Where was Wicked filmed? Locations, inspirations, tulips, and a train
Posted by Ra Moon
Set in the magical land of Oz before the events of The Wizard of Oz, Wicked was filmed entirely in England.
While the film used a significant amount of CGI to bring its fantastical elements to life, such as the amazing Oz Train, the producers emphasized practical effects and large, real-world sets whenever possible.
While the film used a significant amount of CGI to bring its fantastical elements to life, such as the amazing Oz Train, the producers emphasized practical effects and large, real-world sets whenever possible.
Split in two parts filmed simultaneously, the story explores the complex friendship between Glinda the Good (played by Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the future Wicked Witch of the West.
Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, the main cast also includes Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero under the direction of Jon M. Chu.
Welcome to Oz and our spoiler-free guide to all the filming locations of Wicked. You'll find the locations in order of appearance.
The Wicked locations
The dazzling tulip field at the beginning of the movie looks real because most of it is real.
As production designer Nathan Crowley revealed to AD, they planted over 9 million tulips across 25 acres to create this colorful landscape at Belmont Nurseries lands King's Lynn in Norfolk.
Some colored bulbs don't bloom at the same time as others, so several layers of footage had to be stitched together with the set in the background to complete this sequence.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures - Map
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures - Map
The Munchkinland village set, with the iconic Yellow Brick Road, was built outside the village of Ivinghoe near Leighton Buzzard in Buckinghamshire.
Most of the sets were constructed in advance at Sky Studios Elstree in Hertfordshire.
As you can see, part of the tulip field was incorporated into the previous scene of the children running through the field.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures - Map
For the scene arriving at Shiz University, the filmmakers used images of the Seven Sisters in East Sussex combined with the River Cuckmere, located at the western base of the famous white chalk cliffs.
The river's meandering path contrasts beautifully with the sharp cliffs of the Seven Sisters in the South Downs National Park.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures, Wolfgang Glock, and Tristan Aidan - Maps: Cliffs / River
But the scene of Ephaba on a cliff edge was filmed somewhere on the Bournemouth cliffs on the Dorset coast, with the white desert CGI'd into the frame.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures and Lewis Clarke - Map
Shiz University set was also filmed in Ivinghoe, on the same farmland as the Munchkinland set, and was demolished after production.
The set sits on a huge 64,000 sq ft water tank with four feet (1.2 m) of water.
All the boats with the big sails were real: instead of adding CGI, they removed the crew members who pushed the boats.
The facade rises 52 feet (almost 16 meters), mixing all of Crowley's favorite architectural styles: Venetian staircases, Orthodox onion domes, Gothic spires, Moorish elements, windows from the Pink Palace in India, and blue and white tiles from Portugal.
Pictured on the right is the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo spiral staircase in Venice, built in the late 15th century in the Renaissance style.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures and Renato Grisa - Map
The spectacular Shiz Library sequence, the Oz Palace, and many other interiors were filmed between Sky Studios Elstree and Leavesden Studios sound stages.
Note the window in the back of Glinda and Elphaba's bedroom. It was inspired by the ones at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
For Crowley, this kind of replica of the Taj Mahal is an authentic piece of real 'Ozian' architecture in England.
The Wicked train
The Oz train station in Emerald City was inspired by the great arch Transportation Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, designed by Louis Sullivan.
This colorful Romanesque design was a temporary structure built specifically for the fair, and after the event, it was dismantled.
The Emerald City Express was an operational locomotive weighing about 50 tons.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures and Wellcome Library
The Wizard of Oz's Palace has a clear Art Deco influence. But the large windows were inspired by the Brion Tomb in Altivole, Italy.
Completed in 1978, this postmodernist memorial was also featured location in the new Dune movies.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures and Carlo Scarpa - Map
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Ra Moon
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