The tulip fields that create stunning multicolored visuals in “Wicked” were not CGI. Instead they were made up of 9 million tulips that were grown for the movie.
According to Variety, “Wicked” set designer Nathan Crowley insisted on using real tulips for the movie, even when he was met with pushback.
“I knew it could work because I grew 500 acres of corn on ‘Interstellar’. I knew I could…with the right farmer,” Crowley told Variety.
The vibrant colored rows of tulips serve as an incredible backdrop to the Munchkin Village during the movie’s opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked.”
How were the tulips fields created for the movie?
Crowley worked with a tulip farmer named Mark Eves from Norfolk, England, to plant and grow all 9 million tulip bulbs, per Variety.
The tulips were grown at Belmont Farms, which is owned by Eves, per the BBC.
Eves and his wife, Susanne, first met with a set designer and location manager in 2022 about how to plan the look of the field for the movie.
“It all seemed very simple to start with, as we do the field every year, but when you realise the patterns and colours and order they wanted, with nine million bulbs, it was a lot of organization,” said Eves, according to the BBC.
The site of the tulip fields spanned 25 acres and was transformed into a village for the filming of the movie last year.
“They were the colors of the rainbow. They came up and it was just beautiful,” Crowley said to Variety.
The cost of the tulips was comparable to what the cost of special effects would have been, with each bulb costing around 4 cents, according to People.
Where are the tulips now?
According to People, after the filming of the movie, Eves was able to reuse the tulips.
“Tulip farming is about putting the bulbs in the ground, you grow the flowers and you chop the heads off,” he told the outlet. “The bulbs get bigger, and the next season, you put the bulb in the greenhouse, and that’s where you get your flowers. So he took the bulbs and grew them,” per People.
Starting next April, Belmont Farms, where the tulip fields are, will open to the public and visitors will be able to come and see the tulips and Oz’s Munchkinland, according to Variety.