Jon M. Chu delighted London Film Festival attendees on Friday with a sneak peek at the upcoming Villain: for goodand also revealed what awaits him in his next musical adaptation on screen.
The filmmaker pleaded with audiences at BFI Southbank not to record or photograph the short clip ahead of the long-awaited sequel to Wicked hits theaters on November 21. He spoke at length about filming the saga, detailing the BTS of a 10-time Oscar-nominated film and very lightly touching on what’s next for Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda in the second installment.
The American director gave a nod to the infamous press release of the first film – when Erivo and Grande, so scarred by the process and their characters, were often brought to tears during interviews – during his speech to festival-goers in London. It turns out, Chu thinks, that the same intensity awaits us.
“Everyone’s like, ‘The girls were so emotional – why are they so emotional?’ “, he began. “It’s because we lived through both films. We experienced their meeting, their separation, their death. We experienced it all before you even see a single frame of it… When you come together and see this film, we already know how you’re going to feel. I’m excited that everyone is here and finally sharing it and you will see that these girls are incredible,” he added.
“Wait until you see Tin Man and the Scarecrow,” Chu also said. “It’s not digital effects. It’s real, physical makeup and hair. And it’s extraordinary. I couldn’t show it to anyone here, but when you see it, when you look at it, know that there was no margin for error on it. And the team that did it is just incredible.”
Chu discussed the casting process around Erivo and Grande, how he came to split the musical in two, and his own relationship with musical theater before gaining insight into For good concluded the session. Before the end, he was asked if there were any other stories he would enjoy adapting for the stage, just as Lin-Manuel Miranda did with Hamilton.
“I am working on a project that seems to me to be something that is close to my heart, Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat Technicolor“, Chu said. “It’s my favorite show, but it’s hard to redesign right now or [work out] how to do it with tone. But I love it so much, it’s so fun. I think we discovered something really cool.
Chu is set to direct the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1968 musical for Amazon MGM Studios. He will find his In the heights producer Scott Sanders to develop and spin the story, following the account of Joseph in the Old Testament.
The BFI London Film Festival 2025 runs until October 19.
