'Wicked' producer Marc Platt didn't want to make two movies.
Director Jon M. Chu's first film in his adaptation of the Broadway show was released late last year, with the story set to end in this November's 'Wicked: For Good', but the musical's producer has revealed he originally pushed for the project to be one lengthy picture, divided by an interval.
During the annual Producers Guild of America Nominees Breakfast on Saturday, the Hollywood Reporter reports Marc - who produced 'Wicked' on Broadway - said: “I remember going to the movies as a kid and watching musicals or 'Lawrence of Arabia' that had intermissions in it, and that was actually my dream for 'Wicked', that we could do it with intermission. That was one battle I lost.”
He admitted he and the project's creative team couldn't find anything they wamted to omit from the stage show and there were also various elements of the characters they wanted to explore in more depth.
He said: “When we did the stage musical, we did cut out a lot of things that we wanted to elaborate upon. What was Elphaba like as a child? What did she think of the Wizard? What was her heart’s desire? Those kinds of things.”
The producer also offered some hints as to what will happen in 'Wicked: For Good' and explained there will be particular focus on Ariana Grande's Glinda as she “learns what it really means to be good.”
Marc compared Glinda's journey to late politician Robert F. Kennedy's choices in the wake of the killing of his brother, John F. Kennedy.
He said: “[At first,] he was not a leader for the right reasons. Then, his brother was assassinated, and he went through a real catharsis. He really went to the bottom, and he came out the other side.”
The breakfast at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills reunited Marc with his fellow 'La La Land' producer Fred Berger - who was there for his work on 'A Complete Unknown' - and they joked about the infamous moment when the movie was mistakenly announces as the Best Picture Oscar winner before 'Moonlight' was confirmed as the actual winner.
Marc quipped: “We actually won an Oscar for a minute and 30 seconds."
