In the past two weeks, director Jon M. Chu has watched Wicked: For Good an estimated 12 times to check on how it appeared in different formats.<\/p>\n
But on Oct. 27, Chu saw the film with an audience for the first time at a screening for the Broadway and touring stage casts of Wicked, with Ariana Grande in attendance.<\/p>\n
More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt was electric in that room because I was with Ari. And you know all the Galindas and Elphabas are so supportive. They know every line. They know every joke. They\u2019re judging us on what we keep in or keep out. It couldn\u2019t have gone better,\u201d Chu told The Hollywood Reporter at a private dinner in Brooklyn Tuesday. \u201cAfter every number they would turn to Ari and applaud to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Attendees at the dinner, hosted by Gold House and OpenTable at Win Son, included actors Darren Criss, Stephanie Hsu, Ronny Chieng and Conrad Ricamora, singer Laufey and her sister, Junia Lin Jonsdottir, and Top Chef\u2019s Melissa King. Chu\u2019s parents were also in attendance, taking a night off from Chef Chu\u2019s, their own renowned restaurant in Silicon Valley.\u00a0Chu has been a champion of Gold House, which invests in and promotes Asian Pacific endeavors and presented him an award<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n While there is still the Nov. 17 premiere, as well as the coming reviews of the film, Chu said he felt that a sense of release in finally getting to share the movie with an audience, after holding on to it for the past five years. Chu said he has \u201ca lot of confidence\u201d in the film, adding that he was more nervous about reviews for the first film, which was released in November 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the first movie had way more pressure on it because if that doesn\u2019t work, movie two doesn\u2019t work. And I had to test my instincts about what that movie could be. Could we actually split the movie into two? If movie one doesn\u2019t feel like a complete movie, you\u2019re done. You\u2019re toast. So I think that was actually the bigger pressure,\u201d Chu said. \u201cThe second movie was: Can we build this out and make it something that it\u2019s not just a fairy tale, but it\u2019s about being as relevant as we could about what we really wanted to say in this movie when you look back at the fairy tale?\u201d<\/p>\n He notes that the second movie does stay fairly close to the plot of the Broadway musical (\u201cWe just wanted to go deeper,\u201d Chu said), but the hope is that the movie speaks to what\u2019s happening in the U.S. now, particularly around the themes of standing up to power.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a way, it\u2019s about who are we when we know the truth? Who do you become when the stories you\u2019re told, the promises you\u2019re given, shatter in front of you? Who are you when you make a choice and you realize that choice has consequences and they\u2019re hard consequences?\u201d Chu posited. \u201cWhat happens when you look at your home and it\u2019s no longer the home that you thought it was? And that your home isn\u2019t actually even built for you. At what point do you still believe in the ideas that were given to you? And can those things coexist? I think for all of us, that\u2019s the time we\u2019re in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re both wicked and good all at the same time. None of us are perfect and yet we have to see each other in order to grow into the vision that we believe we can be,\u201d Chu added. \u201cIt\u2019s not just for the people who can stand up for what they believe in, but it\u2019s for the people who still live in their bubble, who are too scared to pop their bubble because they don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n Chu made the rounds to all tables throughout the evening, chatting about Wicked and his parents\u2019 restaurant, which has welcomed a number of celebrities and Silicon Valley elite over the years. At one point, he stopped to take a photo of the golden sesame gelato milk bun dessert on the table, and in doing so, received a cinematography tip from a food influencer in attendance: Hold the phone upside down and at a high angle. He followed the tip and nodded approvingly.<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past two weeks, director Jon M. Chu has watched Wicked: For Good an estimated 12 times to check on how it appeared in different formats. 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