Speaker 1: And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin An iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's what You Really miss Podcast. It's
Speaker 1: a very exciting day. We have an old friend here
Speaker 1: who's maybe one of the biggest stars of Hollywood right now. John,
Speaker 1: I'm true.
Speaker 2: John is just a great guy. He's just a good,
Speaker 2: good person person and I'm so happy we get to
Speaker 2: chat with him. And I think you will. How he
Speaker 2: is when we talk to him now is how he
Speaker 2: is all the time. Yes, the difference, there's no ego.
Speaker 2: There's just the love for the craft exactly, love for
Speaker 2: his friends, love for his coworkers, love for story and
Speaker 2: what he's doing, and family and that goes into every
Speaker 2: single thing he does. Also, forgot he was around us
Speaker 2: during Glee.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, my way I think my way in was
Speaker 3: like he was doing were like he's doing the Justin
Speaker 3: Bieber like movie, which was one of the first of
Speaker 3: those movies, right and he did it the best. And
Speaker 3: he was just around us and I remember him with
Speaker 3: Harry and you and everybody, and he's just the fact
Speaker 3: and like his memories of Glee also are so sweet
Speaker 3: and just like watching us and seeing us so like,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm still astounded, and he remembers that, but that
Speaker 3: was such a you know, and.
Speaker 2: One breath I am and one breath I'm not because
Speaker 2: that's the sum No, I know exactly. Well.
Speaker 3: I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation with John. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's all I have to say.
Speaker 2: Yes, strap In, this is John. I'm chu director of
Speaker 2: Wicked and Wicked for Good. Where are you right now?
Speaker 4: I am in New York City? Oh same, Yeah, I
Speaker 4: know it's crazy because I was here only for Crazy.
Speaker 4: Wh Change is the musical. So we have a twenty
Speaker 4: nine hour read, which I've never done because I've never
Speaker 4: directed a skill before.
Speaker 1: So it's a wild that's so exciting.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: Wow, we have a whole cast of people. It's been
Speaker 4: like today we do like a run through of it
Speaker 4: and it's gonna be really fun.
Speaker 2: Why do I sneak into that? That is incredible.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's really cool. It's good to see you.
Speaker 2: Yes, thanks for doing.
Speaker 4: This great, thank you. It's been I've waited a long
Speaker 4: time to do this. Guys watched I've listened.
Speaker 1: Oh John, Oh my god, the business man at the
Speaker 1: moment your podcast.
Speaker 2: How are you doing? Like how do you feel mentally
Speaker 2: physically through all of this, Like do you.
Speaker 4: I feel, you know, exhausted. But as I saw in
Speaker 4: some TikTok inspirational video, how blessed are we to be
Speaker 4: exhausted for the work that we dreamed of since we
Speaker 4: begged the universe for it since we were kids. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I'm like, thank god we get to tell stories. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and I got five kids, that's crazy. I gave year old,
Speaker 4: six year old, four year old, two year old, and
Speaker 4: one year old. And so the exhaustion is like beautiful,
Speaker 4: Like you know how it is, Jenna, Like it's just
Speaker 4: you watch someone discover the world every day. Yeah, it's
Speaker 4: a cynical and annoyed. It can annoying sometimes it can be.
Speaker 4: It can be like my little boys doing this poking
Speaker 4: thing where he just like pokes you instead of like
Speaker 4: holds your hand. And my wife's like, how do I
Speaker 4: tell him?
Speaker 1: Like it's really really annoying.
Speaker 4: Like give him options, maybe say my head instead. I
Speaker 4: don't know, And then I try to do it like, oh,
Speaker 4: that's a great idea, John, let me just try to
Speaker 4: do that, and he was like, nah, no, that's my
Speaker 4: life basically.
Speaker 2: Yes, when I think about like how are you or
Speaker 2: anyone in your position. You have young kids, you're also
Speaker 2: juggling a billion work things and also trying to like
Speaker 2: because you work in a creative field, so like, how
Speaker 2: do you keep your creative And I was like, you
Speaker 2: know what, whenever I want something done, like I know,
Speaker 2: Jenna is like the best person to call, or like
Speaker 2: anybody with kids because either awake already. Yeah, but also
Speaker 2: you have to be organized. You have to know how
Speaker 2: to like still as much little free time you have
Speaker 2: with whatever you want to be doing.
Speaker 1: It's like Christian as possible.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, you just roll with it. You just roll
Speaker 4: with it, you go, you have solutions as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3: Probably what makes you such a good director. You're like,
Speaker 3: here's three options for you instead of the one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I couldn't tell what which which came first. Now
Speaker 4: it's all blurred. But I'm pretty sure that directing helped
Speaker 4: my parenting. My parenting actually helped my my directing more
Speaker 4: because I think I think being a parent is really
Speaker 4: creative and I think that it actually set rates. Like
Speaker 4: I used to get stressed because I used to think
Speaker 4: about the movie or the project when I went home.
Speaker 4: When I'm sleeping when I get up and it's like
Speaker 4: that's that's actually more exhausting, and that actually is a problem.
Speaker 4: But when I when you come home and you got
Speaker 4: to change a diaper, you gotta like calm a fight
Speaker 4: down or something. You leave all that stuff gone and
Speaker 4: you're still I mean, you can still jump back in,
Speaker 4: but but yeah, there's a separation and your brain gets
Speaker 4: to rest. And I think that that's amazing and I'm
Speaker 4: more creative than ever for sure. Oh wow, that's great,
Speaker 4: And to share this journey is insane. I can say, hey,
Speaker 4: see these drawings, like now, these are going to become
Speaker 4: real things. And then my kids come to the set
Speaker 4: and they're like, oh now and feel the fabric, look
Speaker 4: at the things. And then you go and you and you.
Speaker 4: They go to school and now their friends have t
Speaker 4: shirts of the drawing that they saw back in the
Speaker 4: day and they were there, they were actually on the
Speaker 4: yellow brick road. I think, I don't know how that
Speaker 4: really messes with their head, but I think you dream
Speaker 4: and it happens, and that's a natural thing of the world.
Speaker 2: And actually, as a kid, when our imaginations are so
Speaker 2: explosive and everything is an opportunity to use your imagination
Speaker 2: when you're a kid. Also as an adult, boat we
Speaker 2: have to remind ourselves of that. I think, yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 2: that has to be such a crazy thing because most
Speaker 2: of us are like, you know, using like cardboard boxes
Speaker 2: and like sheets that we found to build costumes and like,
Speaker 2: at least I was like building sets and things in
Speaker 2: my house. And then they actually get to walk on
Speaker 2: like people at the top of their craft doing like
Speaker 2: the biggest thing possible.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, as a as a kid, myself and
Speaker 4: we would go to see shows, musicals, opera, ballets, whatever
Speaker 4: it was, watching movies. You know, when you don't know
Speaker 4: much about the business. You also don't the only access
Speaker 4: point you have is like the acting side of it.
