Wicked director explains why popular scene was deleted from final film
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‘We kept a little ahead of the audience,’ Chu said. Wicked director Jon M Chu has explained why he deleted a poignant scene between the movie’s lead characters, Elphaba and Glinda. The musical follows Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, two friends whose relationship reaches a crossroads as they are treated differently by the people around them.
Adapted from the Broadway stage sensation – itself based on a 1995 novel – the film is a prequel to L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland. The actors drew some mockery over their teary interviews during promotion for the film, but Wicked nevertheless broke box-office records upon its debut in cinemas.
Following the movie’s digital release, fans were treated to deleted scenes, including one exchange between Elphaba and Glinda, which shows the Good Witch in a rare and vulnerable light. After Elphaba sends her classmates to sleep with a spell, she joins Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) to escape with a caged lion cub.
“I would’ve helped you if you needed someone,” Glinda says in the scene. “You could’ve picked me.”. Elphaba responds: “I’m sorry, it was a mistake. I won’t leave you behind again.”. Chu said the decision to cut the footage was not made lightly, adding it “was one the hardest scenes to cut” from the movie because “it’s of the relationship and you really get to see Glinda’s side of things”.
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