Cinematographer Alice Brooks met director Jon M. Chu at USC film school, where they bonded over their love of musicals. "We think musicals are the greatest genre of all time," she tells Marie Claire during a recent phone call. "They are a full extension of expression."
Now, over 20 years later, Brooks is the director of photography on Wicked, Chu's enormous adaptation of the Broadway phenomenon, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as the legendary enemies-turned-BFFs of Oz. Brooks—who previously shot Chu's In the Heights and 2015’s Jem and the Holograms—was tasked with capturing Wicked’s massive dance numbers, reimagining L. Frank Baum's iconic magical land, and figuring out how best to light pink and green.