Speaker 4: So you're in musical theater, you do all this stuff,
Speaker 4: and then later you learn, oh, there's like a whole
Speaker 4: other side. Yeah, like do this thing called directing. And
Speaker 4: my kids definitely know like, oh there's like directing, there's
Speaker 4: like in front and behind the camera. They understand what
Speaker 4: all the things are, at least the concepts of and
Speaker 4: so I think that's really interesting. We'll see how that affects.
Speaker 3: Someone actually the producer, Okay, exactly. I love to tell
Speaker 3: you speaking of little kids, I'm curious to hear, like
Speaker 3: I just I can imagine somebody who studied the craft
Speaker 3: and you know study, you know, production and TV in
Speaker 3: school and all of these things, and just was immersed
Speaker 3: in it as a kid. Like what would that John
Speaker 3: say about John? Now, like did you manifest this?
Speaker 1: Did you know? Or were you like would he be
Speaker 1: like shell shocked?
Speaker 4: Well, I have the weird answer and probably the more
Speaker 4: realistic answer.
Speaker 1: Well, give us the weird one.
Speaker 4: The weird answer is, yeah, I knew. I feel like
Speaker 4: I've already lived this life, and I felt like I've
Speaker 4: seen all of this before and I was on a
Speaker 4: journey and I had to stick to it. And that's
Speaker 4: that's what I made myself. Whether it's real or not,
Speaker 4: I don't know, but I really believed it. Since I
Speaker 4: was probably nine years old, I did see this life
Speaker 4: and in a weird way, did it make me sort
Speaker 4: of just know that like whatever path I'm on, it
Speaker 4: felt like a book that I was just on certain
Speaker 4: chapters on and once I get through this chapter is
Speaker 4: actually the next good part. And then I would tell
Speaker 4: myself this. So again, whether it's true or not, I
Speaker 4: don't know. But I sort of made myself believe that
Speaker 4: that that's how I was going to survive all of this.
Speaker 4: So every bad moment was I knew, oh no, don't worry,
Speaker 4: You'll be fine. And for some reason, for some I
Speaker 4: know that's not that doesn't necessarily work, but for some reason,
Speaker 4: I did keep going, and I because of that, I
Speaker 4: did get here to this point. But I don't think
Speaker 4: that that's like a philosophy of life. I don't know,
Speaker 4: but that's that's what I think now. The reality of
Speaker 4: it all, I think, deep down, I don't believe I'm
Speaker 4: any of this, and that I have to work really
Speaker 4: hard to catch up to the image or what people
Speaker 4: think or what my even my movies sort of present
Speaker 4: to the world. So I'm always but I like to
Speaker 4: try to live up to that. So I'm always chasing,
Speaker 4: chasing this thing.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's probably that sounds healthy, both of those,
Speaker 2: like the balance of both of those. Like if you
Speaker 2: had one of that the other night, I would be
Speaker 2: worried about you. But because you have both, in my
Speaker 2: professional opinion, because I will.
Speaker 4: Be hungry, right like it keeps hungry if something's chasing
Speaker 4: me and I'm chasing something and something's chasing me, and
Speaker 4: I think that's an okay balance. I've never felt so
Speaker 4: chased that I'm just scared. But I will say that
Speaker 4: the thing that I think is the difference for me,
Speaker 4: and sometimes I feel shame about it, is that my
Speaker 4: entry point into movie making. I grew up loving movies,
Speaker 4: watching movies, all those things, but my entry point was
Speaker 4: making actually making movies because I was given a camera
Speaker 4: and I was started to make stuff before I knew
Speaker 4: even my full love of cinema. I was just it
Speaker 4: was a process of making and I fell in love
Speaker 4: with the shooting. I fell in love with the editing.
Speaker 4: I fell in love with delivery, showing sharing to me
Speaker 4: that I just knew that I was going to do
Speaker 4: that for the rest of my life, whether whether I
Speaker 4: was going to get paid for it or not. If
Speaker 4: I wasn't getting paid by a studio, I'd be making
Speaker 4: wedding videos and bar mits videos the way I did
Speaker 4: in high school. Like I get just as much enjoyment
Speaker 4: of videoing my children and videoing someone's wedding than making wicked.
Speaker 4: To be honest, like there is something the process is
Speaker 4: what I love at any scale. It is what I'm
Speaker 4: addicted to, and so I guess maybe that's there's a
Speaker 4: calmness to that that win or lose. I still got
Speaker 4: my camera and I still got my editing and knowing
Speaker 4: about that. So I don't know, maybe that's the that's
Speaker 4: the part that I lean on often and and I
Speaker 4: get embarrassed with that sometimes because some people want me
Speaker 4: to be so in love with cinema that I know
Speaker 4: every director and every shot and everything, and or they
Speaker 4: want to know what's your dream job, like what's the
Speaker 4: movie that you're ultimately going to make? And I'm like,
Speaker 4: I just I'm not that person. Wicked is probably the
Speaker 4: closest thing to that dream like image. But I but
Speaker 4: I am. I. I like to exercise this tool and
Speaker 4: I love to find new things. I love to reflect
Speaker 4: what I'm going through in my life through it, and
Speaker 4: I love to discover my life through it.
Speaker 2: So wow, Yeah, I mean that sounds like something we
Speaker 2: all can learn from, though, especially in the entertainment business.
Speaker 2: So forget the shame, John, because I mean the process,
Speaker 2: the experience of it, of why we actually love it.
Speaker 2: I think so often like we can bear ourselves down
Speaker 2: in like comparison, compare ourselves to others or going for oh,
Speaker 2: I want my movie to look like this other movie
Speaker 2: that was done by being able to actually like have
Speaker 2: the tangible thing of being on a set or at
Speaker 2: a wedding or whatever it is and actually doing it.
Speaker 2: If that's if that's your way in like that sounds
Speaker 2: like a really sort of wonderful thing to be able
Speaker 2: to fall back on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I appreciate. I think I love the
Speaker 4: collaboration as well, learning new ways to figure out how
Speaker 4: to get better collaboration or get access to those things
Speaker 4: while also having my vision. I think I love the
Speaker 4: technical part of like how do you communicate and finding
Speaker 4: finding the right words.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked to Chris Scott, who we love, saying
Speaker 2: I love and sweet man, I feel like you're like
Speaker 2: Oprah and I'm alhamas I was Oprah Oprah because and
Speaker 2: I swear this goes back to collaboration, because the whole joke,
Speaker 2: like I have some of my friends like we all
Speaker 2: want to be the Oprah where like if one comes up,
Speaker 2: everybody comes up. And I feel like you have done
Speaker 2: that in so much of your collaboration and in your
Speaker 2: friendship and there's a lot of overlap there and someone
Speaker 2: like Chris Scott, who choreographed Wicked and for Good and
Speaker 2: The Heights, all these things, someone you've known. We've all
Speaker 2: known each other for so long.
