Making Oz Truly Universal

Geoff Cook

Making Oz Truly Universal

A great story was published this week about the production of the new Wicked film. The entire team decided to make accessibility a core design element from the outset.

This effort began with casting Marissa Bode as Nessarose, a character who uses a wheelchair. Director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt committed to setting a new standard for on-set access. They brought in a disability coordinator, Chantelle Nassari, who influenced the entire process.

The production created custom, accessible artist trailers—a first of their kind in the U.K. These trailers featured amenities such as chair lifts and voice-activated doors. Beyond the trailers, the team developed custom, movable ramps, ensuring that every scene in which Nessarose appeared was truly navigable. Even the character’s Ozian wheelchair was a custom prop explicitly designed for the dynamic dance sequences.

This is a fantastic step for inclusivity in major film production. It proves that this level of accommodation can be done.

What is one small, easy change every movie production should adopt right now to be more accessible?

Read the full story here.