This broom is finally getting off the ground.
The long-awaited film adaptation of Broadway hit “Wicked” has finally found its two magical leading ladies in Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the pair announced Thursday on Instagram.
“Thank goodness,” Grande, 28, said in a post alongside five photos, including the moment she learned she won the role of Galinda-turned-Glinda the Good Witch, originated by Kristin Chenoweth. Grande also included a snap of the pink bouquet Erivo, 34, sent her.
“Pink goes good with Green,” Erivo, 34, captioned her four photos, featuring the moment she learned she won the role of Elphaba, the titular “Wicked” Witch of the West, originated by Idina Menzel, and her gleeful Zoom meeting with Grande.
That meeting, which included director Jon M. Chu, took place “moments before we announced it to the world,” according to the filmmaker’s Instagram Story.
The announcement comes on the heels of a Hollywood Reporter story in which insiders revealed that “Wicked,” which has been in development at Universal since 2004, was delayed yet again as production moved from Atlanta to the U.K., with filming set to begin in June.
Prior to the switch, filming was expected to kick off in March. Now, the live-action take on the show that raked in over $1 billion in ticket sales, will be the first movie to shoot at the London-area’s new Sky Studios. Despite the tight schedule and high expectations, sources told The Hollywood Reporter last month that the script is still underway.
Chu, who helmed the mega-successful “Crazy Rich Asians,” will bring Oz to the big screen after “Billy Elliot” director Stephen Daldry left the job over reported scheduling and creative conflicts.
Both the Broadway musical and film are based on Gregory Maguire’s “Wizard of Oz”-inspired book about the origins of the two witches, their friendship, and what eventually tore them apart.
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