Speaker 4: Long, long time now, and it's but.
Speaker 2: It's really beautiful to see and as we've all sort
Speaker 2: of grown up in this business where loyalty and friendship
Speaker 2: often play second fiddle to like, you know, yeah, getting
Speaker 2: a step ahead or like whatever it may be, and
Speaker 2: building collaboration and building teams especially, I think something for
Speaker 2: like these Wicked films where it's a gigantic team, where
Speaker 2: do you start? And like how in that process of
Speaker 2: building the collaboration is Chris Scott front of mine? Because
Speaker 2: this is someone you have and you have a dialogue
Speaker 2: with friendship and working dialogue with, like how how does.
Speaker 4: That work well? First of all, even just to give
Speaker 4: your audience some context for us, we were babies when
Speaker 4: we all met, and you were even more babies when
Speaker 4: you guys became superstars. So it's kind of crazy that
Speaker 4: it was on the Paramount lot. I think lot some
Speaker 4: of us met me and Kevin maybe we met right
Speaker 4: before that at Adam Savanni's house or something like, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I played Moose and step up to the Street, which
Speaker 4: was my first first movie. And then all my friends
Speaker 4: Harry Shum got onto this show called Glee, this pilot
Speaker 4: that everyone was on. Danny my ad for my first
Speaker 4: movie was also the eight There and Zach and all
Speaker 4: these people. And suddenly and I was editing g I Joe,
Speaker 4: Oh no, maybe I was editing Justin Bieber never Yes
Speaker 4: on the lot, on the Paramount lot, and they are
Speaker 4: these group of crazy kids running around shooting, shooting a show.
Speaker 4: I was like, what is going on? And then it
Speaker 4: becomes this massive hit. Of course I watched it on
Speaker 4: that what was at a Super Bowl Sunday the PHO,
Speaker 4: watched everybody wait for the whole summer for this show
Speaker 4: to come out. It was just so I will never
Speaker 4: forget the joy and the excitement of this new show
Speaker 4: with these new this new generation of people that were
Speaker 4: going to show us how musical theaters have done. And
Speaker 4: I was I just I always think, to me, watching
Speaker 4: that become so mainstream and so beloved showed me that
Speaker 4: this was like that it was still in our blood here. Yeah,
Speaker 4: like have joy and root for each other and be
Speaker 4: silly and funny all the things and be serious about
Speaker 4: real things. That the combination was so cool. And then
Speaker 4: to watch you guys grow as people and have your
Speaker 4: own families and the things, and and it was just
Speaker 4: it's just been like, really, when you talk about people,
Speaker 4: I think about that a lot. Gus we're supportive of
Speaker 4: each other and they're for each other. And and I
Speaker 4: watched just from the other side of the door, you
Speaker 4: guys do all that. I love that a lot of
Speaker 4: those people are part of my family too.
Speaker 2: Likewise, like I mean, we I think we met during
Speaker 2: the Adam and Miley like dance battle. Yeah, we had
Speaker 2: a YouTube dance YouTube dance because I was really close
Speaker 2: with Adam's brother v. We're in a boy band together
Speaker 2: and a great band. Oh yeah, And so I met
Speaker 2: you through you filming dance, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like to me, your storytelling has always been like music driven. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And so like on the flip side, we've all gotten
Speaker 2: to watch you like go from project to project and
Speaker 2: see your growth and see your family grow, and it's
Speaker 2: been like this wonderful, like beautiful experience and also something
Speaker 2: for all of us to be so proud of where
Speaker 2: it feels like like one of us, you know. And yeah,
Speaker 2: also because like you're just I know, people see you
Speaker 2: and you're like, he's this big, huge director, which you are,
Speaker 2: but also you're just like the kindest, like normal, approachable human,
Speaker 2: which I also think is really just lovely to see.
Speaker 2: And I think you also see that reflected in like
Speaker 2: the crazy media press tours of it all how which
Speaker 2: also goes back to you know, my original question about
Speaker 2: like collaboration. Because you're at the top, you set the
Speaker 2: tone for everything, and just knowing you as a human,
Speaker 2: it makes so much sense to me of why everybody
Speaker 2: feels this way. Yeah, sort of under your stewardship. But
Speaker 2: you know, I've never been and I I haven't directed
Speaker 2: a huge studio films, and so I know things start
Speaker 2: at the top and you hope they trickle down, but
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the intentional or not that process.
Speaker 4: It's yeah, it's intentional. Yes, it's intentional because in order
Speaker 4: from what I found is that I work best when
Speaker 4: there isn't people trying to crowd the court. I've discovered
Speaker 4: through all these years that when everybody when there's when
Speaker 4: someone who takes like the oxygen out of the room
Speaker 4: in a bad way or an ego way, or distrustful way.
Speaker 4: I don't. I can't step in like I don't have
Speaker 4: like I don't think it's worth it. I'm like, I
Speaker 4: have my ideas, and I hope people like want these ideas,
Speaker 4: and I'm going to go give it to you. And
Speaker 4: I work best when when I have an environment of
Speaker 4: people like John, what do you What do you have
Speaker 4: to say? Like, let's open up the court for you
Speaker 4: and go run. It's like Forrest Gump, like just go John,
Speaker 4: and I can do that. But when people are blocking
Speaker 4: and they don't, they're taking the space. I don't take
Speaker 4: the space. So I've just learned to like And doesn't
Speaker 4: mean I find people that don't say anything or something.
Speaker 4: I find people who don't feel threatened by hearing other
Speaker 4: ideas but also have a vision and who are not pushovers,
Speaker 4: because I don't like someone who just floats anyway. I
Speaker 4: want you don't want a yes man. I don't want
Speaker 4: a yes man. I want people who love what they do.
Speaker 4: That's probably the number one thing that you love what
Speaker 4: you do. You'd willing to stay up four in the
Speaker 4: morning or get up at four in the morning just
Speaker 4: to do it because it's your life's dream. And we
Speaker 4: get to do this and you recognize that this is
Speaker 4: it that we have in our life, because that also
Speaker 4: makes feels my passion because I love what we get
Speaker 4: to do. And so I start there like who we
Speaker 4: bring in got to be the best of the best.
