“[It] was one of the first conversations I had.
Wicked star Marissa Bode has revealed the scene from that will differ from the musical.
Jon M Chu‘s much-anticipated film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical tells the untold story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda the Good Witch
Bode plays Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, who uses a wheelchair due to complications during her birth.
If you haven’t seen the musical and want to wait for Part 2 to learn what happens after ‘Defying Gravity‘, look away now.
Following the death of her father, which was teased at the end of the first film, Nessarose becomes the governor of Munchkinland.
However, in an effort to keep Boq (Ethan Slater) under her influence, she quickly begins to strip the Munchkins of their rights, and becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the East.
A pivotal scene in the show’s second act sees Elphaba secretly visit Nessarose. After Nessarose confronts her sister for not using her magic to help her, Elphaba enchants Nessarose’s silver slippers, giving her the power to walk.
Speaking to People, Bode, who is a wheelchair user in real-life, revealed that Chu amended the scene, so that it felt “less like a fixing moment”.
“One of the first conversations I had with Jon [was about that scene]. I wasn’t there for the actual script change,” she said.
Instead of Nessarose “pleading for a disability to be fixed”, Bode explained that the script will instead focus on the “magic in general and the magic of the story”.
“That’s all I can say, I think!” she added.
Bode went on to reveal how Chu and his team were able to create a “safe space” for her to “be vulnerable” on screen.
“I know there’s a way to make, maybe not everything, but a hell of a lot of things accessible if you really want to, and if you really actually ask the right questions to disabled people,” she said.
“Representation is not the only thing that will save us as disabled people. We need community. We need non-disabled people to make their spaces accessible.”
If you can’t wait to find out what else happens in the second act of the musical, check out our Part 2 spoilers feature here.
Wicked has been a since it landed in cinemas last month, quickly becoming the highest grossing Broadway adaptation in US box office history.
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