Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo flipped the script with a forbidden word in it Wicked: Too Good.
In the story of The Wizard of Oz spinoff, no one says “I love you,” as forbidden by director Jon M. Chu.
In conversation with Weekly entertainmentrevealed the filmmaker, “Nobody says ‘love’ in Oz. That was a rule that we went into this movie with.”
But during the rehearsal with Grande and Erivo, in an improv exercise, the actress devised a scenario where they were separated by a closet door.
The version that made it to the screen has become a key moment for fans. In the scene, Glinda is in tears and reaches out to Elphaba on the other side, while Elphaba reaches back for a moment before leaving to meet her destiny with Dorothy.
“I just realized, ‘Oh my god, this is the moment,'” says Chu. “[Singing] ‘For Good’ is that they are there for each other. But the closet is when they can act like they really feel. That door closes, it’s like that moment when you say goodbye to somebody and you’re home alone and the silence and you can now let it all out.”
He ultimately felt that this was the point in the film where they should break the rule and have them say the three words.
“They can say ‘I love you’ because they’ve earned the right to say ‘I love you,'” he explained.
Grande and Erivo starred as Glinda and Elphaba the witches from classic The Wizard of Oz novel.
Wicked: Too Good was released on November 21.