Speaker 4: There's no compromise of that. But you also have to
Speaker 4: love it. It can't be some other obsession. It has
Speaker 4: to be this. And then we start communicating at our
Speaker 4: currency level. So I when I meet someone or I
Speaker 4: bring them in, I need to understand that we that
Speaker 4: we don't have to have the same currency of why
Speaker 4: we're here, but we have to. I have to understand
Speaker 4: that what I want or what I'm aiming for fulfills
Speaker 4: or is in parallel or whatever cross sections your currency
Speaker 4: for why you're doing it. Why do you want to
Speaker 4: do this? What do you need from this when you
Speaker 4: come out of this, Oh, Cynthia, you want to try
Speaker 4: something new, put on a new thing, or go worldwide
Speaker 4: or whatever it may be. Does that cross over with
Speaker 4: my vision of retelling the American fairy tale and questioning that, Oh, yes,
Speaker 4: you want to talk about it in this way, but
Speaker 4: I want to talk about Okay, So the combination is
Speaker 4: going to be really interesting and you are Brande. Oh
Speaker 4: you've never let a movie before. Okay, I've directed people
Speaker 4: who haven't done it. I know the difficulties of that.
Speaker 4: I know how to protect you. But I also know
Speaker 4: that you have to be ready for this. Can I
Speaker 4: see those little do I? Can I see the hints
Speaker 4: of knowing that she can be ready for this? Away
Speaker 4: she wait ready for this. It's like old baby. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and then we can work together to find that and
Speaker 4: so anyway that that's where it starts. And and then
Speaker 4: when we go I'm like, I love to visualize and communicate.
Speaker 4: It's always communication. That's number one when we're making a creative, collaborative,
Speaker 4: giant project. And so I fill rooms with with with words,
Speaker 4: with images, with models, with videos that I'm always cutting together,
Speaker 4: so everyone has as much of stuff in the digital
Speaker 4: soup and in the physical soup as possible. So whatever
Speaker 4: we're every and I give a lot of people freedom
Speaker 4: to yes and everything. I tries to say no as
Speaker 4: little as possible, just to like see where we go. Yeah,
Speaker 4: then we can then we can really minimize and and
Speaker 4: and actually like focus and have clarity on what we're
Speaker 4: trying to say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Wow. When you're like planning something that is
Speaker 2: this big, Yeah, as is bohemous. What is the I
Speaker 2: guess maybe like the workflow for you in terms of
Speaker 2: when you're getting what's coming up first? I guess right,
Speaker 2: like the production design is casting is figuring out where
Speaker 2: you're going to shoot this damp thing?
Speaker 4: Like what?
Speaker 2: And are all these things happening happening simultaneously or is
Speaker 2: there like a process for you in which I need
Speaker 2: to know this before I can do this, and I
Speaker 2: need to know that before that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, at a certain point, things are happening all the
Speaker 4: same time. But but but in terms of layering, it
Speaker 4: starts with the script. Like I get on board, they
Speaker 4: call me, they what do you think about Wicked? I
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I'm down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you approached about it because there's been so
Speaker 2: many you know, like almost it's almost happened so many times. Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: And then like ring ring, I was watching those.
Speaker 4: Same articles and reading those things that I actually I
Speaker 4: actually email my my team like what's going on with Wicked? Dude?
Speaker 4: They keep missing these dates and I want to see
Speaker 4: that movie. And by the way, is that a sign
Speaker 4: that they're having trouble? Because I know how to make
Speaker 4: this movie? I know exactly what to do, Like I
Speaker 4: knew I knew what this movie was since I first
Speaker 4: saw it.
Speaker 2: What was that feeling? Like, what was the thing?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: This is how, this is how I would do it.
Speaker 2: I know your way into it.
Speaker 4: My way into what it was. It was so much
Speaker 4: the relationship between these two women. I mean, that's obvious now,
Speaker 4: but when I first saw it was before I was
Speaker 4: on Broadway, and it was so clearly, like, Wow, that
Speaker 4: is so smart that you're reinventing the American fairy tale
Speaker 4: from the inside out through the relationship of these two women,
Speaker 4: of bringing two very different women together and finding their
Speaker 4: power together. And I'm like me being in college at
Speaker 4: the time that I watched it, going through film school,
Speaker 4: I under and letting go of my childhood American fairy
Speaker 4: Tale of the Wizard of Oz and ushering in a
Speaker 4: new idea of friendship. What happened to those friends that
Speaker 4: you had for all those years? What happened to the
Speaker 4: person you were all those years who you're turning into.
Speaker 4: What is the new? Do you still have that optimism
Speaker 4: or is the world actually way different than what you
Speaker 4: thought and you're going to change because of it? Like
Speaker 4: all those questions were happening at the same time, and
Speaker 4: a musical form. And I was going to film school,
Speaker 4: so I saw the shots. I saw the world of
Speaker 4: Oz is not a dream. It's a real physical place,
Speaker 4: and these are real relationships, and like, let's get in,
Speaker 4: let's get in, like.
Speaker 2: To make it into your head already, Yeah, and never
Speaker 2: thinking in a weird way more like a fan fiction
Speaker 2: thing that would be so cool, right, yeah, but like
Speaker 2: it's probably your subconscious over all those years.
Speaker 4: It's like, and the idea of a musical as the biggest,
Speaker 4: most epic musical ever created by Hollywood, Like yeah, like
Speaker 4: show that we still can do it and use visual
Speaker 4: effects and sets and stunts and live singing in ways
Speaker 4: that we can give theater to everybody, but also cinema
Speaker 4: to everybody. That all of them are like one upping
Speaker 4: each other and and as big as any and as
Speaker 4: big a swing as any musical ever had. Yeah, to me,
Speaker 4: like that was that was And they came to me
Speaker 4: during COVID lockdown, So in a way, we didn't even
Speaker 4: know if movies were going to be made anymore.
Speaker 2: Like, are people are ever going to go back to
Speaker 2: the movie theater?
Speaker 4: Yeah, go for it. John. Let's see, we think we
Speaker 4: think musicals are dead, we think movies are dead. We're
Speaker 4: not sure we all going to touch each other or see
Speaker 4: each other again, but if you want to try.
Speaker 2: It was also that weird era like right after that,
Speaker 2: where there are a couple like musicals that like people
Speaker 2: weren't advertising as musicals. Yeah, you know, there's like that
Speaker 2: whole thing where it's like what is everybody doing?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I do have I do have a philosophy about
Speaker 4: that though, because we advertise musicals and so there is
Speaker 4: an issue. There is an actual physical issue because every
Speaker 4: time I'm like, guys, show all the music, and like
Speaker 4: you try to do all the music because it's getting crazy.
