Marvel Star Jeff Goldblum Cast In ‘Wizard of Oz’ Spin-Off, Despite Childhood Phobia of Witches

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Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok, edit with Elphaba from Wicked Musical

Credit: Marvel Studios, Wicked Musical

Jeff Goldblum has a deep-seated fear of witches, apparently.

Jeff Goldblum Jurassic World: Dominion
Credit: Universal Studios via YouTube

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The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Marvel Studios has brought about something uniquely successful. For decades now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) under President Kevin Feige’s exacting control has led to a deluge of mega-blockbusters and industry-redefining international movie-going experiences. The extremely popular 2017 hit, Thor: Ragnarok directed by Taika Waititi hit the superhero movie scene and changed some fundamental things for the Disney property.

Credit: Marvel Studios

This movie was particularly key in establishing a much more casual, light-hearted tone in the MCU, with more “serious” characters like Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) taking on a more comedic bent. This tonal shift worked very well in large part to the “villain” and Big Bad of the film being the incompetent-yet-powerful Grandmaster (who was nearly in last year’s Thor: Love and Thunder), leader of the trash planet Sakaar, played by the enigmatic Jeff Goldblum.

The beloved Marvel actor will now be participating in the upcoming The Wizard of Oz (1939) and L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”-inspired movie, Wicked — and a new interview has revealed some interesting details about his new role.

Wicked Play
Credit: Broadway

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What is the new Wizard of Oz spin-off about?

The original Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) The Wizard of Oz film starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Ray Bolger as Hunk/Scarecrow, Bert Lahr as Zeke/Cowardly Lion, Jack Haley as Hickory/Tin Man, Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and Margaret Hamilton as Almira Gulch, the Wicked Witch of the West). Now, Jeff Goldblum will take on the role of the eponymous Wonderful Wizard of Oz, portrayed by Frank Morgan in the 1939 film by Victor Fleming. Originally inspired by L. Frank Baum’s world and characters, there is now going to be an adaptation of an adaptation… of an adaptation — showing the Wicked Witch of the West’s true perspective of things.

(left) Idina Menzel as Elphaba Thropp in Wicked on Broadway, with Fiyero (right) in "As Long As You're Mine" scene
Credit: Wicked Musical, Broadway

The Tony Award-winning Broadway show Wicked (2003) with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman was an astonishing Broadway hit. Starring leads Idina Menzel (Frozen), as Elphaba Thropp/Wicked Witch of the West, and Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies, Glee) as Galinda Upland/Glinda the Good, its popularity has stayed strong for decades as fans of the musical return to the Emerald City time and again. The still-running musical hit adapted the story of “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire (which itself was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s novel), showing the Wicked Witch’s origins as young student and the intriguing political tragedy behind her “transformation” into the villain of Dorothy’s tale.

Glinda (right) and Elphaba (left) from musical Wicked
Credit: Wicked Musical

Now, the new Wicked film adaptation by Crazy Rich Asians (2018) director Jon M. Chu, produced by Marc Platt, will be viewable in a cinema near you come 2024. Split into two parts and no longer a single film, Wicked: Part One will add to Hollywood’s slate of movie musicals, and star Ariana Grande as Glinda Upland, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, Jeff Goldblum as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ethan Slater as Boq, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Marissa Bode as Nessarose Thropp. The new Wicked: Part One will also star Saturday Night Live‘s (SNL) Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Aaron Teoh as Avaric, and Colin Michael Carmichael as Professor Nikidik.

Why is Jeff Goldblum terrified by witches?

Elphaba with flying monkeys in background in Wicked musical
Credit: Wicked Musical

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel, Jeff Goldblum opened up about his new role in the long-awaited Wicked movie as the illustrious Wizard of Oz. Officially joining the Wicked movie cast as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Goldblum confirms his role in the upcoming production, and even expands about turning up to shoot and finding himself “tearing up in fear”. Explaining his long-held “childhood fear”, Goldblum recalls the “first dream [he] ever had”:

I shouldn’t talk about it, but I was shooting one day and I found myself tearing up in fear. A childhood fear came back to me and I told Cynthia Erivo, I said, “you know, I’m remembering my first dream that I ever had.”

Jeff Goldblum Independence Day Resurgence
Credit: 20th Century Studios

Goldblum admits to having a childhood fear that spawned a lingering phobia of witches, after seeing the Evil Queen in The Walt Disney Company’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937):

My first dream was that I was tied to a tree stump and a witch — because I’d seen ‘Snow White,’ also with a very scary queen witch — had tied me to this tree stump and I thought was going to chop off my head. I must’ve been four or something like that, and she went, “peaches, peaches.”

It doesn’t just end there, however. In fact, Goldblum’s fear was exacerbated, fed by constantly ridicule and bullying by his older brothers for weeks after, who would chant “peaches, peaches” nonstop in the dark, to taunt him.

Now, it appears that Goldblum is willing to push through this long-running childhood phobia by surrounding himself with witches, for the immediate future. In a movie that will likely prove to be a form of exposure therapy for the actor, Goldblum is a rather interesting (but still apropos) casting for the charismatic Wonderful Wizard of Oz — who has a suave, likable affectation while ultimately being untrustworthy.

Watch the interview of Jeff Goldblum on Jimmy Kimmel Live here:

What do you think about Jeff Goldblum’s casting in Wicked, and his deep-rooted fear of witches?

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