Wicked: For Good director Jon M Chu defends new name for sequel
Jon M. Chu has opened up on the name choice for 'Wicked: For Good' rather than simply calling it 'Part Two'.
Jon M. Chu has insisted 'Wicked: For Good' was "always" the right name for his sequel.
The 45-year-old director has opened about his decision to give 'Wicked: Part Two' a different name, which directly references the Broadway musical's penultimate song.
Speaking to Variety at the National Board of Review Awards this week, he said: "Who wants a movie called ‘Wicked: Part Two’?
“On the script, it always said, ‘For Good,’ and so it was just a point of like, ‘Do we really want to call this “Part Two”?’
"And nobody wants that.”
Chu - who has also helmed the likes of 'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'In The Heights' - insisted no other film titles were considered for the follow-up, which is coming to the big screen later this year.
He added: "I mean, that’s the destination. ‘For Good,’ we know, is like, ‘Where are we going with this movie? Let’s finish this thing.' "
In the song, Elphaba and Glinda - played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the film adaptation - sing about their relationship together and how it's affected their own lives.
As well as Chu winning best director, the National Board of Review Awards saw Ryan Reynolds present the movie and its cast with the best film prize.
On stage, Erivo and Grande - who were given the spotlight award - discussed their collaboration and what makes them tick as a partnership.
Grande said: "True collaboration is honest, egoless and it leads with acceptance.
"It’s building and earning deep trust and nourishing that every step of the way with honesty and care.
"t’s leaving room for the feelings and questions and ideas of one another without the want to be right, but with curiosity and respect."
Erivo added that it's important to know "how to navigate when one of us needs a hand held and the other needs space and quiet".
She continued: “It’s knowing innately that your scene partner needs your encouragement the first time she does a stunt.
"It’s the singular ‘I love you’ text or the random ‘I’m proud of you’ voice note.”
Grande quipped: "It is being so good at acting that no one ever finds out how much we actually f****** loathe each other."
'Wicked: For Good' will pick up after Elphaba rejects the Wizard of Oz's pleas and sings the iconic number 'Defying Gravity', which Erivo, 37, said was a "huge responsibility".
Speaking to 'Maria' star Angelina Jolie for Variety's Actors on Actors series, Erivo said: "There was this huge responsibility, because it's such a well-known song. And people know it; people love it. I really wanted to mean it.
"The physical work of it was hard, because I'm in a harness: I'm flying and I'm singing at the same time – so many things are happening. That was new for me, to figure out how my body, my brain, my voice, would all come together to work as one. I felt really proud of being able to figure that physical, practical side of it."
