Jon M. Chu wants to ‘entertain the hell’ out of people

1 day ago7 min read3 comments

Long before Jon M. Chu was the visionary tasked with bringing the emerald world of Oz to cinematic life, he was a film student at USC, home for a weekend in the Bay Area, when his mother suggested they see a new musical in its out-of-town tryout at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre.That show was *Wicked*, and in the audience that night was its producer, Marc Platt, fine-tuning what would become a Broadway behemoth. Neither man could have imagined that two decades later, their paths would converge in a Hollywood partnership destined to produce one of the most ambitious film projects in recent memory.Chu’s upbringing was steeped in what he calls 'the beautiful idea of story. ' The youngest of five in a family that owned Chef Chu’s, a beloved Chinese restaurant in Los Altos, his childhood was a blend of the immigrant dream and Silicon Valley innovation, filled with Michael Jackson videos that played like mini-musicals and Spielberg films that expanded the possibilities of narrative.This foundation fueled his journey from shooting weddings and bar mitzvahs with early editing software to USC, where a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation allowed him to create *When the Kids Are Away*, a full-blown musical that hinted at his future trajectory. His early studio work, from the choreography-driven *Step Up 2 the Streets* to the internet-savvy *Justin Bieber: Never Say Never*, built a unique skill set, but it was *Crazy Rich Asians* that truly showcased his ability to marry cultural nuance with mass appeal, a talent he has now deployed on an epic scale.The *Wicked* films, with a combined budget rumored to be around $300 million, represent a colossal gamble for Universal Pictures in an era of algorithmic content and shrinking theatrical windows. Yet, Chu sees this as the moment to fight for big stories.'You have to entertain the hell out of people,' he asserts, viewing cinema as a powerful 'empathy engine' and a portal to another world. His process is a unique alchemy of artist and engineer.He and his longtime cinematographer, Alice Brooks, whom he met at USC, begin by breaking down each scene to a single word of emotional intention, allowing every camera move and lighting choice to flow from that core feeling. On the set of *Wicked: For Good*, this method fostered magical, unplanned moments, like when Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo began ad-libbing the song 'For Good' through a closet door during a rehearsal, a moment of raw connection that made it into the final cut.'Process is how genius happens,' Chu notes. He insisted on a tactile, physically built world for Oz—tables that wobbled, doors with cracks—because he believed the audience needed to feel the high stakes of Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship in a world that couldn’t feel like a dream.Donna Langley, Chairperson of Universal Pictures, describes Chu as thriving 'at the intersection of commerce and art,' a director who is both deeply empathetic and pragmatically innovative. As AI begins to infuse every aspect of filmmaking, Chu believes it will only heighten the value of human curiosity and imperfection.'In the end,' he says, 'it’s about building something people can feel—even in a world made of pixels. ' For Chu, the showman from Silicon Valley, the mission remains timeless: to harness all the tools at his disposal, not for cold spectacle, but to create a shared, emotional experience that reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.

#Jon M. Chu

#Wicked

#film director

#box office

#musicals

#filmmaking

#Universal Pictures

#featured

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