Depraved Director Jon M. Chu Discusses Splitting the Musical Into 2 Movies

You wouldn’t understand it from the trailers but it surely’ll be very apparent as soon as the lights go down. Depraved, which hits theaters this week, is just part one of the story. It’s proper there within the movie’s title when it begins (the title card says “Depraved Half One”) and it’s the very last thing you’re reminded of on the finish (“To be continued” fills the display). This has been public knowledge since April of 2022 but it surely wasn’t a giant promoting level, for apparent causes. Audiences don’t wish to know they’re solely getting half a film. Just ask Tom Cruise.

Not too long ago io9 spoke to Depraved director Jon M. Chu, who not solely defended the choice, he defined the way it was one of many key selections that made the film potential in any respect. Examine that, in addition to how the second movie impacted capturing, under.

This interview has been edited for size and readability. We’ll have extra from Chu later this week.

Germain Lussier, io9: Had been you a part of the choice to make Depraved into two movies?

Jon M. Chu: Sure for positive. [Universal] was dancing forwards and backwards and I believe that was a part of the issue of getting it began. They stored going “Oh it’s one film, no it’s two films.” I needed to come and be like, “We’d like to select with this.” You can not make a superb one film or two films by dancing forwards and backwards. Commit to 2 films proper now, in any other case, we’re by no means making these two films good. I promise you that. We will at all times change our minds, however we can’t give it some thought proper now. That’s what we dedicated to. And when you decide to that, then you’ll be able to pull this factor aside and discover what we have to. The plot holes we have to fill, and the issues we have to construct to construct as much as “Defying Gravity.” In order that was a wide selection.

io9: Realizing you needed to make this movie satisfying by itself, how did you go about attaining that?

Chu: It was actually about transferring backward from “Defying Gravity.” What we found was the angle of the film needed to be completely different than the present. Within the present, Galinda comes down on her bubble and she or he’s mainly the host of the evening. It’s kind of vaudevillian. She’s going to convey you into the story. She’s going to take you out of the story. We don’t have the opposite facet of that to go along with. Ultimately we are going to, however not this one. In a bizarre manner, the viewers is together with her originally of the theater present as a result of this inexperienced woman pops in and she or he’s the outlier. That’s the bizarre one. Whereas within the film, the viewers has to just accept the world that you just’re constructing for the primary 10 minutes. So that they’re singing and dancing, which continues to be an oddity in a film. After which the traditional inexperienced woman walks in and she or he’s like, “What the hell did I simply stroll into?” That joke is completely different. That one-liner joke may be very completely different on this.

And when that adjustments, now we’re with that woman. Now we get to see her in her youth and be teased. We get to root for her on this musical world. She’s like “Why is everybody singing?” After which in “The Wizard and I” you hear the little whisper of her voice and also you see “Oh she sings as fantastically as any of them and she or he’s going to go for that. Wow. It’s in her.” So that you’re utilizing the type of the musical to really assist evoke the story and that helps push it to the following stage. Now you’re like, “What do we wish for that woman?” And if we observe that path, that’s what we did. Okay, then how does she transfer right into a dorm room and meet Galinda? You possibly can’t simply have one other tune simply to have them at one another’s throats. What’s that awkward factor? What are they discovering about one another? Why do they want one another finally? So we’re discovering a whole lot of issues in that scene. So there’s little moments that we simply monitor alongside the way in which to assist make “Defying Gravity” the top of this film. Full your emotional journey, fulfill selections made, then the second film is the implications.

io9: How did you are feeling concerning the advertising choice to not put “Half One” or any singing within the trailers?

Chu: I imply, advertising has its personal technique for all these issues. I believe we had been fairly clear that there are two components from the very starting. I had an announcement, did the entire thing, everybody reacted. I knew that there was going to be a sure response. However I additionally knew that whenever you truly take a look at the nuts and bolts of it, it was very clear. There was no query. Both it’s not Depraved and also you’re stripping out all these songs otherwise you’re altering the story a lot that it’s not going to be the Depraved that you really want. I knew we had been making the suitable alternative, so we went together with that and advertising—how they do it, I don’t know the way they do it. However I understood what these selections had been.

And I felt like all people knew it was a musical anyway. We had musical trailers and issues like that. What individuals don’t take into consideration, and that is troublesome, is whenever you’re truly reducing a trailer, when you’ve got music in there and so they’re singing, transferring their mouths, all of the songs are in numerous keys. And the way do you bounce from one tune to a different in an natural, trailer manner, the place you solely have two minutes to do it? It’s truly, technically, very troublesome. And so they had been dancing at completely different rhythms and issues. It turns into a multitude in a short time. So even those we did launch, I believed it was unimaginable to chop all these songs collectively. And so they discovered sure issues and so they needed to pitch issues in another way and it’s not precisely how I might like to do it, but it surely does join the songs and it’s essential to try this. Nevertheless it’s technically very difficult. It’s not only a alternative that, “Oh, we are able to’t.” How do you go from “The Wizard and I” to “Defying Gravity” with out altering the important thing? It’s very troublesome.

io9: Inform me somewhat bit concerning the filming course of for each movies and why you determined that.

Chu: We shot them on the identical time. So it was kind of block capturing, I suppose. However areas needed to change. Munchkinland is kind of our city sq. in Again to the Future the place it’s always altering. The home is now crashed in there, and the home just isn’t there. It’s earlier than the Yellow Brick Street is constructed there, after which when the Yellow Brick Street is there. In order that turned a centerpiece. We needed to transfer in and transfer out of that location in keeping with what a part of the film. We additionally had completely different actor occasions. You understand, you get Michelle Yeoh for a sure period of time. She’s up for an Oscar at the moment so that you’re “All proper, we’ve bought to shoot all of her stuff proper right here.” So there are logistical causes for that. However I’m actually glad we did as a result of I believe going out of it and going again in can be very troublesome.

We had to do this for the strike. We needed to come again to do “Defying Gravity,” which was emotionally troublesome for Cynthia [Erivo] and Ari [Grande]. [Erivo] had skilled a 12 months to do these stunts and to know the place to place her voice. And abruptly for six months she’s not doing it. Then she has to return again. For us, it truly actually helped in the long run as a result of we bought to collect our power once more. We had been capturing for 160 days at that time. And I believe she dropped in so shortly and simply. And Ari additionally dropped in actually simply. They had been these characters and it was not as troublesome as I believed it could be.

***

That’s only a style of our full interview with Chu. Test again quickly for extra on how he bought concerned with the manufacturing, his course of, and the fascinating story behind getting the show-stopping finale, “Discovering Gravity,” excellent. Depraved is in theaters Friday. Half Two is out subsequent 12 months.

Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and all the pieces it’s essential to learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.