{"id":306504,"date":"2025-11-22T05:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/306504\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T05:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:13:05","slug":"jon-m-chu-breaks-down-cynthia-erivo-and-ariana-grandes-for-good-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/306504\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon M. Chu Breaks Down Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s For Good Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis story contains major spoilers for \u201cWicked: For Good<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJon M. Chu<\/a> isn\u2019t shy about it \u2014 the second half of his two-film adaptation is the one where he tears down walls. Literally.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the film\u2019s most talked-about sequences \u2014 the split-door staging of \u201cFor Good\u201d \u2014 wasn\u2019t scripted and almost didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

\n\tChu says he found the emotional shape of the moment months before cameras rolled. During an early rehearsal, Cynthia Erivo<\/a> and Ariana Grande<\/a> began improvising a goodbye \u2014 speaking, not singing \u2014 with their arms wrapped around each other in a corner of the room. When they placed their hands against an imaginary door, Chu says he \u201cstarted to weep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was in rehearsals that we found it,\u201d Chu reveals. \u201cCynthia grabs her and says, \u2018Come here.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, where are they going? And they go to this corner, and she puts her in a box or a closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat rehearsal changed everything. The director admitted he forgot to call cut as the two stars continued riffing on their characters\u2019 farewell. The moment\u2019s authenticity convinced Chu to demolish a wall to capture it on film.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time production reached the number, Chu insisted the physical set had to match the emotional truth. \u201cWe had to knock down that wall,\u201d he says. \u201cThey told me, \u2018If you knock down that wall, you can\u2019t use the set anymore.\u2019 But I didn\u2019t care. It was the moment. Knock down the effing wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe resulting split-frame sequence, with Erivo and Grande pressed against opposite sides of a now-destroyed barrier, quickly became the emotional centerpiece of the film \u2014 and, Chu says, his personal favorite moment across both installments.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt also led directly to the title. \u201cThat\u2019s when I knew the second movie had to be called \u2018For Good.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scene also required bending one of the film\u2019s established linguistic guidelines. According to Chu, Oz has language rules \u2014 ones that Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the original stage score, had long held as canon.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCynthia Erivo is Elphaba and Ariana Grande is Glinda in \u201cWicked for Good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversal Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re not allowed to say \u2018I love you\u2019 in Oz,\u201d Chu says. \u201cNo God, no okay, no I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when Erivo told Grande, \u201cI love you\u201d on set, Chu fought to keep the line. \u201cIt was so human,\u201d he says. \u201cIt crossed over a boundary of Oz into our world.\u201d Schwartz eventually agreed.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf \u201cWicked\u201d is the lighter, comedic rise, \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d Chu says, is a descent \u2014 a darker, more political tragedy.<\/p>\n

\n\tChu details the transformation of Boq into the Tin Man, played exquisitely by Ethan Slater, which he describes as \u201cthe birth of a monster\u201d that goes beyond the physical metamorphosis. \u201cBoq is someone who\u2019s ignored. Someone who wants acknowledgement that he exists,\u201d Chu says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen he\u2019s making his speech in front of that crowd on the steps of the capital of Oz, and there\u2019s fire, and he\u2019s telling his grievances. He changes in that moment even more than he changed when he turned into the tin man,\u201d Chu explains.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d Boq stands on the steps of the Capitol, flames behind him, railing against everything he\u2019s lost. Slater suggested one of the transformation\u2019s defining beats: Boq looking at Glinda, realizing he no longer needs her, then turning back to the roaring crowd that validates his growing rage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat is the full transformation,\u201d Chu asserts. \u201cThat\u2019s when he really loses his heart. Not when his body turns to tin \u2014 but when he finds community in hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLongtime fans of the stage musical have spent two decades debating whether Glinda knows Elphaba is alive at the end of the story. Chu says the film has an answer, but he doesn\u2019t want to confirm it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI definitely have a definitive idea in my head,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I prefer everyone to be able to interpret it how they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChu emphasizes that the power of the ending lies in both women stepping into the unknown \u2014 Glinda choosing to try to be Glinda the Good, and Elphaba stepping into a new life beyond the shadows of Oz.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was never a buttoned-up fairy tale,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was born of raw human nature, and something beautiful emerges from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChu is aware that the political imagery \u2014 misinformation, fracturing communities, a populace choosing \u201ctruths\u201d based on collective belief rather than fact \u2014 is resonating more sharply today.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he insists it wasn\u2019t intentional commentary.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe line \u2018the truth is not a thing of fact or reason, it\u2019s just what we all agree on\u2019 was written 20 years ago,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the power of a timeless story. It always feels timely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, he acknowledges that the world seems to keep catching up to the movie\u2019s themes. \u201cEvery week it gets more relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWicked: For Good\u201d is now playing in theaters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story contains major spoilers for \u201cWicked: For Good.\u201d Jon M. Chu isn\u2019t shy about it \u2014 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12875,106479,88,122984,14787],"class_list":{"0":"post-306504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ariana-grande","9":"tag-cynthia-erivo","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jon-m-chu","12":"tag-wicked-for-good"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}