Jeff Goldblum to play The Wizard in the Wicked movies

Jeff Goldblum is to play The Wizard in the pair of 'Wicked' films.

According to Variety, the 'Jurassic Park' legend will join Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the two-parter.

Pop megastar Ariana has just dyed her hair blonde ahead of shooting the flick.

The 29-year-old pop star has taken on the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the upcoming adaptation of the smash hit Broadway musical - which tells the backstory of 'The Wizard of Oz' and explains how the witches of Oz came to be both good and wicked - and has changed her signature dark locks to blonde in an apparent effort to match her character.

Alongside a snap of her new look, she wrote on Instagram: "new earrings."

Cynthia plays the misunderstood green girl Elphaba, while 'Bridgerton' star Jonathan Bailey is set to play Fiyero, who finds himself in a love triangle with the witches.

Principal photography is due to begin in London this November, and US-born superstar Ariana is said to have rented a "stunning" eight-figure mansion in the capital city to live in while she works on the project.

Director Jon M. Chu decided to make the movie into two parts because it would be "impossible" to put the complex story into a single film.

He said: "Thank you for all the support these past several months in anticipation of the 'WICKED' movie. Here’s what happened: as we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of 'WICKED' into a single film without doing some real damage to it. With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters."

'Wicked: Part One' is set to be released in December 2024, with the second following in 2025.