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Why Did Wicked Director Jon M. Chu Ignored Lin-Manuel Miranda's Request To Make Cameo In The Musical? 'Sorry, Lin!'
In a recent interview, Wicked director Jon M. Chu revealed that Lin-Manuel Miranda made “many calls” asking to play a specific yet insignificant role in the musical but got rejected!
Lin-Manuel Miranda was one one many celebrities who was contending for a part in the 2024 Wicked movie but didn’t win it. You would image that the actor and songwriter’s association with hit musicals like Hamilton, Moana, Mufasa: The Lion King, Mary Poppins Returns, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Encanto and others would grant him the liberty.
But it turns out director Jon M. Chu was strict about his casting. Speaking to Variety, he revealed that the Hamilton star made “many calls” to him, pitching himself for a very specific role. Chu revealed that Miranda — whom he worked with in the 2021 musical In The Heights — wanted to play the Munchkinland citizen.
The character who asks Glinda (Ariana Grande) of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), "Is it true you were her friend?," in the beginning of the film. The director explained that he had to turn down his request as it would have been “too distracting.”
“Sorry, Lin!" he added. Miranda not only made those calls but also tweeted Chu, asking him for the picular but small role in the musical. “WICKED MOVIE! FINALLY,” he wrote on X at the time.
He then requested Stephen Daldry who associated with the film in the early stages, asking if he could “play the guy who goes, ‘Is it true you were her FRIEND?!’” The role eventually went to actress Kirsty Anne Shaw.
Nevertheless, there was no hard feelings between Chu and Miranda as the duo was snapped smiling together at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in NYC earlier this month. Chu even won best director for Wicked at the ceremony.
The movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical featured Erivo and Grande in the lead. Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang and Keala Settle, round off the cast. Wicked was one of the biggest last blockbuster of last year, collecting $709 million at the global box office.
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