Speaker 4: Change is lyrics. If you try to do like like
Speaker 4: trailers have to be so ancise. The moment you put
Speaker 4: a song in, you better stick to that song a
Speaker 4: little longer, just switch, and the moment you switch, it's
Speaker 4: like mayhem, and then the words better be right and
Speaker 4: they're not always in the right place. So there is
Speaker 4: an actual technical that we never talked about because.
Speaker 2: Let the people know, this is my soapbox.
Speaker 4: Hey, it's way more difficult. You can put a dance
Speaker 4: movement in something fine sure, but actually physically a person.
Speaker 4: You know, in trailers, we're constantly cutting different things together
Speaker 4: and different word together to give a cohesive, simplified idea
Speaker 4: of the movie. That people get it when you have songs,
Speaker 4: they're just not that like concise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, it's fair. That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's why, like we have we actually have a couple.
Speaker 4: If you watch the Wicked trailer evolution, there are some
Speaker 4: that we just were like, okay, now let's do the
Speaker 4: version where we just do all the music and it's
Speaker 4: like one actually I thought went really well and I
Speaker 4: was like, that's actually awesome. But you have to have
Speaker 4: such a talented music editor in your and that's not
Speaker 4: part of the movie. This is part of a whole
Speaker 4: nother department of market. Yeah, all these companies. Yeah, that's
Speaker 4: someone who really understands it, and the composer has to
Speaker 4: approve it. The original composer, Stephen Schwartz, doesn't like, sorry,
Speaker 4: you guys, start over and you just spent six weeks
Speaker 4: so Steven anyway, it's a.
Speaker 1: Lot, guys, every piece, every piece is that The.
Speaker 4: Thing about a musical is that people don't realize the
Speaker 4: technical how technical it really is. Because if you're doing
Speaker 4: the musical right, it's supposed to look really easy. It's
Speaker 4: supposed to never look sweaty, almost not be a musical
Speaker 4: at all. You just feel it, every ounce of it,
Speaker 4: every rhythm, every can ruin it, every sound effect. How
Speaker 4: much folly do you hear when they close the door
Speaker 4: and they're singing the song, or do you not do
Speaker 4: that at all? And every filmmaker has their own philosophy
Speaker 4: about that. You guys on the show had a philosophy
Speaker 4: at how sound and music should play together or how
Speaker 4: reality and those things relat together. And every filmmaker has
Speaker 4: to make that choice, if they even know they had
Speaker 4: to make that choice. Some people who are starting a
Speaker 4: musical have never made a musical. Suddenly you're in it
Speaker 4: and you're like, oh that, there's not like a rule.
Speaker 4: You're like, no, it's like, how what do you go?
Speaker 2: It's a taste. It's a taste level thing.
Speaker 4: Yes, and sometimes it takes you a whole movie to
Speaker 4: figure out what your taste or what your strategy is
Speaker 4: with this, and that by the end you're like, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm done, i gotta do another one. And then people
Speaker 4: don't do another one because they're too scared.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was actually thinking about those little things you
Speaker 2: were saying about sound. So you and I ran into
Speaker 2: you and Chris at the Grove when Wicked came out
Speaker 2: last year, and I remember you ran. You ran out
Speaker 2: of the theater because you wanted to like adjust the
Speaker 2: sound because it was quiet. For the record, I think
Speaker 2: the Grove has terrible sound anyway, they always have. But
Speaker 2: you don't have to say that.
Speaker 1: I was saying, I.
Speaker 2: Never go to that theater. That was the one time
Speaker 2: I went to that theater because I already had tickets
Speaker 2: with my friends. But I boycott that location anyway. But
Speaker 2: I when I went to see it in New York
Speaker 2: at a different AMC, and the sound was great, and
Speaker 2: I was thinking about and no, good deed, there's so
Speaker 2: much going on. There's so much you know, sound effects
Speaker 2: and fully things happening, but you can still hear every
Speaker 2: every instrument, Cynthia's voice coming through and like that perfect balance.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I don't know what John's on,
Speaker 2: but whatever is happening, it is all sounding correct in
Speaker 2: my ears like it is. I'm seeing and hearing every
Speaker 2: single thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's our mixed team is amazing,
Speaker 4: Andy Nelson, Simon Hayes, who's recording the live, actual singing live, unreal,
Speaker 4: and are John Marcus are mixed everybody, and we're all
Speaker 4: in the room together, and we already because we did
Speaker 4: in the Heights, we already have a full philosophy about
Speaker 4: how much we want to hear. I want it to
Speaker 4: feel real. I want to feel like it's emerging from
Speaker 4: from a from a person's so it feels like dialogue,
Speaker 4: but of course it escalates again, so and then how
Speaker 4: much the wing flaps interrupts her lyrics or things like that.
Speaker 4: That's but I also know how important it is to
Speaker 4: hear those lyrics. There's one lyric in there that I
Speaker 4: wish it was more clear, but we look went through
Speaker 4: all the live versions and couldn't get quite the clarity,
Speaker 4: and so you know, we're just eking it in. But yeah, anyway, yeah,
Speaker 4: so it's a constant, constant tweaking there.
Speaker 1: Obviously, you have like two of the best singers in
Speaker 1: the world who led this with you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, it's just like it's not important at all,
Speaker 3: but no, they absolutely truly incredible, And so I know
Speaker 3: that they've spoken about this in press where you guys
Speaker 3: made the decision that you were going to sing live,
Speaker 3: So was there in your mind was there any other
Speaker 3: option before they were cast where you're like, oh, we
Speaker 3: might have to pre record this, or were you open
Speaker 3: to the pre recording or were you passionate about the
Speaker 3: live being element being there because of you know, the
Speaker 3: performances as it's been done before in other movie musicals.
Speaker 4: Yeah, when we were doing In the Heights and we're
Speaker 4: shooting here in Washington Heights, it was a beautiful experience
Speaker 4: because I have nothing against pre records, like I love
Speaker 4: pre records. If the intention of the scene is in
Speaker 4: the pre record, there's a version of the pre record
Speaker 4: that you do before you even start. That's part of
Speaker 4: the rehearsals and part of the things. And then you
Speaker 4: discover what you're doing, and then you should record re
Speaker 4: record that. Yes, oh yeah, the money to rerecord it,
Speaker 4: you should be doing that, yea. And I think sometimes
Speaker 4: people don't do that, and so then you feel that separation. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but in the Heights, we would rerecord it every few
Speaker 4: weeks because our guys are in rehearsals, things would change
Speaker 4: and so it stayed in parallel with us. And then
Speaker 4: when we're on set. What we realized is there's nothing.
