Jeff Goldblum had to face his fear of of witches to make Wicked
By Ariba Bhuvad
Prepare to receive a new bit of unexpected information: actor Jeff Goldblum had a childhood fear of witches. And now he’s playing the Wizard of Oz is Wicked, Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of a musical about two witches. Sounds worth of a movie on its own.
Goldblum dropped this little tidbit during a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! In addition to Goldblum, the Wicked movie stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) and Ariana Grande and Glinda (the Good Witch of the North), as well as Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, and SNL’s Bowen Yang. Talk about one hell of a cast!
Wicked is a prequel/side-story to The Wizard of Oz, the famous 1939 movie classic. Goldblum watched the original film with his kids to get ready for the role.
Jeff Goldblum talks overcoming his fear of witches on the set of Wicked
“We showed them The Wizard of Oz, one of my favorite movies. It was too scary for them,” Goldblum said. Chances are it was probably too frightening for Goldblum at some point, considering it has witches in it. Despite that fear, he decided to take on the role of the Wizard . “I’ll tell ya. I shouldn’t talk about it, but I was shooting one day and I found myself tearing up in fear, a childhood fear came back to me,” Goldblum said.
Poor guy! I feel bad for him, but at least Erivo and Grande were under all that witchy makeup, and Goldblum couldn’t praise them enough. “You should see our witches—Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande—very good,” he said.
Given that it will be a musical, Jeff Goldblum will be able to show off his singing skills alongside Erivo and Grande. He doesn’t seem nervous about it despite working alongside some legendary musical talent!
The first part of Chu’s Wicked movie — it’s being released in two parts — will land in theaters on November 27, 2024.
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h/t The A.V. Club