Marissa Bode Fell Backward in Her Wheelchair While Filming Wicked Dance Number ‘Dancing Through Life'

Marissa Bode, who makes her film debut playing fan favorite Nessarose in 2024. Wickeddeals with an “epic” accident on set.

The actress (24) described the incident in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview, explaining that she fell out of her wheelchair while filming the dance number “Dancing Through Life” with her scene partner Ethan Slater (who plays Boq in the film).

“I fell backwards once. It was really epic,” Bode said, noting that she was “laughing a lot” while “everyone else around me looked so worried.

“When someone falls, that’s the scariest thing,” 32-year-old Slater interjected. “But there was also something worrying about how much [Marissa was] laughing as it happened. We said, ‘That must mean it’s bad.’ ”

Marissa Bode as Nessarose and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’ from Universal Pictures.

Universal Studios

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A specific scene shows Boq asking Nessarose for a dance in an attempt to impress Glinda (Ariana Grande). He also took the moment to tell Nessarose that she was “beautiful.”

“It’s such a pivotal point in the movie when they form a friendship,” Bode said EW. “For Nessa, maybe a little more than a friendship. But what’s established in that moment carries through the rest of the movie.”

“It’s actually a big moment in [ballroom] … realizing that what he did when he invited her as a friend might look like he felt sorry for her,” Slater added. “There’s a moment of realization: ‘Oh, that’s not really the right way to treat people, and I didn’t mean it that way. .’ There’s a real connection in that moment that I’m really grateful for. They create a real bond. It just means something different to each of them.”

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Ethan Slater and Marissa Bode at the ‘Wicked’ screening on November 14, 2024.

Roy Rochlin/Getty

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The choreography of the scene was also specially designed to emphasize the importance of this moment for the Nessaros.

“[Director] John [M. Chu] he made it clear early on: this moment is about feeling like he’s flying,” said Christopher Scott, the film’s choreographer Los Angeles Times about the scene.

“This is the happiest moment of her life,” he continued, “and she needs to feel that all the things she carries with her through life, which we all do, just disappear.”

Along with Slater, Bode and Grande, the cast Wicked includes Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Peter Dinklage and Bowen Yang.

Wicked is in theaters now.

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Source: HIS Education