40 Things We Learned About ‘Wicked’ From Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s Commentary: Easter Eggs, Deleted Scenes and More

variety.com:

earned $70 million in VOD rentals and purchases. And the uber-popular at-home version is loaded with bonus features, including 10 deleted or extended scenes and feature commentary from director Jon M.

Chu and stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Although scores of stories have been written about “Wicked: Part 1” — including Variety’s recent cover featuring Chu, Erivo and Grande — there are still easter eggs, improvised lines, and generally delightful behind-the-scenes tidbits that are revealed in the combined 5 hours and 20 minutes of commentary about making the musical movie.

Here’s what we learned: The film opens with a disheveled room filled with Easter eggs — everything from the Wicked Witch’s hat to a spilled bucket of water and a propaganda poster. “We wanted to drop people into a crime scene,” Chu said.

But the sequence wasn’t always so brief. Originally, it started “with water dripping upside down, so it looked like balloons floating to the sky, and then the camera would turn all the way around… It was just too long.” Dressing the Munchkins for “No One Mourns the Wicked” was no small task.