In a reasonably tight race, Palo Alto-born filmmaker Jon M. Chu didn’t get an Academy Award nomination for finest director Thursday, however his blockbuster film “Wicked” garnered an astounding 10 nominations for an array of awards, together with the highest prize of finest image.
And Chu couldn’t have been extra delighted, though he wasn’t personally nominated. The son of South Bay restaurateurs shared a video clip of himself leaping up and down in the mean time the most effective image nomination was introduced, shortly earlier than 6 a.m. PST. He declared that engaged on “Wicked,” a musical prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” has been “the greatest adventure of creativity I have ever been apart of.”
“It’s way too early. I had way too much coffee,” Chu started his assertion on Instagram Story. “But I was really happy for our movie. Couldn’t be more proud of our cast and crew and everyone in between who made this movie possible”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 29: Jon M. Chu attends the WSJ. Journal 2024 Innovator Awards on October 29, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Photos for WSJ. Journal Innovators Awards)
Chu additionally paid tribute to “Wicked’s” two feminine stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who every scored nominations for finest actress and finest supporting actress, respectively, for enjoying future witches Elphaba and Glinda. Chu shared another person’s submit of side-by-side childhood images of every of the ladies, saying, “Someone tell these little girls they’re nominated for an Oscar.”
“Wicked: Part 1” (Half 2, titled “Wicked: For Good,” hits theaters in November) additionally scored a number of different nominations, together with a key nod for modifying, together with unique rating, sound, manufacturing design, costumes, make-up and visible results.
In interviews and on crimson carpets, Chu actually has been having fun with “Wicked’s” success. The musical fantasy movie has grossed greater than $600 million on the international field workplace and grow to be a popular culture sensation for a lot of film followers.
“Wicked” additionally was nominated for 4 Golden Globe awards and got here away profitable the prize for cinematic and field workplace achievement earlier this month. On the Golden Globes ceremony, Chu accepted the prize on the manufacturing’s behalf.
Surrounded by Erivo, Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh and different forged and crew members, Chu started his speech by mentioning his upbringing by Chinese language immigrant dad and mom within the South Bay. His dad and mom, Lawrence and Ruth Chu, occur to be native icons who run the well-known Chef Chu’s restaurant in Los Altos. For many years, Chef Chu’s has been a vacation spot for Silicon’s Valley elite.
“They’d tell us about the yellow brick road and the place over the rainbow, where all dreams come true if you dare to dream it,” Chu stated. “So I’m up here looking at you, living the dream and looking at this beautiful, beautiful cast. It’s more beautiful than I ever thought it could be.”
In a “local boy makes good story,” Hollywood movie director Jon M. Chu (proper) returns to Chef Chu’s, his household’s restaurant run by brother Larry Chu, Jr. (left) and father Lawrence Chu, to advertise his new movie, “Crazy Rich Asians,” with movie stars Henry Golding and Constance Wu, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Los Altos, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
Chu additionally talked about his upbringing in his memoir, “Viewfinder,” which was revealed earlier than “Wicked” was launched into film theaters in November Within the ebook, he shares his considerably unconventional journey from Silicon Valley to Hollywood. Chu stated he grew up doing his homework or serving to out in his household’s restaurant, absorbing his dad and mom’ love of American popular culture in addition to the spirit of entrepreneurship alive in a few of his dad and mom’ clients.
Chu additionally started making dwelling motion pictures and finally studied movie at USC, profitable early discover for his directorial aspirations from Steven Spielberg. He constructed his resume by directing live performance movies for Justin Bieber and a number of other sequel motion pictures, together with “Step Up 2” and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” with Hayward native Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However Chu stated his dad and mom all the time inspired him to make a film about Chinese language individuals, which led him to make “Crazy Rich Asians,” his eighth function movie.
With “Crazy Rich Asians,” Chu was credited with rewriting the principles of Hollywood. He scored a vital and field workplace hit with a film primarily based on the bestselling novel by Kevin Kwan. Uncommon for Hollywood, the film additionally informed a narrative centered on Asian individuals, and it was the primary mainstream American film in 25 years that featured a principally Asian forged.
Now, Chu is gearing up for the Academy Awards. No matter occurs on the awards ceremony on March 2, Chu will instantly flip to selling “Wicked: For Good,” which is scheduled to be launched in November 21. He’s additionally been employed to develop and direct a function movie in regards to the lifetime of Britney Spears, primarily based on her best-selling memoir, “The Woman in Me.”
