Cynthia Erivo won’t be making any apologies for her tearful moments while promoting the new movie version of Wicked.
Throughout the press tour for their new project, both Cynthia and co-star Ariana Grande have repeatedly been moved to tears while discussing the film, as well as the close friendship they forged while making it.
During a recent interview with BuzzFeed UK’s Seasoned, the Tony winner opened up about why she and Ariana have found talking about the film so emotional.
“I think the both of us have been through so much in our lives,” she began. “We had to do this together.”
Cynthia went on to point out that the film has taken up “almost three years of our lives”, so it’s especially emotional that people are finally getting to see it.
“We were cast in 2021 and shot the film in 2023, so it’s been a long time,” she said. “We only finished in January. We shot the last couple of scenes, and shot Defying Gravity, in January through to February. So February was when we actually called a wrap on this. It’s not been a long time since we’ve finished.
“It’s been a long part of our lives, but we wrapped it this year. So we’re still in it. We’re still processing everything – and this tour has been a wonderful opportunity to talk about the experience of making it, and the experiences we had together, and the experience of coming out of it.”
“So, yeah, we’ve definitely been emotional, because we’re still deeply connected to it,” she added. “And I think we’ll always be connected to these roles, these women that we got to play, who I don’t think have completely left, or will ever leave, because they were such a large part of our lives.
“They mean so much to other people, and to us, that it’s very hard to disconnect the emotion that we feel for them and for this piece from it. So you’re going to see us cry from time to time.”
@seasonedbf And now we’re all crying and we understand deeply #seasoned#seasonedsessions#cynthiaerivo#wicked#podcast#arianagrande#wickedthemusical#holdingspace
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Cynthia previously told Heart Breakfast: “It’s the first time we’ve been able to talk about it, so we’re both reliving and rehashing all the things we’ve been through and the journey we’ve been on. We can’t help it! We get very emotional about it.”
Elsewhere in her Seasoned interview, Cynthia became emotional when she discussed the impact seeing her in the role of Elphaba could have on young Black people watching Wicked.
“The moment it really hit me was the day that me and Karis [Musongole, who plays Elphaba as a child], met for the first time,” she explained. “I was like, ‘oh my goodness, because I’m in this role, Karis is in this role’.
“It meant that this little girl, I think at the time she was eight, got to play Elphaba! This little gorgeous Black girl who is just the smiliest, sweetest, so talented [girl] gets to do this! And it means that this role of a lifetime will lead to other things, and I’m so excited for her.”
@seasonedbf That moment must have meant so much to Karis ???? #seasoned#cynthiaerivo#wicked#seasonedsessions#podcast#arianagrande#elphaba#glinda
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Cynthia recalled: “There was a day on set, where she’d come in a little early and I was flying that day, and I asked if she wanted to see me fly. And she was so excited.
“So, we take her over to the director’s table, to Jon [M Chu, the director of Wicked]’s screen, and get me ready, and I’m in the full Elpohaba get-up, and they fly me in and then I hear her, she goes ‘woah’. And I thought to myself, ‘oh my god, that’s what it’s for’. She’s seeing a version of herself and flying! That’s what it’s for.”
Wicked is in cinemas now. Read our review of the film here.
