Tulip growers in West Norfolk have seen their bright and colourful flowers feature in a Hollywood blockbuster film.
If you've already seen Wicked, the film adaptation of the successful musical that hit cinemas on Friday, did you realise that the tulip fields featured at the beginning and end of the movie were actually those in Terrington Marsh?
Norfolk Tulips, owned by Mark and Susanne Eves, was first approached by Universal Studios' location scouts in June 2022, after they saw a viral TikTok video of the tulip fields opened to the public in aid of Hillington-based The Norfolk Hospice, Tapping House.
Director John M Chu paid a visit to the site, sharing his vision for the film with Mark Eves. The family-run business then planted over nine million bulbs in October 2022, ready for filming in April last year. Two tulip fields were specially prepared—one entirely yellow and the other multicoloured—in the heavier soil of Terrington Marsh.
Susanne Eves recalled, "He [Chu] discussed with Mark what way he wanted the rows to go to reflect the sunrise and the sunset and how to get the best images. There was quite a lot of detail that went into it, so it was interesting to see it on the screen."
More than 400 members of the cast and crew descended on the tulip fields for around four days to film scenes for both the first and second parts of the film, with the latter set for release next year.
"It was done very quickly. As soon as the filming was done, it was like nothing had ever happened," said Susanne.
Mark and Susanne, along with their daughter Olivia, were even asked to feature as munchkin farmers in the second part of the film. Mrs Eves explained that Chu spotted Mark and insisted he play one of the farmers, then asked if he had any family members who could also get involved.
"We had been at the studios that afternoon and we were there for about five hours having costumes fitted and our makeup done because munchkins have a certain look," Susanne said. "It was a surreal experience for us, we had our own changing rooms and makeup crew."
Though they will feature alongside stars like Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who play Elphaba and Glinda respectively, the family didn't get to meet the stars while filming. Instead, while filming took place in the fields, Mark and Susanne carried on with their daily work.
"We knew it [filming] was going on down there, and we carried on with our daily business. We would go and have a peek and meet with the directors," Mrs Eves said. "We were still working with them because it was our crop and we were the experts on that, while they were experts on the film. It was a very interesting experience. There were a lot of sleepless nights in the lead-up to filming, making sure the crop was looking its best, and then it was over in a blink of an eye."
Norfolk Tulips opens one of its fields each year to raise money for Tapping House, attracting both locals and tourists to the colourful flower fields. The business has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity.
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