Speaker 4: It's hard to do live because there's buses and cars
Speaker 4: and people that don't give us here in New York
Speaker 4: that you're shooting a musical. And yeah, so it was
Speaker 4: really hard to do live all the time. But there
Speaker 4: were moments where we got to do it, or when
Speaker 4: we felt like it was clear enough and you could
Speaker 4: you could record and see and get and possibly get
Speaker 4: something from this. And that was an amazing experience, which
Speaker 4: meant we have We had a pianist every day on
Speaker 4: set ready to go, and we did more live than
Speaker 4: I expected in here in Washing Heights, on the streets
Speaker 4: and suddenly you're singing in the middle of a sidewalk
Speaker 4: or in a subway and there's a live pianist and
Speaker 4: your everyone's and no one can hear it, and you're
Speaker 4: just hearing the vocals, but you could hear it in
Speaker 4: your ears, the on your on your calms to the
Speaker 4: pianists and her or him and I and I always
Speaker 4: loved that. I felt like that's where we were getting
Speaker 4: the juice. And so with these these ladies of course
Speaker 4: coming in, I was like, they can do it, and
Speaker 4: we're on sound stages essentially like we're not going.
Speaker 2: To a placement.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you try it, but I don't. I don't know
Speaker 4: how they feel. They may want their their vocals super pristine,
Speaker 4: and we're just gonna have to do what we did
Speaker 4: and in the heights where we just keep re recording
Speaker 4: until we find the right one and maybe even after
Speaker 4: once we shot the scene, we recorded again. So that
Speaker 4: was the technique we began with record the pre records
Speaker 4: when they first arrived because I wanted They had never
Speaker 4: gone through Wicked School with Stephen Schwartz and Steven Arimas,
Speaker 4: so I go through Wicked School. Just just do it.
Speaker 4: Just get to know them. I we will. We have
Speaker 4: not even had rehearsals yet, so then you come to
Speaker 4: me and then we'll discover the character. So just take
Speaker 4: it as like a physical, uh, muscle memory exercise. And
Speaker 4: they did that with Stephen and Stephen, and then they
Speaker 4: also did muscle movement exercises with Chris Scott to just
Speaker 4: get movement in and so he could assess what they
Speaker 4: can or cannot do. He's getting languages from them, like
Speaker 4: movement languages of where they're thinking. Even though none of
Speaker 4: them have talked to me. Yet. I mean we've met,
Speaker 4: but not really. Like then we got into a room
Speaker 4: and we start Then me and the girls start working
Speaker 4: on these scenes and we start to discover these characters
Speaker 4: and we're like, oh, actually, yeah, Alphabet actually moves more
Speaker 4: than we expect from the Wicked Witch to the West.
Speaker 4: She actually has more dignity for herself than you think
Speaker 4: in the joke of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Speaker 4: Because since it's bringing that, okay, that means her movement
Speaker 4: is different. So bring that to your rehearsals next time
Speaker 4: and let me all come in there and make sure
Speaker 4: he understands what we're trying to talk about here. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and bring that into the show. Oh, Steven's trying to
Speaker 4: push you to be have that cackle, but actually that
Speaker 4: cackle should come from a place of joy actually, and
Speaker 4: that it's like it's like a laugh that you're a
Speaker 4: belly laugh. So like, rather than the iconic laugh, do
Speaker 4: the belly laugh version, and so let me talk to Steven.
Speaker 4: So we do it step by step as we build
Speaker 4: both and so by the time we actually get to set,
Speaker 4: we know all of it. We probably haven't re recorded
Speaker 4: that voice, and so we were like, let's just record
Speaker 4: it live. We have the best Simon Hayes, the best
Speaker 4: recorder is, you know, on set for live stuff. He
Speaker 4: did le Mis, he did all these things, so he's like,
Speaker 4: I could do it, John. So he's hiding mics in
Speaker 4: their hats, and sometimes we have mics on their skin
Speaker 4: because there's no clothes up here, and we're just painting
Speaker 4: those out later. So we're trying to get the clearest sound,
Speaker 4: and sometimes that's annoying. Sometimes the girls are like I
Speaker 4: can feel the weight, and you're like, I know, but
Speaker 4: we're doing this live, like I need a mic somewhere,
Speaker 4: and so we're constantly trying to figure things out, and
Speaker 4: then you record it and you realize, oh, the live
Speaker 4: version is absolutely one that's connecting. Let's just do it
Speaker 4: the next day. Let's do it the next day. And
Speaker 4: by the end you're like, nobody wants to do it
Speaker 4: not live. Yeah, you always have the option. Yeah. To me,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I never if you come in sick today,
Speaker 4: I need you next week, don't worry about it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: let's do it and we'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So and then I remember happens, to be honest, all
Speaker 4: the fifty something days that we shot.
Speaker 2: Not to get too into the weeds about that, but.
Speaker 4: Actually live they did happen a couple of days that
Speaker 4: they got sick, but they pushed through it and it
Speaker 4: actually helps the performance in a where you could hear
Speaker 4: their voice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 3: It's so effective. It's effective in every way that they
Speaker 3: showed up. It just it was like the performance when
Speaker 3: you're sick, it doesn't you know, if you're performing, it
Speaker 3: works if you're not, like one hundred and two fevers.
Speaker 2: You have two people like that who are used to
Speaker 2: live performing and probably pushing through those things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2: They know how to work around it.
Speaker 1: Like we're not sacking insurance.
Speaker 4: Yeah we did one hundred and sixty shows, we did
Speaker 4: a hundred whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like we've been watching a lot of musicals on
Speaker 2: this podcast lately, like different movie musicals, and I'm always
Speaker 2: just fascinated. You don't have to go into two in
Speaker 2: depth about this, but because you answered a lot of it.
Speaker 2: But when you're recording the live, obviously we want the
Speaker 2: live because there's the emotion, the rawness of it, but
Speaker 2: the recording, like the mics you're using themselves obviously different.
Speaker 2: If you're in a recording booth with that sound and
Speaker 2: those mics that are made exactly for that, and you're
Speaker 2: using probably like mics that are maybe made to capture dialogue.
Speaker 2: And then you have Cynthia flying and she's singing, Like
Speaker 2: how are you able to sort of like bridge that
Speaker 2: gap maybe of like having a vocal, a singing vocal
Speaker 2: that still sounds good up against music that is cinema
Speaker 2: worthy and also I think you know still makes the
Speaker 2: audience feel like you do in the theater. For example,
Speaker 2: when she's singing define gravity and you have that emotional reaction,
Speaker 2: which I imagine helps having the live singing because you're
Speaker 2: in a complete crient medium. But like the technicality aspect
Speaker 2: of recording the vocal and then mixing it afterwards to
Speaker 2: make sure it still sounds like studio quality.
