‘Wicked’ Producer Marc Platt Pushed for a Single Film With Intermission: “That Was One Battle I Lost”
Wicked producer Marc Platt is teasing what’s next for the film’s story in the forthcoming second movie, along with recalling his initial hesitation to divide the screen adaptation of the successful Broadway show into two separate features.
During the annual Producers Guild of America Nominees Breakfast on Saturday, Platt was asked about the biggest hurdles in bringing Wicked, which he originally produced for the Broadway stage, to the screen for Universal Pictures. Starring Ariana Grande (Glinda) and Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba), director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked movie is nominated for 10 Oscars after hitting theaters late last year, while the second title in the two-part release, Wicked: For Good, is set for November.
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“I remember going to the movies as a kid and watching musicals or Lawrence of Arabia that had intermissions in it, and that was actually my dream for Wicked, that we could do it with intermission,” Platt told the crowd. “That was one battle I lost.”
Platt went on to explain that he and the project’s creative team — including Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, who worked on the Broadway version — could not find anything they wanted to omit from the stage show, and in fact, they had elements about the characters that they were still wishing to explore. “When we did the stage musical, we did cut out a lot of things that we wanted to elaborate upon,” Platt continued. “What was Elphaba like as a child? What did she think of the Wizard? What was her heart’s desire? Those kinds of things.”
The producer also teased the themes that are set to be explored with Wicked: For Good, which Platt said will focus on Glinda as she “learns what it really means to be good.” Platt likened Glinda’s journey to that of late politician Robert F. Kennedy’s path in the 1960s, as he evolved after the death of his brother John F. Kennedy. “[At first,] he was not a leader for the right reasons,” Platt recalled about RFK. “Then, his brother was assassinated, and he went through a real catharsis. He really went to the bottom, and he came out the other side.”
The breakfast at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills honored producers from the features nominated for the PGA’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award. The other participants in the onstage panel discussion included Samantha Quan (Anora), Andrew Morrison (The Brutalist), Fred Berger (A Complete Unknown), Tessa Ross (Conclave), Mary Parent (Dune: Part Two), Ali Herting (A Real Pain), Philipp Trauer (September 5) and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance). Additionally, Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) shared responses in pre-recorded video segments.
For The Brutalist producer Morrison, his film was always intended as a three-hour-plus epic that would have an intermission. “[Co-writers] Brady [Corbet] and Mona [Fastvold] had always written it with an intermission,” Morrison shared. “We thought it would be a fun way to create a communal experience. We were coming out of COVID and thinking about people missing this experience in theaters and being places together.”
Additionally, Platt and Berger recalled having both produced the 2016 musical La La Land, which was at the center of an infamous Oscars moment when it was mistakenly declared the best picture winner before the announcement of Moonlight as the rightful winner. “We actually won an Oscar for a minute and 30 seconds,” Platt quipped from the stage of the PGA event.
The 2025 PGA Awards ceremony is set to take place Saturday night, where the winner of the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures will be announced.
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