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Credit: Universal Pictures
Wicked transported audiences into another world with its spellbinding performances, emotionally impactful music and a fresh twist to the Land of Oz. But not everything about the magical world was CGI. There was actually a man who played Elphaba’s broom, and I can’t get over the cast of Wicked making sure to send love to “a true legend.”
Here I assumed that the broom in Wicked either flew with CGI or had a wire pulling it up. In reality, Jon M. Chu’s movie’s Instagram revealed “a true legend” behind the flying broomstick, and I never would have guessed:
A man in a blue spandex suit turned invisible was carrying Elphaba’s broom?! Imagine that for a dream role. You have admit that it’s more realistic-looking for a broom to be carried up compared to CGI or a wire having it “defy gravity.”
There’s nothing like the brilliant use of practical effects to remind audiences of other ways to create movie magic. Jon M. Chu made sure to share his love in his IG Story by giving us some insight into the man behind the broomstick’s movements:
Credit: Jon M. Chu
Nice to meet you, Charlie. Although I do feel bad that the poor man couldn’t breathe under that costume. I feel claustrophobic just looking at the suit. But that’s all the more reason why you need to give Charlie his props. Stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sure did in their director’s post comments:
Ariana Grande: Charlie 🥹!
It’s nice to see Charlie getting a lot of love for risking oxygen while in his spandex suit. This hero may not be wearing a cape, but he created magic on set by assisting Elphaba with her flight.
One of the many reasons why Wicked was worthy of its award nominations was by not relying fully on green screen to create the magical world of Oz. There was so much built for the fantasy-musical flick, like growing 9 million tulips, a 16-ton train and the remarkable sets of Munchkin Land, Shiz University and the Emerald City.
Plus, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba green was also done without CGI. The British actress and her team came up with a custom shade of green makeup that wouldn’t look too much like face paint in close-ups. The whole process took two hours to put on and one hour to take off. Now that’s dedication. Elphaba’s makeup looked amazing and so natural that it could almost pass as a real skin tone. Just like the man behind Elphaba’s broomstick, the magic of Wicked lies in the details we don’t always see.
While Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande deserve applause for their work in Wicked, I can’t get over their praise for Charlie, the broomstick handler. For being willing to walk around in a spandex suit that you can hardly breathe in to make a broom fly, he’s earned every bit of recognition as the “unsung hero.”
See that broomstick defy gravity all over again with Part One on your Peacock subscription. You also need to see how the musical story ends with the 2025 movie release of Wicked: For Good, coming to theaters on November 21st.
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