Cynthia Erivo is opening up about her experience filming the Wicked film adaptation. The star who plays Elphaba in the musical took to social media to share a touching moment during the production of the film directed by Jon M. Chu.
“I realize I’ve said very little about my experience on Wicked and that’s mainly because I’ve been keeping my head down and mining this beautifully complex being that is Elphaba, and it’s really hard to put into words,” Erivo wrote in an Instagram post.
Alongside the emotional post, Erivo shared an image with her hand sporting long green nails on top of a script for Wicked: Part Two.
Erivo recalled a special scene that got her emotional writing, “It is day 111 and yesterday we finished filming ‘I’m Not That Girl’ when we had come to the end of that moment, my heart broke open and tears fell. (Please know this happens OFTEN).”
This particular moment happens in the first act of the musical where Elphaba expressed her feelings for Fiyero, who happens to be Glinda’s boyfriend.
The scene resonated with Erivo adding, “I thought of us, the ones who often feel like they’re on the outside. The ones who don’t know that their differences, oddities, quirks are what make them beautiful and special. The ones who, for some reason, believe they can’t be loved and I felt proud to sing a song that might speak to those feelings.”
“I am endlessly grateful to play a role that turns the notion of what beauty is on its head, I am endlessly grateful to be working with some of the most beautiful souls on the planet and I’m already grieving for the day our little bubble must come to an end,” she said.
She continued, “I desperately hope that when you finally see this film, you’ll see you, you’ll see me, you’ll see Jon and Ari and our hearts laid bare, you’ll see pain and joy and maybe just maybe you’ll see a little spark of light that says, you are who you are for a reason and you are deserving of happiness and even though sometimes it might be hard to find, it is there for the taking.”
“I hope all the bumps and scrapes and scars that you’ve picked up along the way, get a little healing when you finally relax in a theater with a snack a drink and hopefully, friends you bring or friends you find when you’re there,” she ended.
Ariana Grande co-stars alongside Erivo in the film set to release Part One on Christmas Day 2024 with the sequel scheduled to hit theaters exactly one year after that.
The film also stars Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang, Keala Settle, Marissa Bode, Brownwyn James, Ethan Slater and Jonathan Bailey.