- Cynthia Erivo has earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Elphaba in Wicked
- But now the actor says that she is ‘looking forward’ to fans seeing the way the character must ‘channel her rage’ in the second movie
- Her co-star Ariana Grande also discussed the viral ‘holding space’ meme once more
Cynthia Erivo has earned a slew of nominations for her role as Elphaba in Wicked – including her second Best Actress Oscar nod.
But the actor, 38, says she related to the character more than she ever thought she would.
In a conversation with director Jon M. Chu at TheWrap Studio in Los Angeles, Erivo explained, “I think the thing that I loved about Elphaba, the thing I really wanted to share, is that she has a joyfulness about her, that she has hope, that she can joke and she can laugh and she can smile, and she can have the softer part be the primary part of herself.
“When she walks into that Ozdust ballroom, she comes down the corner, she’s so hopeful, she’s so excited to be a part of something.
“And I think that sometimes, I want people to see that about me first, as well. Yes, I can be strong and poised and all those things. But I can also be funny and have a laugh and be soft and be joyful. We have all of that in us.
“We have light and dark, and we have soft and hard. Hopefully people can see the three-dimensional being in front of them.”
As the movie was divided into two parts, fans who are unfamiliar with the Broadway show will have to wait until November 21 to see what happens to Elphaba and her enemy turned best friend, Glinda – a role which bagged Ariana Grande an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
But what is Erivo most excited for people to experience?
“I think I’m looking forward to people seeing the way she has to channel her rage,” Erivo said. “She’s learned to process hurt and pain and find her voice in it, and I think in the second, she learns about love and rage – what the balance of that is.
“What happens when it loses balance, and what happens when you find it again?”
Ariana Grande opens up about ‘holding space’ with Cynthia Erivo
Elsewhere, Ariana Grande opened up about the infamous ‘holding space’ meme.
Now the stuff of media-tour legend, the incident happened back in November – when Grande, 31, and Erivo sat down with interviewer Tracy Gilchrist to discuss their upcoming movie.
The Wicked co-stars have found themselves asked about the exchange several times – but Grande, 31, is clearly done processing what happened, as she has once more opened up about holding space with Erivo.
Appearing on the UK’s Graham Norton show – alongside other guests including Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell – Grande, who plays Glinda in the film, talked once more about how the viral moment came about.
“So this wonderful woman, Tracy, was interviewing us, and she’s amazing. And we love her so much – she’s a queen, and she’s so kind, she’s an icon,” she explained. “But she said to Cynthia – forgive me if I don’t quote it perfectly – ‘I saw online that a lot of people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that’.
“For me, I’m sitting next to Cynthia, and I’m like, ‘Holding space with that…’. Then Cynthia goes, ‘I didn’t know that was happening’. And I’m like, ‘Wait, what’s happening?’ So I kind of missed it, I’m like, ‘What is happening’ at that point.”
Grande went on, “Tracy then responds, but doesn’t know what Cynthia took it as, it seems? It seems like Tracy was like, ‘I saw it a few times, I’ve seen it a few times. I mean, I am in queer media’. And I’m like, ‘What the f*** is any of this interaction, what does it mean?!’
“I’m just trying to comfort Cynthia because she’s very emotional. We’re very physical touch, we’re very that way, and so I grab her finger because I see that she’s getting choked up by what Tracy has shared, and I’m like, ‘Oh s***’. And I go like this [tapping Witherspoon’s finger] because I don’t know what else to do with myself.”
Ariana Grande still doesn’t understand what ‘holding space’ means
With the other guests on Norton’s sofa also looking puzzled now, Ferrell questioned, “Was it like Morse code?”
“I don’t know!” exclaimed Grande. “It was just energy that I didn’t know what to do with, and it came out in that way because it was well-intentioned and I wanted to be loving and there for her – why this [taps again], I don’t f***ing know.”
Norton then asked if anyone had bothered to explain what ‘holding space’ actually means since that moment, to which the Dangerous Woman singer said, “No, I still don’t know what it meant!”
“I think, you know, it was just a beautiful way of saying people identify with the lyrics and it brings them strength – of course that is what it meant,” Grande went on. “But it was just a really strange thing.
“I was grateful to see the reaction of the world when this clip came out because I was like, ‘Oh great, I’m not broken! They felt weird too, they felt so confused too!’”
