Wicked director Jon M. Chu has simultaneously celebrated two major milestones in his life.
Last night (November 9), the 45-year-old creative phoned into the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, which debuts in theaters on November 22.
Chu was missing from the Wicked-decorated carpet where stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, and Ethan Slater celebrated his movie screen adaptation of the fan-favorite Broadway show.
While his cast posed for the cameras outside Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Chu celebrated from the hospital where his wife Kristin Hodge was preparing to give birth to their fifth child.
Before welcoming their new baby, the Hollywood producer virtually joined in on the premiere fun through the Instagram livestream.
Online, Chu chimed in with a few hilarious comments, proving he was prioritizing the delivery of both his film baby and real baby.
“I’m pretending I’m there while my wife pushes,” he wrote.
“I love a shoutout!! Hahaha this hospital thinks I’m crazy,” Chu said later, before adding an update: “Shoutout to me in the cafeteriiiiaaaa!! Eating microwave pasta yo!!”
Meanwhile, at the premiere, generations of Wicked stars came together to honor the new project which is already generating lots of buzz.
Eternal Sunshine artist Grande smiled alongside Erivo, Idina Menzel, and Kristin Chenoweth. While speaking to E! News, Chenoweth, who has known Grande since she was 10 years older, opened up about how the former Nickelodeon star built upon the character of Glinda to “make it her own.”
Chenoweth explained how she and Grande spoke even before the 7 Rings singer was confirmed to have the role. Then, when Grande received the exciting news, the two stars cried “like dolphins.”
Grande said to Chenoweth: “I want to make you proud. I want to pay homage to you.”
“You will do all of that, but put your own stamp on it,” Chenoweth told her. The 56-year-old RV star’s faith in Grande was clear.
“I think people forget what a great actor she is,” Chenoweth said at the premiere. “She started in theater and now she’s playing the role that she was born to play. And it took 22 years, I set it in stone, and now she’s bringing it home.”
Not only was this a “lifetime” achievement for Grande but for Chu and the entire movie cast, too.
In a conversation with the Associated Press in September, Chu talked about the significance of the Wicked project. “Once in a lifetime to make a movie of this scale, of this moment when cinema is being questioned of what place it has in our life,” he said of the opportunity. “We had to shoot the moon.”
