Wicked Director Confirms Jeff Goldblum Casting

By Jamie Jirak

More Wicked news came pouring in today as it was announced the upcoming musical movie has added Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Aaron Teoh as Avaric, and Colin Michael Carmichael as Professor Nikidik. The newest additions are joining Ariana Grande as Glinda, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. Previously, it was reported that Jeff Goldblum was in talks to play the Wizard, and director Jon M. Chu took to Twitter today to confirm Goldblum's casting is finally official.

"Lost my phone...so I couldn't keep up today with the announcements, especially while we were shooting day 3 here in London. Just know things are going great. The #WickedMovie is really happening and I have 3 days of footage of prove it :) oh also JEFF GOLDBLUM IS THE WIZARD!!!!" Chu tweeted today. In the comments, Chu also teased that the casting of Doctor Dillamond will also be coming soon. You can check out the post below:

When Is Wicked Coming Out?

Musical fans will be treated to the long-awaited Wicked film in 2024, but it will only be the first half of the story. Earlier this year, Chu announced that the movie would be released in two parts. 

"Here's what happened: As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it," Chu wrote in a statement. "As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one 'Wicked' movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of 'Wicked' as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters."

What is Wicked About?

Wicked was based on Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the show was composed by Stephen Schwartz with a book by Winnie Holzman. The story follows witches and unlikely friends, Glinda and Elphaba, as they attend school before the events of The Wizard of Oz. There are many iconic songs in the musical, but the most famous is the first act closer, "Defying Gravity." During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Erivo talked about tackling the famous song.

"I've been listening to it, and I've sung it. I kind of just go with it naturally," Erivo explained while doing press for Disney's Pinocchio. "There's the temptation to push and to do too much with it. I don't know that that's what my method will be. I think my method will be to communicate the meaning of the song as much as I can."

Wicked's first part is expected to be released in December 2024. 

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