Wicked has been on a long journey to make it to the big screen, with multiple proposed adaptations falling through due to production difficulties over more than 20 years. 2024’s Wicked is a movie based on a show based on a novel, representing a story that has drastically evolved since Gregory Maguire published Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West in 1995. The Wicked movie makes many changes from the book because it is an adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway show, which itself is a loose adaptation that is considerably more family-friendly.
The stage production chose to focus on the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, which eventually resulted in the Oscar-winning movie we have today. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera’s performances are virtually perfect, and the movie is as good of an adaptation as fans could have hoped for, making it overall very lucky that Wicked went through enough development to produce something of this nature with exactly the right people involved. However, it is interesting to survey the abandoned projects over the years, and what they might have offered through their take on the story.
Demi Moore Almost Made A Movie Based On The Wicked Novel
Didn’t Happen Due To Difficulties With Adapting The Story & Comparatively Less Interest
Longtime Wicked producer Marc Platt gave an interview with Vanity Fair discussing the long road he had been down with the original novel’s adaptation. As early as the late 1990s, Platt was participating in discussions about adapting Gregory Maguire’s dark fantasy novel into a movie. At the time, Platt and others were trying to avoid making a musical out of it. Industry names including Whoopi Goldberg, Claire Danes, Salma Hayek, and Laurie Metcalfe were all involved in a bidding war for the film rights, as potential leads.
At the time, Platt and others were trying to avoid making a musical out of it.
However, the frontrunner to play Elphaba at this time was doubtlessly now Oscar-nominee and Gloden Globe-winner Demi Moore. Robert Zemeckis was set up to direct; there was never as much serious discussion about who would play Glinda, but Emma Thompson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Nicole Kidman were all brought up as possibilities. For a while, it seems like Wicked was one of the H๏τtest properties in the Hollywood pipeline, with tough compeтιтion for the rights and so many interested A-list names. However, once various screenwriters got involved, some of the difficulties of putting this on screen became more obvious.
Universal Pictures was ready to fund this project, in the beginning, but did become concerned about the cost of producing this fantasy world. The long process of producing a script people were happy with cost years, and even then there was the underlying concern of how much of the novel is Elphaba’s introspection. Eventually, Moore and Zemeckis both moved on to other projects, and by that time, Stephen Schwartz had approached Platt with the idea for the musical, offering both pᴀssion and some solutions to the troubles that plagued the hypothetical movie — and Wicked ultimately turned to this medium, for the better.
Salma Hayek Almost Made Wicked Into A Non-Musical TV Miniseries
Didn’t Happen (Likely) Due To The Popularity Of The Musical
In 2011, around the same time that serious discussions about making a Wicked movie-musical were beginning to take off, Salma Hayek was actually attached to another attempt to make a non-musical Wicked adaptation strictly based on the book. Gregory Maguire reported;y sold the TV rights to ABC in 2009, for a non-musical adaptation (via The Tab). Once considered to play Elphaba in the movie, Hayek was reportedly not planning on playing Elphaba in this adaptation but producing it, and maybe taking on a supporting role (via TVLine). When asked about this matter by TVLine in 2024, Maguire actually said:
“[…] while the rights to such a non-musical filmed presentation are still owned by a separate enтιтy, there has been no apparent movement to use those rights by said enтιтy.”
Maybe another adaptation of Wicked more faithful to the book could someday come to fruition, offering a different perspective and exploration of its themes. This project appears to have been leaning more into the dark and gritty approach, somewhat like the two short-lived series Emerald City and Tin Man. However, the problem from the start was that the musical was already a worldwide phenomenon and hadn’t seen an adaptation yet. The industry was not going to invest that much in an adaptation without the songs — but maybe could circle back around to it now that a movie musical has been made.
Rob Marshall, JJ Abrams, & Ryan Murphy Almost Directed Wicked In 2009
Didn’t Happen For Unknown Reasons
The talks surrounding Wicked in the late 2000s and early 2010s seem to express the goal of making a Wicked movie in the spirit of the one that came out in 2024: an adaptation of the musical, with a big production and known musical stars. In 2010, JJ Abrams, Ryan Murphy, James Mangold, and Rob Marshall were all in talks as potential directors (via ᴅᴇᴀᴅline). There were rumors of Lea Michele and Amy Adams becoming the new Elphaba and Glinda, or even Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth themselves reprising their iconic roles in a new medium.
There was some serious potential concerning these names: Ryan Murphy and Lea Michele had experience writing and acting musical sequences from Glee, Amy Adams’ recent performance in Enchanted showcased a true affinity with Glinda, and Rob Marshall is responsible for reviving movie musicals in Hollywood with his 2002 Best Picture winner Chicago. Admittedly, I understand the choices of JJ Abrams and James Mangold less. Yet the reasons for this version falling through aren’t clear, if it even did; it simply led to a decade-long ever-shifting discussion, with these names all unceremoniously vanishing and the next big announcement coming in 2016.
Lady Gaga & Shawn Mendes Were Almost Elphaba & Fiyero In A 2019 Wicked
Didn’t Happen Due To Major Players Leaving The Project
What seems to have been the last misfire before Universal finally pulled together the long-awaited Wicked movie included Lady Gaga all but confirmed to be cast as Elphaba. Director and producer for The Crown Stephen Daldry was announced to be Wicked‘s director in 2016. With Gaga riding on the success of 2018’s A Star Is Born, which earned a Best Picture nomination, and her a Best Lead Actress nomination, Daldry’s preferred Elphaba made sense as it would put Gaga in another highbrow movie musical. A bit more surprising were the rumors of Shawn Mendes being cast as Fiyero.
Lady Gaga, Demi Moore, Lea Michele, and many more are all still very intriguing, demanding that fans think about what could have been for Wicked.
However, Daldry left the project in 2020 due to scheduling issues (via Page Six). Jon M. Chu was then hired and started working on Wicked in 2021, which effectively put it on the path to where it is now, with no more major delays. Lady Gaga, Demi Moore, Lea Michele, and many more are all still very intriguing, demanding that fans think about what could have been for Wicked. Yet the Wicked franchise is still evolving, and who knows what we will see in the future.
Source: Vanity Fair, The Tab, TVLine, ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Page Six
