While the reception to “Wicked: For Good” has been a bit more divided than the first film, it turns out that one scene, which is generally considered the film’s strongest emotional moment, was nearly cut out.
In the latter scenes of “Wicked: For Good,” shortly after Elphaba and Glinda sing the title song, comes the big moment with Dorothy throwing water on Elphaba to presumably kill her.
During the sequence, there’s a scene in which both Elphaba and Glinda are on opposite sides of a door, each expressing the pain of saying goodbye forever to someone they love.
Appearing on the Shut Up Evan podcast, actress Ariana Grande said that the moment was nearly cut from the film:
“It was a really heavy day. There was actually a conversation about… certain people wanted to cut that shot. Jon was like ‘This is the movie. There is no question about it.’ I was so grateful for how fiercely he advocated for those honest moments. It’s one of the most beautiful and connected moments in both of the movies. I’m so grateful that it’s there. It’s tough. It was very hard emotionally.”
Chu previously indicated that the moment was not in the original script; rather, it was improvised during the rehearsal process.
“Wicked: For Good” is still playing in cinemas and is expected to gross $80 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.
