Fans didn’t have many complaints about the film adaptation of “Wicked,” as evidenced by its strong opening weekend box office and currently 97% fresh audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but one at least some did was regarding the color grading of the magical land of Oz. But, according to director Jon M. Chu, the look and feel of the film was very intentional.
Known for its stunning technicolor in “The Wizard of Oz,” the Emerald City was a point of contention on social media in the film’s opening weekend, with some fans even editing the color themselves, proclaiming it better. It was even dubbed “desaturated” by one interviewer during the “Wicked” press run, which Chu explained.
“I mean, there’s color all over it. I think what we wanted to do was immerse people into Oz, to make it a real place,” Chu told The Globe and Mail. “Because if it was a fake place, if it was a dream in someone’s mind, then the real relationships and the stakes that these two girls are going through wouldn’t feel real.”
Indeed, in “The Wizard of Oz,” Oz itself wasn’t a real place, but a vivid dream of Dorothy’s (Judy Garland). Obviously, that changes in “Wicked,” and Chu notes that bringing it to actual life meant infusing, well, life.
“It’s also [presented in] a way we have not experienced Oz before. It’s been a matte painting. It’s been a video game digital world,” he continued. “But for us, I want to feel the dirt. I want to feel the wear and tear of it. And that means it’s not plastic.”
The director added that natural light from the sun is the “main source” of light in this Oz, because Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship with the literal land of Oz is key, but teased that “the [colour] contrast goes up over time because that is what Elphaba brings to this world.”
So, it’s entirely possible that “Wicked: Part Two” may look different.
“Wicked” is now in theaters everywhere.
