Hi, I'm Jon M. Chu and I'm the director of “Wicked.” “And Elfie. Can I call you Elfie? “Well, it's a bit cheerful.” We are at the halfway point of the film. And these two roommates, who are very different from each other, have moved into this semi-small dorm. And they're Glinda and Elphaba, played by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and they just bonded over sharing stories with each other. So this is the beginning of their true friendship, their first date, I should say. This is a very iconic scene. “Popular” is one of those songs that everyone knows from “Wicked.” It's probably the most used in talent shows, and there was a lot of pressure to get it right and find our cinematic path. But of course, it's all about Ariana Grande's performance here to show off and show her power to transform Elphaba into someone who could be popular. “Exactly what they need.” And Ari is just a master of comedy. You can see it in his every move and how he interacts with Cynthia Erivo. When you also listen to it, its rhythms and pauses are simply masterful. Paul Tazewell, our costume designer, designed for her this beautiful new word that I learned, robe, which has now become iconic on all the dolls and stuff, and on this giant chandelier that she swings on. It seems simple, but there's actually a lot of manpower running that thing. There's actually a guy on top of it who spins it around and helps it move, and this was a lot of play for us. We really had to let the song come in and take our time doing it. We had a pianist in the corner because everything is live too, so she could use her own tempo. “Popular, you're going to be popular.” And the concept for this was, instead of going into a giant closet because it's a bedroom, for the closet to be filled with all the bags that we had seen in previous scenes. I love this moment where he grabs the ruby slippers and slams them three times as our nod to the Wizard of Oz. But in each of these devices, as simple as they look, there are grown men in small spaces opening and closing them, and the engineering of each of them took months and months to design correctly. One of the most important things that Cynthia really wanted was that she didn't just want to be a passenger in this, but she really wanted to be a part of it. She doesn't resist as much as in the picture, in fact, she really enjoys this attention and this friendship. “Not when it comes to popular” That mirror alone. It is very heavy and has a lot of engineering. It is actually very, very dangerous. Later she will actually step on it. And that alone took many, many months to design, including this thing that folds back that she leans on. And I love this moment where she spins around him. We did this about 18 times. We had to grease the floor. Her robe couldn't get caught on that hanger. But then again, Ari is a master of physical comedy and does it like she was born to do it. “That?”
