Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo: How stars of Wicked solid a friendship on set | Films | Entertainment | EUROtoday

It’s the musical that has defied gravity. Wicked, a reimagining of the fantastic world of Oz, has earned greater than £4.6billion and been seen by 65 million individuals in theatres in additional than 100 ­cities throughout 16 international locations and in seven languages.

Breaking field workplace data on Broadway and the West End stage, the present has offered greater than £80million in merchandise.

And after 21 smash-hit years the musical, primarily based on the bestselling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, is lastly set to fly onto the massive display this month.

“Hollywood started making offers on the book within ten days of publication,” says Maguire.

Almost three a long time later, the £112million manufacturing seems prefer it has put each penny on the display, bringing Oz ­spectacularly to life, with witches on broomsticks, and sure, flying monkeys.

“It’s an American fairytale,” says the movie’s manufacturing designer Nathan Crowley. “Everyone wants to go to the Emerald City.”The musical’s drama proved so expansive, nevertheless, it needed to be divided into two movies. Part One opens in Britain on November 22, with Part Two following subsequent yr.

Both movies have been shot back-to-back over two years, bracketing the Hollywood writers’ strike ­that paused manufacturing.

Wicked imagines the time earlier than Dorothy visited the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, exploring the friendship between two nascent witches set towards the backdrop of a magical however politically troubled land with speaking animals handled as second class ­residents.

Pop celebrity Ariana Grande performs the candy however self-absorbed Glinda the Good Witch, reverse British stage sensation Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the misunderstood green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West: two unlikely associates divided by Oz’s social strife.

“This is a movie that is, at heart, about a friendship that changes two lives in profound ways,” says screenwriter Winnie Holzman.

Wicked will try a feat each bit as robust as defying gravity. Transforming a success stage musical right into a blockbuster film is notoriously perilous.

It has been 21 years since Chicago took dwelling the very best image Oscar, and regardless of the following successes of Dreamgirls, Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman, we have now additionally seen stage-to-screen flops with Nine, Rock of Ages, The Heights, Dear Evan Hansen and 2019’s execrable Cats.

Even Judy Garland’s beloved Wizard of Oz, now thought-about a film basic, was a field workplace flop when first launched in 1939.
Audiences have but to render their verdict, however Wicked’s early evaluations are all raves.

Vanity Fair praised “a film adaptation that’s so confident in its zaniness, so assured in ­its world-building, and so defiantly big-budget that it sweeps you away like a house in a tornado”.

Yet the movie has been nearly 30 years in improvement, and for the final decade Grande, with two Grammys and 9 No.1 hits, has been begging producers for the possibility to play Glinda.

“It was literally ten years of being like, ‘Knock, knock – any developments? Is there an audition coming this year, or next year?’” says Grande, aged 31.

London-born Erivo, 37, with Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards, admits loving the stage musical since her scholar days on the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, however was one of many final actors referred to as to audition for the film.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d be seen,” she says. But as soon as given the possibility, she admits: “I was training like I was a boxer.”

She broke down in tears when director Jon Chu revealed she had gained the position of Oz’s insurgent outsider, during which she recognises herself: “There’s an innate understanding of what it feels like to be someone who’s different… I’ve always felt very different.”

Says Grande: “We didn’t screen-test together, which was the craziest thing. Jon just knew that it was going to work”.

Their harmonies are transporting. “Our voices are different, but when you put them together, they work well, almost sometimes sounding like one,” says Erivo. Director Chu constructed Oz on sound phases in Elstree, Hertfordshire, fairly than faux it with CGI.

The Yellow Brick Road is bordered with actual mud, Munchkinland bustles with tiny pink thatched cottages, a 106-ft futuristic ­prepare takes the witches to the rococo steampunk Emerald City, and Erivo soars via the sky – in a harness – whereas belting out showstopper Defying Gravity.

Production designer Crowley even employed Norfolk farmers to plant a staggering 9 million tulip bulbs to movie Oz’s floral panorama. “Everyone looked at me like I was mad,” he admits. Then once more, a number of hundred flying monkeys and speaking animals needed to depend on CGI.

