Jon M. Chu Says Wicked Movies Are One Epic, Like Lord of the Rings

Director Jon M. Chu has spent more than five years bringing the beloved Broadway musical “ Wicked ” to the big screen. Now that both installments are complete, he’s reflecting on the epic scope of the project.

“It is one movie to me,” Chu tells Variety during an upcoming episode of the Awards Circuit Podcast, recorded at last weekend’s 13th annual Middleburg Film Festival. “When I was thinking of every arc, we were thinking of it as one giant chunk.”

The same could be said for this “Part One” of Chu’s sprawling, in-depth interview about the musical that consumed the past five years of his life. He began the project as a father of two — and wrapped as a father of five. In fact, his fifth child was born the day “Wicked” premiered, preventing him from attending.

Chu’s assertion firml