In the late '90s, Moore was one of Hollywood's biggest rising It girls, having starred in Striptease, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal. She had also made waves with a series of nude Annie Leibovitz portraits for Vanity Fair. “I used to say, I can imagine Demi Moore naked and green on the cover of Vanity Fair ,” said Maguire.

After Gregory Maguire's book first came out in 1995, Whoopi Goldberg was one of several to try securing film rights for 'Wicked'.