Speaker 4: I guess we got Simon Hayes, who's the best of
Speaker 4: the best, and he's also like super militant about the quiet,
Speaker 4: Like there was we be shooting in a warehouse and
Speaker 4: like we're not warehouse of our stage and it's a
Speaker 4: brand new stage and we have this whole jungle that
Speaker 4: we built, so this forest and every time Cynthia would sing,
Speaker 4: you'd hear birds in the right afters they start singing
Speaker 4: because they made nests, and you're like, what the heck
Speaker 4: is that. You're like, oh, these are birds. They only
Speaker 4: sing when Cynthia is singing, which is wow, it's like
Speaker 4: amazing anyway, and so Simon was like, those birds they're
Speaker 4: on your track. We've got to get them off this track.
Speaker 4: And so he started playing these birds of prey sounds.
Speaker 4: He's like, to scare the birds. He's quiet, and Cynthia heard.
Speaker 4: She's like, what the hell is that? And like, that's
Speaker 4: that's We're trying to scare the birds so that they
Speaker 4: don't go on the track. Cleinging tracks just for you.
Speaker 4: And she's like, that will not happen, not on the sets.
Speaker 4: Tell them, do not play those sounds. If they're on
Speaker 4: my track, then God wants them to be on my.
Speaker 2: Nimals do.
Speaker 4: It's in her and the reality is those those birds
Speaker 4: are sometimes on her track. And that's what you can
Speaker 4: get along. You can get away with a lot. You know,
Speaker 4: we also have, you know, our our mixed team after
Speaker 4: you know. I think the hardest part about directing a
Speaker 4: musical is that director's role of pulling the thread through
Speaker 4: is way more important, because a musical walks on this
Speaker 4: fine edge of of permission to do what it does.
Speaker 4: And I won't say cringe because I think that I
Speaker 4: think cringe is a nasty word by pessimists who don't
Speaker 4: want to just see joy. But I will say that
Speaker 4: I understand the that that an audience in a cinema
Speaker 4: has to agree to this, to entering this world of
Speaker 4: the musical, and has to agree to believe in the
Speaker 4: realities of the rules of a musical world, and that
Speaker 4: if you cross that reality, how annoying that can be.
Speaker 4: You have to stick with the things that you you
Speaker 4: had set up in the first ten minutes of the movie.
Speaker 4: And I think that as a director your your movie,
Speaker 4: that line is walked by every element of your movie.
Speaker 4: That's in the color, that's in the costume, that's in
Speaker 4: the pacing of the editing, that's in how where you're
Speaker 4: making cuts, that's in the sound mix of where does
Speaker 4: the instruments feel like they come from, how the entrances
Speaker 4: and exits of those, the transitions of that, that is
Speaker 4: in the actual mix of of of of of the
Speaker 4: urgency of things. It comes in a lot of different forms. Yeah,
Speaker 4: own jokes, how you play jokes, is or winked to
Speaker 4: an audience? Is there not? Or does anybody look at
Speaker 4: the camera? Do we brave that forth? Like, these are
Speaker 4: all things that one misstep and you're and you lose
Speaker 4: the audience really quickly. So you have to pull that thread,
Speaker 4: just just as a medium, the director has to pull
Speaker 4: that thread from the very words on the script all
Speaker 4: the way to the delivery of the color when you're
Speaker 4: color timing, and the and and the coughs that you
Speaker 4: hear in the mix, or the saliva that you hear
Speaker 4: when they singing or or sniffles that they hear when
Speaker 4: they're off camera and crying. That that that alone is
Speaker 4: a big task for that And that's not even talking
Speaker 4: about how you tell the story. That's just technical tone.
Speaker 4: And I'm not even talking about technical like actually tech,
Speaker 4: but like technical as in how you keep the how
Speaker 4: you agree to the rules of this world. Then you
Speaker 4: have to get into the actual storytelling of where you
Speaker 4: pull the audience into the drama or to the comedy
Speaker 4: of it. So anyway, I forget the question, but that's
Speaker 4: great that pull through. I have to know my conversations
Speaker 4: with Cynthia and Ariana in a office building that we
Speaker 4: discussed a certain scene, because if I don't follow through
Speaker 4: with that on the other end, they'll be doing stuff
Speaker 4: that doesn't matter. But if I bring that into the
Speaker 4: mix and say, hey, for good, is something where they're
Speaker 4: actually looking at each other and speaking these things, and
Speaker 4: so let's play it as dialogue. So let's let's minimize
Speaker 4: that orchestration. Even though we have one hundred piece orchestra,
Speaker 4: they have amazing stuff. I want to hear the and
Speaker 4: you would never hear the leaves blow by, but in
Speaker 4: that one space, let the leaves blow by. I want
Speaker 4: to feel the space between them and have that. Let's
Speaker 4: hear the rustling of the branches in there, so we
Speaker 4: can feel the loneliness or whatever like, or feel how
Speaker 4: high they are by the type of winds that you have.
Speaker 4: And so I can conform that because of our conversations
Speaker 4: way back then and anyway, when those things start to
Speaker 4: tie together, it becomes much more cohesive experience that every
Speaker 4: element is carrying you lyrically in this that I think
Speaker 4: it is a musicality, Kevin. I know we talk a
Speaker 4: lot about musicality because I think that's something I discovered
Speaker 4: when working with dancers It's like there are dancers and
Speaker 4: they do things, and some people do tricks and whatever,
Speaker 4: but that's not dancing. To me, Like the highest bar
Speaker 4: of dancing is someone with musicality, because musicality isn't about
Speaker 4: what you're trained to do. It is about interpreting the music,
Speaker 4: and if the music changes, your musicality better change. Otherwise
Speaker 4: what are you doing. You're just doing a routine that
Speaker 4: you learned. But if your dance movement changes because the
Speaker 4: song changes, it means you're connected to that song. And
Speaker 4: I learned to respect that so much working with dancers
Speaker 4: that that's what I look for, number one. And in
Speaker 4: a weird way, I look for that musicality in all
Speaker 4: of life, whether that's an actor or a cinematographer or
Speaker 4: a costume designer, that they are reacting to the fabric
Speaker 4: of the emotion of a scene or of life. The
Speaker 4: messiness of life is well, but they're interpreting and finding
Speaker 4: in their medium. And to me, if I get to
Speaker 4: bring that and connect the dots to that, like that
Speaker 4: is the power of cinema. You get to sit back
Speaker 4: and experience all of those things together in concert.
Speaker 2: Somebody said that because I see that in all your work.
Speaker 2: You've always done that and like how music has always
Speaker 2: led your storytelling in that way, the musicality of it all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you John. Before we let you go, we
Speaker 1: always ask people on the podcast what is the feeling
Speaker 1: that Lee leaves you with? But since we're talking about
Speaker 1: Wicked here, I'm going to ask you what is the
Speaker 1: feeling that Wicked leaves you with?
