'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo reacts to director's Oscar snub
- By Web Desk -
- Jan 27, 2025
British actor Cynthia Erivo addressed Oscar’s snub of ‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu, despite the film picking up 10 nominations.
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The first part of director Jon M. Chu’s show-stopping Broadway adaptation ‘Wicked’ is the second-most nominated picture for this year’s Oscar Awards, contending in at least 10 categories including Best Film, Best Sound and Original Score, as well as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande respectively.
However, much to everyone’s shock, the director of one of the highest-grossing films of the year failed to make the cut in the nominees for Best Director.
Reacting to the snub, Erivo, who essayed green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba in Chu’s film, said, “I don’t know. I wish people understood just how much work has to go into creating a big, giant behemoth like Wicked. None of that can happen without his vision. It just isn’t possible.”
“He is the one who can see who is right for this, who cast us in these roles, who asked for nine million tulips, who says he wants to build a real set so it feels embedded in reality. It’s him! He says he wants the camera right in Elphaba’s face when she walks down the steps in the Ozdust Ballroom,” she explained. “There is a kind of vision that you have to have in order to be in control of something that could run away from you very quickly if you don’t know what to do.”
“I think he is an exquisite director. The people that he put in charge of every department! That also takes skill,” Erivo asserted.
Also Read: ‘Wicked’ director admits he had pressure to make a masterpiece
Notably, the nominees for Oscar Best Director this year include Sean Baker (Anora), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown) and Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez).