Since its Broadway debut 21 years ago, the musical “Wicked” has transported audiences to Oz for a nuanced story about good, evil, and human nature. As part one of the movie adaptation arrives in theaters, Father Dave welcomes acclaimed Hollywood director Jon M. Chu. In addition to “Wicked,” he is known for directing visually ambitious blockbuster event films, such as “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights.”
Father Dave begins, “One of the things I love about the book, the show, and now the movie, is that it turns our notions of good and evil completely on their head, which is a lot of what I believe Jesus did in his time. We all grew up with the ‘Wizard of Oz’ and that Wicked Witch of the West; there were no redeeming qualities or sympathetic nature to [her]. Yet, this is a beautiful way to get us to think about that.”
Jon notes that humans are more complex than just good or evil. “Maybe we have a choice every day whether to be wicked or good,” he says. “Hopefully we choose the good days more and then we choose the wicked days. Everyone’s going through this, and maybe we may need to look at each other and give each other a little grace and forgiveness in order to move forward in this journey.”
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“I think we live in a time where technology is making us all roommates all of a sudden,” Jon says, noting that social media gives us a window into people’s daily lives and choices that we may not agree with. “We usually [could] just ignore everybody, but now we live in a place we can’t. So our fairy tales have to change, because the only way out may be through and to actually hear each other; that’s not easy. That’s uncomfortable.”
Jon and his wife recently welcomed their fifth child, and he reflects on how parenting has changed him. “It makes me rethink all the stories that I want to tell them. I grew up in a place of beautiful fairy tales with happy endings, and I love that. I’m so glad I had that. But at the same time, I want my kids to understand that being uncomfortable is not abnormal, and that happy endings may not be the ultimate goal. That we actually have to fight for this. We have to fight for the dream every day.”
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For those who have not seen the musical, Father Dave says, “There are some layers there. There’s oppression in society. There’s a dealing with our notion of ability versus disability. There’s one point where Elphaba, the [Wicked Witch], says, ‘I didn’t realize this thing that I’ve been embarrassed about could actually be a gift to the world,’ and that’s something we’re called to see as humans.”
Jon responds, “Great movies bring you into the darkness, but also walk you out into the light. I was ridiculed many times in film school for not wanting to tell stories about drugs, violence, and all these things, and that’s just not my taste. That’s not what inspires me. Movies I love take me someplace else but return me home.”
“I think that there’s a place for these types of movies that have this grand scale and spectacle and take you away to another land, but actually return you home,” he continues. “[These movies] empower you into living a life that doesn’t embarrass you for being earnest and doesn’t embarrass you for dreaming big. I think more than ever, we need that.”
