Hollywood’s actors are currently on strike as called by the Screen Actors Guild last week, and it’s affecting the Land of Oz. Universal’s Wicked movies had been filming in London since last year, but in light of the SAG-AFTRA strike it’s one of many movie and TV productions that have stopped rolling cameras. Following the news, we now know how close the movie musicals were to wrapping when the strike was called thanks to Stephen Schwartz.
Stephen Schwartz, a composer who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical along with serving as a co-writer on the Wicked movie scripts, recently shared where the movies were at when it paused production. In his words:
It's quite frustrating in a way because we have, I think, 10 days worth of shooting to go finish all the shooting for both movies…But on the other hand, I might as well declare it, I'm in great sympathy and support of the unions that are striking.
Currently both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are striking Hollywood studios after negotiations did not meet their expectations for compensation in the streaming era. The Wicked composer shared the news to Variety, following Jon M. Chu’s hopeful update the day prior. The director took to social media on Wednesday to share with fans the production was “only a few days away” from wrapping, and said shooting will resume once the strike is over to “finish the last pieces of the movie.” He also noted that the strike shouldn't impact the films' release dates.
Considering the Wicked movies were being filmed back-to-back, we imagine this update means that the production may very well stay on track for Part 1’s place among 2024's movie release dates, where it’s expected to come out on November 27. Additionally, Wicked Part 2 previously moved up its release date to November 26, 2025, which it may very well still be held to, considering much of the production process is already well on schedule. Thank goodness!
Though at the same time, we imagine it’s rather difficult for the cast and crew of the Wicked movies to simply leave the set with less than two weeks left of filming for an undisclosed time as the SAG-AFTRA strike continues. Since the strike was issued, Ariana Grande was spotted hanging out with Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey at a Wimbledon match. On top of that rumors are swirling that her and her husband Dalton Gomez have split and she could be dating another one of her co-stars, Ethan Slater. Overall, there's been a lot of news from Oz this week.
Ariana Grande is set to play Glinda the Good Witch, whilst Cynthia Erivo will play the role of Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked cast is very impressive, with Jeff Goldblum playing the Wizard and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, among other great talents. Here’s hoping the Wicked movie gets ample time to finish out its production in time for its intended release dates.