Speaker 4: Let me answer both, okay, Because I love Glee and
Speaker 4: I love being around you all during that time, and
Speaker 4: there is this this this dreamy aspect of seeing you
Speaker 4: guys walk lunch together with all the pas and the
Speaker 4: golf car going crazy, or you guys in different costumes
Speaker 4: every day, and it just to me was like this
Speaker 4: youthful joy. And I every day I go out and
Speaker 4: see that happening, and you guys were always so kind
Speaker 4: to me. I was just the weird guy who's editing
Speaker 4: a movie over there. I felt. I felt like that's
Speaker 4: the dream of a creative environment that you want to
Speaker 4: be in, that you can do the both most excellent
Speaker 4: work and be affecting the world and have so much
Speaker 4: fun and joy no matter how intense it was. And
Speaker 4: I saw you guys on tour, I saw how the intensity.
Speaker 4: I saw how exhausted that is, and I felt for
Speaker 4: you as well. But you never I never saw you
Speaker 4: guys treat fans in a way that didn't include them
Speaker 4: in that joy. And I because I knew behind and
Speaker 4: in front of the scenes, I knew that that was true.
Speaker 4: So I just I always looked up to that. And
Speaker 4: I think I wanted in Wicked to really feel that
Speaker 4: we could be the most do the most excellent work.
Speaker 4: We could break all these precedences that were set before us.
Speaker 4: That we could have a queer man and a queer
Speaker 4: woman play a couple in the movie, and we didn't
Speaker 4: have to talk about it. Yeah, we have a woman
Speaker 4: who uses a wheelchair to play Nessa for the first
Speaker 4: time ever and we didn't have to talk about it.
Speaker 4: That we could have an Asian matter morrible. And by
Speaker 4: the way, did you guys know that Madam Horrible upside
Speaker 4: Down is like Wicked? Pretty amazing? Ye?
Speaker 2: That did you just come up with that?
Speaker 4: And and to me, so you can have a musical
Speaker 4: that said something about our world and and actually affect
Speaker 4: the world and bring joy out there. So anyway, I
Speaker 4: guess I hope that people get get a little bit
Speaker 4: of what I got from when I was the observer,
Speaker 4: that you can do all of it. You can have
Speaker 4: a beautiful set, you can make great work, and you
Speaker 4: can break ground, and that all exists together and it's
Speaker 4: not about toy.
Speaker 2: That's so nice of you to say. It's yeah, thank
Speaker 2: you for saying that.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the reflection.
Speaker 3: It's nice to hear from somebody who was there, who
Speaker 3: got to see those early days, and.
Speaker 1: For us to see you.
Speaker 3: Continue to wear your heart and storytelling on your sleeves
Speaker 3: and it literally like seep into every piece of work
Speaker 3: and every detail from the rustling of the wind to
Speaker 3: how high the wind is, like it's so divine and
Speaker 3: so inspiring, and it's truly. I wish there were more
Speaker 3: John Che's out there, and I know there are, and
Speaker 3: I hope that people listening to this are inspired to
Speaker 3: go do the thing that you're doing and do it
Speaker 3: with such grace and detail and finite. You know, I
Speaker 3: don't know the feelings like I am just always so
Speaker 3: inspired by you, and we're just so grateful that we got.
Speaker 1: To connect with you again and have you here and
Speaker 1: hear you talk.
Speaker 3: We could hear you talk for hours and hours and hours,
Speaker 3: but We're just it's just wonderful to see you again
Speaker 3: and your words.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, thank you so much for spending so much
Speaker 2: time with us. We appreciate it. The busiest man in Hollywood,
Speaker 2: true truly.
Speaker 3: Good luck with the workshop today is one.
Speaker 4: Of the best. It is a musical, especially it does
Speaker 4: a musical making it a musical.
Speaker 2: Is there a wedding scene in it? The beauty is
Speaker 2: the beautiful wedding.
Speaker 1: Do you love weddings because all the weddings are just.
Speaker 4: So many weddings growing up. But I'm like, I know
Speaker 4: how to do it.
Speaker 2: It makes so much The two most beautiful, like cinematic
Speaker 2: weddings I've ever seen in films aren't for you and
Speaker 2: crazy irritations. I was like, this knows how to do
Speaker 2: a wedding.
Speaker 4: I told you I love weddings, and I get to
Speaker 4: control the wedding.
Speaker 2: Yes, are you? Oh my gosh, we love it.
Speaker 4: Thanks?
Speaker 1: Thank you, John Bye, Oh my gosh, she's so sweet.
Speaker 1: Uh John, true everybody John.
Speaker 2: Just John. I feel like we just need to do
Speaker 2: like a yearly check in with him.
Speaker 3: I mean, I just want to hear to speak about
Speaker 3: I mean, we barely scratch the surface and it's like.
Speaker 1: Just the detail in which he knows how to.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 3: People know can direct whatever, but to direct on the
Speaker 3: level that he's directing on and you hurt it yourself
Speaker 3: paying attention to the detail every word that he hangs
Speaker 3: on from every person in the camp like is really
Speaker 3: it's what elevates.
Speaker 1: His stuff and makes it so good.
Speaker 3: And you can tell that he truly does love what
Speaker 3: he does, whether he's shooting a wedding, somebody's wedding or
Speaker 3: shooting a wedding at the highest level.
Speaker 2: So I think that's also what makes me like him
Speaker 2: a really great director for the Wicked movies, because he
Speaker 2: sees it in a way like we all want to
Speaker 2: be seen like he does it in a way that's
Speaker 2: so approachable. And I mean that in like the best
Speaker 2: way possible, where like Wicked could have gone wrong in
Speaker 2: so many.
Speaker 1: Ways no I know, but he knew.
Speaker 2: He knew. You can revere something you know like you
Speaker 2: have the utmost respect for it and still have your
Speaker 2: vision for it where you can bring in new audiences
Speaker 2: around the world to something that I've never seen it
Speaker 2: and they can love it. And then you can also
Speaker 2: bring in people who have loved the stage show for
Speaker 2: forever and they can also love it, and that's a
Speaker 2: really hard balance to strike. And Yeah, I think he's
Speaker 2: really found because you can hear. I'm so glad people
Speaker 2: can hear just how much he cares deeply, not just
Speaker 2: about the final product, but about every little thing that
Speaker 2: goes into the process, the people he's surrounding himself with,
Speaker 2: and his love and understanding of the story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you John for literally taking the time to
Speaker 3: go to a workshop. Yeah, you go direct a workshop
Speaker 3: for crazy djation, It's no big deal.
Speaker 1: And for you guys to hope you guys enjoyed the
Speaker 1: conversation and come back next week.
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