Erivo, clad in Wicked Witch black and shaved bald beneath wigs, spent up ­to 4 hours every day within the make-up chair being painted Elphaba’s distinctive shade of inexperienced.

Her verdant hue might have been added with CGI, however she insisted on totally inhabiting the position, explaining: “Her green skin is part of the essence of who she is.”

By distinction, Grande is a confection in candy-floss pinks, gleaming robes and iridescent platinum crowns, waving her wand whereas floating in an enormous bubble.

Grande and Erivo each insisted on singing reside throughout filming, fairly than lip-synching to tracks they recorded earlier, as is frequent on film musicals.

“When we were shooting it, those girls were like… ‘We’re going live,’” says Chu.

Even when Grande was spinning from a chandelier, doing the splits and belting out a track. The duo might have sparked a conflict of diva egos, however as an alternative solid a friendship as deep as Elphaba and Glinda’s, in a mutual admiration society.

“We found safety within each other and a friend to hold hands with and laugh with,” says Grande.

Erivo, whose movies embrace The Colour Purple and the slavery abolitionist drama Harriet, praises the previous baby Broadway star-turned-Nickelodeon TV poppet-turned-pop princess and cosmetics magnate, saying of Grande: “I don’t think people realise how brilliant this person’s brain and voice and talent is.”

Grande returns the praise: “She’s my favourite female voice.”

Both shield their vocal devices, eschewing shout-loud nightclubs, smokey bars and late evening carousing.

“We’re the most boring people in the world,” says Erivo, a teetotal, vitamin-guzzling avid runner who enjoys chilly plunge baths and whose Los Angeles dwelling boasts a ‘wellness room’. “We’re not party animals.”

The forged bonded over 16-hour taking pictures days. Grande provided tarot card readings, and Erivo introduced vegan treats. “There was never ­a grumpy morning,” recollects Grande.

As greatest associates Glinda and Elphaba drift aside within the movie, tensions rose on the set, however the co-stars’ bond pulled them via robust instances.

“We love each other very dearly,” says Erivo.

Grande credit Erivo with instructing her learn how to rise up for herself: “I needed to be able to be a straight shooter and be honest about my feelings.”

Rounding out the forged are Jeff Goldblum because the duplicitous Wizard of Oz, and Michelle Yeoh because the witches’ faculty headmistress. Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage voices the professorial goat Dr Dillamond, and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero spent weeks rehearsing for Wicked’s huge ballroom scene.

The film hopes to ­proceed the stage present’s success as a merchandise juggernaut.

Watch out for singing Mattel toys, a Wicked vogue line, signature Starbucks drinks (Glinda’s Pink Potion and Elphaba’s Green Elixir), Lego recreations of the witches’ Shiz University, and naturally a soundtrack album.

The film has not been with out its ­controversies, nevertheless, fuelled by protecting followers of the stage musical. Grande was attacked for altering the register of her voice to a better soprano – “I’ve always done this,” she countered.

Erivo lashed out after followers criticised the movie’s promoting poster for not mirroring the stage present’s advert during which Elphaba’s eyes are hidden beneath her witch’s hat.

“Our poster is an homage not an imitation,” Erivo hit again. “To edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.”

Grande, who separated from husband of two years Dalton Gomez final yr, caught flak for romancing her married Wicked ­­co-star Ethan Slater, who later divorced his spouse.

“I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of this movie,” admits Grande, maybe channelling Glinda. “I’m not a perfect person, but I’m definitely deeply good, ­and I’m proud of who I’m becoming.”

Erivo declines to debate ­her romantic life, however informed Vanity Fair: “I’m a queer ­person who could have ­relationships with men or women or neither.”

But she takes inspiration from Elphaba’s rebellious individuality.

“There’s real wonder and defiance in this beautiful ­character,” she provides. “Really, there’s a bit of wonder and defiance in a lot of us – there’s certainly wonder and ­defiance in me.”