Wicked director explains why they changed 'Defying Gravity' in the movie

28 November 2024, 15:52 | Updated: 2 December 2024, 16:02

Jon M. Chu explains why Defying Gravity is 2 minutes longer than the stage musical version. Picture: Universal Pictures

By Katie Louise Smith

"It goes so fast that it doesn’t feel like the end of the movie and it doesn’t feel earned. Her whole journey leads to this."

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Cynthia Erivo's performance of 'Defying Gravity'? We have been holding space for that since the moment we first saw it on the big screen.

In the movie itself, director Jon M. Chu also holds space (quite a bit of it, actually) for the number to expand before Elphaba hits that show-stopping battle cry that closes the film. Yep, 'Defying Gravity' is even longer in the film than it is in the stage musical.

The official Wicked movie soundtrack lists 'Defying Gravity' as 7 minutes and 39 second long, which is almost 2 minutes longer than it is on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. In the film, Elphaba's big number has longer gaps between the big vocal moments.

Chu has now explained why he decided to change 'Defying Gravity' from how it appears on stage in a new interview with Variety.

WARNING: This article includes spoilers for Wicked's ending. If you haven't seen it and want to experience it on the big screen, bookmark this page and come back to it later.

Read more: Wicked fans are obsessed with Ariana Grande's huge lyric change in 'Popular'
Read more: Wicked's Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum reveal Part 2 will include new original songs

Wicked's Defying Gravity is different in the movie. Picture: Alamy

"The nightmare of my life has been thinking about 'Defying Gravity', Chu said. "In the show, it’s very fast. She walks [away from] Wizard and goes into 'I hope you’re happy.' It goes so fast that it doesn’t feel like the end of the movie and it doesn’t feel earned. Her whole journey leads to this."

Explaining the reason behind why they chose to make the Act I closer's climax longer, he continued: "Doing it live was helpful. I didn’t know how long it would be until they acted those lines. We can’t add more words to 'Defying Gravity.' So, what if when she thinks she’s ready to fly, she’s not, and she falls? That changed things for us."

The film's version of 'Defying Gravity' sees Elphaba attempt to escape in the Wizard's hot air balloon before trying her hand at flying. She falls from the tower before fleeing the flying monkeys on a broomstick.

Each of these moments happen in between key parts of the song's big ending.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sang live on Wicked

"It was very scary," he added. "The whole time I was like, 'OK, we’ll test this and see how offended people are by this.' We definitely crunched it in to not spread it out so much. My own brain was like, 'I just want to make sure the fast version isn’t actually working now.'"

Jon went on to confirm that they did actually try out a "fast" version of the song without the added moments, but they ultimately decided: "No, we actually need all of this. This is much bigger than just a song. This is about the ending of a movie and journey of a character that we’ve invested in it so much."

Wicked's Defying Gravity is extended in the movie. Picture: Universal Pictures

Chu also admitted that producer Marc Platt questioned what he was doing with the extended version of the iconic track at first.

"Marc Platt was like, 'Wow, you’re really breaking the song up…' We had those moments," he said. "We kicked the tires up all the time. There was not one stone unturned, not one thing that we did not question, because we knew how important this was. That’s why it kept me up at night."

Despite the noticeable changes that may jar some loyal lovers of the stage musical, Cynthia's performance as Elphaba is absolutely phenomenal and blows absolutely everything out of the water. The build up only makes that final note even more spectacular.

Wicked: The Soundtrack is available to stream and purchase now. Head here for more details.