By Jill Brooke
How many tulips did “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu plant for the spectacular sets of the new movie?
Nine – yes nine million.
That’s a lot of tulips. In a press conference, Chu shared that the studio looked over the price and initially balked. However, as he replied, he couldn’t cut costs because “we already planted them.”
The tulips are sprinkled throughout the fields of Munchkinland.
Chu hired production designer Nathan Crowley of “Wonka” fame to oversee the eye-popping sets.
Shot in England, the production team planted 9 million tulips on 20 acres in Norfolk. He used an array of colors including red, pink and white. Furthermore, according to Architectural Digest. after the scenes were shot, the team repurposed the flowers. The tulip heads were cut off, harvested and used to make “living roofs” for the Munchkins’ homes.
Luckily Norfolk is a farming area which was perfect to create this vista. Chu and Crowley had the pressure of wanting to keep classic memories alive but also stretching the visual template to be new and fabulous. The result was rainbow stripes that dazzled.
Furthermore, Norfolk Tulips, the farm the “Wicked” team utilized, will showcase their tulips for visitors next spring.
“Wicked” has now flown into theaters with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande). Plus there is a Fleurs de Villes inspired “Wicked” installation with Glinda created by Denise Grant of Hactac Events. and Elphaba at Free Form.
The movie has also launched floral bouquets in both green and pink to celebrate the movie and Emerald City fun. So go see the movie and create a “Wicked” inspired bouquet.
Jill Brooke is a former CNN correspondent, Post columnist and editor-in-chief of Avenue and Travel Savvy magazine. She is an author and the editorial director of FPD and a contributor to Florists Review magazine. She also won the 2023 AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers.) Merit Award for showing how flowers impact history, news and culture