Michelle Yeoh reveals how the ‘Wicked’ cast feels about Jon M. Chu not getting the Oscar nom he deserved

The actress appeared on The View on Jan. 23, 2025 and praised Wicked‘s many nominations. Yeoh, who plays Madame Morrible, said, “We are all crying from joy, but we must say we are also crying because Jon M. Chu and Alice Brooks… were not nominated but the rest of us are celebrating… It is major.”

Wicked received 10 Oscar nominations: Best Actress for Cynthia Erivo, Best ing Actress for Ariana Grande, Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Editing, and Best Original Score. Yeoh pointed out that not only was Chu not honored in the Director category, but neither was cinematographer Brooks.

Both Chu and Brooks are a huge reason why Wicked is as visually stunning and wonderful as it is, which makes their lack of nominations particularly distressing. Chu didn’t get a Golden Globe Best Director nom either, which is equally upsetting. This begs the question, if a director who helms a movie that grosses $700 million worldwide and inspires a necessary conversation about social justice and fairness and decency gets snubbed at the Oscars, what is even the point of all this?

Sure, a lot of talented filmmakers have been kept out of this category before, like Ava DuVernay for Selma and Greta Gerwig for Barbie. In both Barbie and Wicked‘s cases, the directors are a key reason why the movies work so well, and yet both Gerwig and Chu were ignored. Barbie and Wicked have something else in common: they dominated the pop culture conversation in the years they were released, which should count for something. And, as people say, TV is a writer’s medium and movies are a director’s, so if people are going to praise a film, they’re essentially praising the person behind the camera.

There’s no doubt that Chu had a real artistic vision for Wicked that he executed perfectly. As he told IndieWire, his approach to the first movie included starting with the final song, “Defying Gravity,” and then looking back. He said, “It has to feel like the scene we’re rooting for the entire movie, which means we have to look backwards: ‘OK, if this is Elphaba and her takeoff is what we’re going to be rooting for, then who is Elphaba, and how fast can she become the center of our story?’” He added that he knew he had to ensure that Elphaba’s love of nature and animals had to be featured as well so her decision at the end would make sense. It’s a shame that Chu wasn’t honored for this vision, and although he didn’t get the nom he should have, he absolutely should be proud of the amazing work he did.

If Wicked doesn’t win Best Picture, many would say that would be another massive snub, so hopefully that wish will come true when the 97th Academy Awards air on ABC on Mar. 2, 2025. Could Chu’s next project, a Britney Spears biopic, earn him a Best Director Oscar nom? What about the Wicked sequel? One can only hope that this oversight will be fixed (for good).