Jon M. Chu Says ‘Wicked’ Color Grading Aims To Paint “A Real Place” To “Immerse” Viewers Into Oz: “It’s Not Plastic”

deadline.com:

Wicked director Jon M. Chu explained his approach to the sweeping musical’s color grading, after some fans online lamented that the film did not contain the same technicolor prowess present in the original 1939 The Wizard of Oz.

In a recent interview with Canadian outlet The Globe and Mail, the Crazy Rich Asians helmer was asked about his approach to the pink-and-green tinged movie, which the interviewer deemed “a little desaturated.” “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,” Chu said of the decision. “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.” The filmmaker continued, “It’s also [presented 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.