Next month sees the release of Wicked: For Good, the second instalment in the big screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical. While we’ll have to wait until November to see if the movie’s any good, unless it’s full of screensaver-like A.I.-generated backgrounds and secret CEO cameos, at the very least, it won’t be the most hated Wizard of Oz-themed release of the year.
But fans were seemingly a little concerned when the film’s director Jon M. Chu teased that a “mystery actor” would be voicing the film’s Cowardly Lion last week. “Wait until the red carpet when the actor who gave us the Cowardly Lion’s voice steps foot on it. It’ll be wild,” he wrote on Instagram.
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“I was like, ‘It’s not a ton of lines, but maybe you have a little time. I know you’re busy. I’ll come to you,’” Chu said of his interaction with the anonymous star. “He was like, ‘Why the fuck not, let’s go!’ And then we went ahead and recorded the lines.”
Some joked that the Cowardly Lion might become the newest beloved character to be played by Chris Pratt, using his trademark “Chris Pratt” voice.
But a lot of people seemed to be genuinely concerned that the part would end up going to James Corden, of The Late Late Show and being a dick to food service workers fame. After all, a number of Wicked fans were so against Corden landing a part in the first movie that they created a petition urging producers to avoid casting him.
When Wicked proved to be a box-office hit, some saw this as vindication of their anti-Corden beliefs. After all, way more people went to go see Wicked than the waking nightmare known as Cats.
Either because this was the plan all along, or because rumors were getting out of control, not long after Chu’s post, Universal announced that the Cowardly Lion is going to be voiced by Colman Domingo. Following this news, Wicked fans quickly took to social media to celebrate — not just because Domingo is a wonderful actor, but because this means that the role definitely won’t be played by Corden.
Instead of musical animals, perhaps Corden should stick to playing petty jerks who aren’t on screen for more than five minutes.
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