A feature film adaptation of beloved musical Wicked has been in development since 2004, with names including J.J. Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy, Rob Marshall and Stephen Daldry all being named as potential directorial candidates, but the project never managed to escape from development hell until very recently.
Seventeen years after the initial announcement, though, Jon M. Chu was hired to helm Wicked, and it’s finally gearing up to head into production. The filmmaker has accomplished more in nine months than anybody else managed in close to two decades, with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo announced as Glinda and Elphaba.
Cameras are poised to start rolling next summer in the United Kingdom, but fans have moved swiftly to make it clear that they won’t stand for one theoretical addition to the ensemble. A petition was launched on Change.org just three days ago, but close to 30,000 people have already lent their support to keeping James Corden as far away from Wicked as possible.
The television personality and occasional actor has made appearances in genre bedfellows Cats, The Prom and Cinderella, only to be savaged by the internet at every turn. A cursory glance at social media makes it abundantly clear that Corden isn’t very popular among the online community, so we can expect the Wicked petition to keep racking up signatures.
Published: Nov 8, 2021 05:44 am