Debuting on Broadway in 2003, Depraved, based mostly on a novel by Gregory Maguire, retells the occasions of The Fantastic Wizard of Oz from the attitude of the Depraved Witch of the West, Elphaba. Now, over 20 years later, the musical has been tailored into two films every based mostly on a special act of the present: 2024’s Depraved and 2025’s Depraved: For Good.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, each of the movies star Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, and Jeff Goldblum. Ever because the early days of Depraved’s success on Broadway, rumors of a cinematic adaptation have swirled; nonetheless, Marc Platt, producer of each the musical and the movie, revealed that its journey onto the massive display screen really stretched again to the Depraved e-book’s launch in 1995.
“Once I first learn Gregory McGuire’s novel ‘Depraved,’ I believed ‘this must be a movie,’” stated Platt. “It’s ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ it’s a world to construct, it’s a world to journey, and it felt very cinematic to me. The retelling that he imposed on the supply materials, ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ felt simply so related and attention-grabbing, and a superb concept. And so I began a journey creating it as a movie initially, after which at some point the nice Stephen Schwartz, a famend composer I’d been an enormous fan of his since I used to be a child, stated ‘why not flip this right into a musical?’ And I believed that’s an ideal concept, really.“
The producer continued, explaining that Oz is “a world that desires to sing.” He additionally famous that almost all mainstream audiences knew 1939’s The Wizard of Oz greater than the unique novel and that the movie’s musical numbers are a big a part of its timeless enchantment. Per Platt, musicals additionally permit the viewers to get extra direct perception into the character’s emotions and beliefs.
“Extra curiously, we had been making an attempt to inform the story of two characters who current themselves as one technique to the world they stay in, however really feel in another way inside,” added Platt. “Very like at this time, children on social media, it’s the identical manner. How do you current your self, what do you’re feeling? And in a musical, a personality can sing one factor to the world that they’re in, however then flip to the viewers, or the digicam, and sing precisely what they’re feeling, and allow us to inside. And that’s the entire key to ‘Depraved.’“
Initially, Platt “left behind the concept of a movie,” however then “it grew to become a really profitable stage musical all over the world.” He defined that “a movie appeared ripe for the journey to proceed, and [his] colleagues at Common had been like ‘when’s the film?'” Regardless of this, he waited as a result of he “wished the fan base to develop.”
As a result of Platt “thought [he’d] achieved one thing fairly effectively on stage and the bar was actually excessive,” he hesitated to make the leap to the massive display screen. In consequence, Platt took the time “to develop [his skills] as a movie producer” and “make sure that [he knew] precisely what to do.”
“I by no means felt like I needed to make the film, however I did wish to,” Platt concluded. “After which I noticed many, a few years later that the entire cause I’d really been ready, was for Jon Chu to lift his hand and say, ‘I’d like to direct these movies.‘ And that was the best name I ever received.“
Platt’s endurance paid off in the long term; Depraved was a field workplace hit and For Good is already being positively obtained amongst audiences. Concluding the Depraved saga, Depraved: For Good releases in theaters on November 21, 2025.