Director Jon M. Chu Says WICKED's Color Grading Is Intended to "Immerse People Into Oz, to Make It a Real Place"
It’s been 85 years since the film The Wizard of Oz was released in theaters, and as I’ve raised my kids, and rewatched the film countless times, it’s still incredible to me how well it has held up.
The makeup, the costumes, and especially the transformation from the black and white beginning to the color-filled world of Oz, the film has a magic that transcended its time and place, and continues to captivate its viewers.
Despite that huge order to fill, director Jon M. Chu is hoping to recreate a bit of that magic and build upon it in his film, Wicked, which is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz.
The film had a stellar opening weekend, and will surely have an overachieving first week and second weekend moving into Thanksgiving. First reviews from both fans and critics have been glowing, but one critique from some moviegoers has been about Wicked’s color grading and how it compares to the Technicolor in The Wizard of Oz.
The director spoke about the intention behind the film’s aesthetic in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail after the interviewer commented that the film is “a little desaturated.” Chu explained:
“I mean, there’s color all over it. I think what we wanted to do was immerse people into Oz, to make it a real place. Because if it was a fake place, if it was a dream in someone’s mind, then the real relationships and the stakes that these two girls are going through wouldn’t feel real.”
Chu noted that he wanted to present the Land of Oz in “a way we have not experienced Oz before.”
“It’s been a matte painting. It’s been a video game digital world. But for us, I want to feel the dirt. I want to feel the wear and tear of it. And that means it’s not plastic.”
Chu continued: “We have the environment. The sun is the main source of light. You see the vast landscapes. You see the air. You see creatures exist here.
“These two characters that will go through two movies, their relationship with the land is important; their relationship with the nature of this land that the wizard imposed himself. The [color] contrast goes up over time because that is what Elphaba brings to this world.”
The color grading of “Wicked” has been a popular topic on social media ever since the first-look images were released. In an interview with Variety, Chu shared his response to criticism that those pictures were too dark.
“I chose those images specifically. It was so early, and we had just started shooting. I wanted images that were evocative and provocative to show it’s not some bright, poppy story. We didn’t even have the effects done. The background was blue.
“I had to have VFX put in the sky. I was coloring it on my iPhone. We’re not doing this through a real process. I love playing in the shadows, but I did have my iPhone brightness very high. When I released the photos, literally from my iPhone, I realized, ‘Oh, everybody really doesn’t turn up their brightness that high.’ I felt bad because I did that. There was no going through the studio.”
I have loved the photos and footage I’ve seen so far from the film, and I can’t wait to see it this week with my family! Wicked is playing now in theaters everywhere.