Universal acquired the rights to “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by American novelist Gregory Maguire shortly after it was published in 1995. And in 2003 they opened the Broadway musical, eventually becoming the second most successful Broadway music ever (after Disney’s “The Lion King”).

Chu told HuffPost’s Ellen Lee how “Wicked” transcends its magic, challenges the status quo and echoes his pursuit of the American dream beyond the “yellow brick road.”

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star in Universal's highly anticipated adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical.

While he was a guest on an upcoming episode of IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, “ Wicked ” director Jon M. Chu acknowledged the politics of the story of the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Elphaba,

Many longtime fans of the Broadway musical are bursting with questions on how director Jon M. Chu translated the stage show for the screen. The Deseret News spoke with Chu Friday and asked him about his process,

He never doubted it would work as a movie. He just hoped he would be the one to film it: “I have my own experiences with being green.”

“There was no world where we wouldn’t invite them to come be a part of this,” director Jon M. Chu tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The question for us was, how, and how much are they willing to do in it, and how much can the story itself handle it? Because they’re such iconic people and especially to these roles.”

"Musical" has been a dirty word in marketing some recent song-and-dance studio films, but there's no avoiding it in bringing "Wicked" to the big screen.