Jurassic World and Thor: Ragnarok actor Jeff Goldblum has potentially landed his next role: in the two movie versions of musical behemoth Wicked.
Deadline states that the actor is in talks to play The Wizard in the films, which will serve as prequels to The Wizard of Oz. According to the publication, the deal is "not even close" to being finished, but the actor is apparently pretty keen to join the cast.
We already know that Ariana Grande has been cast as Glinda the Good Witch, while Cynthia Erivo will play Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Jonathan Bailey will play the handsome Fiyero, the third part of the love triangle.
Related: Ariana Grande reveals hair transformation for Wicked movie adaptation
Originally announced as one film, Wicked will now be released in two parts and follow the stage show, with 'Defying Gravity' marking the end of part one.
Stephen Schwartz, who composed the music and lyrics for the musical, explained the reasoning behind the decision, stating to The Schwartz Scene: "We kept running into two problems. The first is that even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include.
"We found it very difficult to get past 'Defying Gravity' without a break. That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene followed it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic.
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"So, for these two reasons, plus the excitement of doing something that's never been done before with a musical, we have decided to do two movies."
As for Goldblum, alongside Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage, he filmed scenes for Thor: Love and Thunder, but Taikia Waititi cut them and stated that they won't be seen because they "aren't good enough".
Wicked will hit theatres worldwide on December 25, 2024, and December 25, 2025.
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