Cynthia Erivo didn’t get a whole lot of sleep filming Wicked.
The 37-year-old actress opened up about the experience during a Q&A with Kristen Bell at the Academy Museum’s Ted Mann Theatre on Thursday (December 12) in Los Angeles.
During the talk, she revealed that playing Elphaba cost her plenty of sleep time.
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“I think I consciously run towards things that will use me physically, as well as mentally, because I believe that the body and the mind are intrinsically, truly intrinsically linked,” she began.
“Sometimes the body is the thing that tells the mind what to do, and sometimes the mind is the thing that will tell the body what to do because I feel like I’m a very physical person. I want both things to be in action. I want both things to be being used,” she continued.
She then admitted that she’s unsure pushing herself for her roles is “healthy,” as she detailed she said she slept for less than three hours a night while filming Wicked, via People.
Cynthia said she would first wake up for a two-hour workout, which would be followed by sitting in the makeup chair for up to two hours to be ready for her 5 a.m. call time.
“I had never flown before. I just knew I wanted to, I’d flown a small amount, but nothing like this before,” she said. “And that requires your core to be the strongest you could possibly be, because the wires will take you from one place to another.”
“Jo McLaren, my stunt coordinator, was so good with me. She was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do all of this?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’” she continued. “And so what I would need to do is be ready enough so that when the wires are working to move me from point A to point B to point C, if we’re doing a loop to loop, which is that big loop, I have to get myself over and round without my legs just falling behind me.”
She said her “self-inflicted” lifestyle choices have helped maintain a routine.
“I learned that an infrared sauna blanket is very helpful with the bruising on the inside,” she said. “I learned that a therapist is also really helpful with the bruising on the inside. I live a little bit like a monk when I’m doing these things.”
“I naturally don’t drink or smoke or eat meat or any of those things. I’m sorry, I’m very boring, but I am in my house,” Cynthia said.
“I stay indoors and I try to take those moments when I can actually rest. I don’t get very much sleep doing these things. So the two or three hours that I do get, I try to make them good quality too.”
After filming, she would wind down from her day during the hour-and-a-half it took to remove her makeup, though she admitted it was “so hard” after being amped up all day.
“No days were small. There were no small days. None,” she said.
Part Two hits theaters November 26, 2025. Here’s what she said about a possible Oscars performance.
