{"id":168351,"date":"2025-12-04T20:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168351\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T20:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:30:08","slug":"jon-m-chu-says-ai-couldnt-have-made-one-of-wickeds-best-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168351\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon M. Chu Says AI Couldn\u2019t Have Made One of Wicked\u2019s Best Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s anyone who understands the importance of viral marketing, it\u2019s Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At WIRED\u2019s Big Interview event in San Francisco, the onetime YouTuber and Crazy Rich Asians<\/a> director said that working with acts like Justin Bieber taught him the value of connecting with fans online during the creation process. While directing Bieber\u2019s concert film, Never Say Never, in the late aughts, Chu said the then-14-year-old star used Twitter to introduce him to fans. After Bieber posted a clip joking that the director was following him around on set, Chu told WIRED\u2019s senior editor of culture, Manisha Krishnan, that he began to watch his online followers grow by tens of thousands of people almost instantly, something that really drove home the power of direct connection with a fanbase.<\/p>\n

Working with Bieber, Chu said, made him realize that \u201cthe story is being told before you even start shooting, and after you\u2019re done with the movie, you have to continue that story.\u201d That\u2019s why he believes fans have felt so invested in Wicked\u2014and its sequel, Wicked: For Good\u2014and why the movie\u2019s marketing and press tours have leaned so heavily on the relationships built by the cast while filming.<\/p>\n

Bonds, like the one between stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, came from the immense pressure the crew felt to make something not only great, but also bankable. \u201cWe only had each other so we\u2019re very, very bonded,\u201d Chu said, likening the relationship to that of Silicon Valley developers working long hours together to deliver a new product.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Photograph: Annie Noelker<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photograph: Annie Noelker<\/p>\n

A Bay Area native, Chu said he\u2019s always felt partially indebted to the tech world for his start in entertainment. In the \u201890s, when Chu was just a teenager, tech-minded customers at his parents\u2019 Chinese restaurant would slip him computers, video cards, and software when they heard he was interested in filmmaking, giving him a leg up on fellow students when he went to college at the University of Southern California. \u201cI was built by the generosity of this place, and I feel a great responsibility when I\u2019m back,\u201d Chu said.<\/p>\n

The director also said that because of his longtime relationship with technology, he\u2019s somewhat open-minded when it comes to the interplay between AI and filmmaking<\/a>. The director is \u201cfascinated\u201d by AI\u2019s potential for information gathering and organization, and has put work into learning how to use AI in his own process because he wants to understand its potential.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Chu said, when making Wicked, he felt there was value in having practical sets and being able to improvise, rather than having to write every bit of dialogue, camera motion, or characterization in advance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there\u2019s anyone who understands the importance of viral marketing, it\u2019s Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[343,1503,146,85,46,397,100084],"class_list":{"0":"post-168351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-the-big-interview-event"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}