When I saw Wicked: Part 1 in theaters I had one big, unexpected takeaway: I suddenly felt the palpable urge to audition for a musical. Now don’t get me wrong, nobody needs to hear me sing, but there's something about the infectious energy of the amazing Wicked cast that feels almost scrappy, as if you’re watching a high school production that just so happens to star some of the greatest actors in the world. Well, as it turns out, that was due to the warmth and personal touch that director Jon M. Chu took when communicating with the cast, and Ethan Slater told me the story behind how Chu established such a positive tone almost immediately.
I recently spoke with the cast and crew of Wicked in celebration of the film’s release. Ethan Slater, who plays Boq in the film, was telling me about his first day on set when this delightful little anecdote came up:
We had 100 dancers working on Dancing Through Life, and Jon [M. Chu] came down… And he gave this beautiful speech that was about, you know, how he fell in love with filming dance and how he fell in love with this kind of storytelling. And he said, ‘I’m not here to chop up your movements and tell my story. I'm here to help you tell your story through dance, and we're all in it together. If you need anything on set, if you need water and nobody is listening to you, come to me.’
Ethan Slater
What a statement to make to 100 dancers! It’s one thing to kick off production with such energy, but it’s a whole other thing to keep that consistent throughout the shooting of two, simultaneously produced films. However, Jon M. Chu managed to do just that, as Slater went on to explain:
That sounds like a platitude that someone might say on the first day of a long project, but Jon held that up through the entire thing. So I think there was a real community, and it felt like the way that you build a community in a cast, on stage or in the theater community, that was there in a really beautiful way.
Ethan Slater
Well that makes perfect sense! As I mentioned previously, something about the environment feels scrappy, almost as if the enormously talented ensemble cast that makes up the students of Shiz are your peers, despite the fact that you’re watching a film with a reported budget of $145 million. As a Broadway veteran, this is what Ethan Slater was referring to when he mentioned “community” in theater, and that certainly comes through on screen.
This isn’t simply something that I alone noticed, as the cast seems to have felt a similar, wide-eyed, theater-kid energy. Slater went on to tell this anecdote about the film’s own Fiyero and lead of the aforementioned Dancing Through Life number, Jonathan Bailey:
I remember one day Johnny Bailey saying, like, ‘It really feels like we're doing a student film and then suddenly it doesn’t.’ But that was really the feeling. It's like it feels like we're doing a student film and then suddenly, like, ‘Look at us now.’
Ethan Slater
Look at you now! After tons of success on Broadway Ethan Slater is starring in one of the biggest blockbusters of the past decade, and one of the biggest movie-musicals of all time. It hasn’t been the easiest road here for Slater, who has had to handle all of the attention surrounding his highly-publicized relationship with Ariana Grande, which resulted in some messy press when it comes to the release of his first major feature film. Despite all of that, it seems that he’s in high spirits regarding the experience overall.
And why shouldn't he be? The film is a hit! It’s already off to a strong start at the box office, with critics praising the performances and our own official review rewarding the film with 5/5 stars. This is sure to be one of the biggest and most talked about new releases in 2024, and you can head to the theater to check it out right now! To get hyped for your screening, make sure to check out our full interviews with the cast and Jon M. Chu. As far as all other news regarding Wicked: Part 1 and Wicked: Part 2, keep it right here at CinemaBlend for the latest.
