Umair
Lin-Manuel Miranda reflected on why he didn’t land a major role in of the Golden Globe-winning film, Wicked.
In a recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Hamilton creator and actor shared that he had hoped to play the role of a ‘munchkin’, who delivers an important dialogue in the opening scene of the movie.
“In the opening number of the show, this one munchkin runs out and goes, ‘Is it true you were her friend?’ Because, man, I don’t know if you’ve seen a live production of Wicked, but sometimes they really put some sauce on the ball when they deliver that line,” he explained.
“It’s where the story starts. So I was like, ‘I really wanted to do that line, Jon.’ And I was not cast.”
However, he admitted that, “it would’ve been distracting” to see him in Munchkin Land.
The Encanto songwriter then acknowledged Kristy Anne Shaw, the actress who got the role.
“The young woman who does it in the movie is great,” Miranda said, while adding, “She does it very earnestly. I would have done very Regina George, ‘Mean Girls like,’ ‘Is it true you were her friend?’ Didn’t make the cut.”
Chu previously revealed in the Wicked director’s commentary that he received “many calls” from Miranda about the role, who may have even “tweeted about it” in a last-ditch effort to join the cast also admitting that Miranda’s involvement would have been “too distracting.”
Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo as the Wicked Witch of the West and Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good, has been nominated for 10 Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards.
