- Cynthia Erivo has opened up about the partnership she shared with Ariana Grande on the set of the new adaptation of Wicked
- Erivo says Grande was the ‘only person she trusted’ to cut her tracks
- Elsewhere, the star spoke out about a viral edit of the movie poster
It’s set to be one of the biggest movies of the year.
And the talented Cynthia Erivo is sure to blow us away in the new movie adaptation of the musical, Wicked.
Erivo, 37, will play Elphaba – aka the Wicked Witch of the West – in the film, which has been converted into a screenplay after making its Broadway debut in 2003.
And while Erivo’s beautiful vocals will surely be the talk of awards shows to come, there’s only one person on set who she trusted to cut her tracks – her co-star, Ariana Grande.
Grande will play Glinda the Good in the movie, and the pair perform quite a few numbers together.
In an interview, Erivo opened up about her working relationship with Grande, 31.
“We built a real partnership and collaboration between the two of us, right down to vocals,” she explained. “[Ariana] was like, ‘I will listen to both of our vocals. We will keep listening, and if there’s something you don’t like, come to me’. Because she basically edits her own vocals. She’s one of the most intelligent, brilliant people when it comes to music. It’s not just the singing.”
Erivo continued, “When we had to do the tracks we would use to sing to when we were rehearsing and what not, the only person I really trusted with my vocals to cut them and pick the choices was Ariana.
“And we would sing it together, we would sit in the studio together, and I’d be like, ‘These are the things that I like’. Then she would send me a version – like, ‘Which one do you like, this or this?’ She would sometimes put the comps together.”
‘It degrades us’
Erivo also spoke out this week – after fans thought it necessary to edit the latest poster for the movie.
Taking inspiration from the Broadway and West End image to advertise the show, the movie poster featured the story’s two stars, with Grande’s Glinda seen whispering into Erivo’s Elphaba’s ear.
For the most part, the still resembled the image that had long been used for the stage show but a few differences – including the new positioning of Elphaba’s hat to reveal her eyes – were quickly picked up by fans.
Taking to Photoshop, Wicked lovers started posting their own poster edits, which lowered Elphaba’s hat to re-cover her eyes and replaced her dark lipstick with a red coloring similar to that of the original poster.
However, Erivo took offense to these tweaks as well as a related meme surrounding the poster that has been doing the rounds on social media.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the question, ‘Is your p—- green?’” said Erivo, writing on her personal Instagram story alongside a picture of the edited poster, complete with red lips and lowered hat.
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”
The star continued, adding, “The original poster is an Illustration. I am a real life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer …because, without words we communicate with our eyes.
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.”
