.

Despite Wicked: For Good's Rotten Tomatoes score seeing a significant drop from the first movie's debut, nearly everyone agrees that Erivo and Grande still give powerhouse performances, signaling that they nailed the progression of Elphaba and Glinda's lives. Wicked: For Good is also a visual feast like its predecessor, but with its own distinctive tone, illustrating the results of this meticulous planning.

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  Like Follow Followed Wicked PG Adventure Fantasy Musical 9/10 492 8.6/10 Release Date November 22, 2024 Runtime 160 Minutes

  Cast

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  • Cynthia Erivo Elphaba Thropp
  • Ariana Grande Glinda Upland
  Director Jon M. Chu Writers Gregory Maguire, Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, L. Frank Baum Genres Adventure, Fantasy, Musical Studio(s) Marc Platt Productions Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Powered by Expand Collapse
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  Like Follow Followed Wicked: For Good PG Drama Fantasy Romance 8/10 9.3/10 Release Date November 21, 2025 Runtime 137 Minutes

  Cast

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  • Cynthia Erivo Elphaba
  • Ariana Grande Glinda

  Wicked: For Good concludes the two-part film adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway musical.

  Director Jon M. Chu Writers Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire Genres Drama, Fantasy, Romance Studio(s) Marc Platt Productions, Universal Pictures Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Powered by Expand Collapse

• Movies
• Wicked: For Good
• Wicked

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