Cynthia Erivo recently shared what she’s learned from playing Elphaba in the Wicked films.
“I think she sees that her friend sees her one way,” Erivo explained. “And I love between the lines when you can say something in a phrase, but so much more is going on.”
Erivo continued: “Look at me, look at me. Not with your eyes. Because she knows that Glinda will see something very different to what other people see, and she has to remind her that that’s what you see is not what everyone else sees. And you have to be okay with that as well because that’s the only way we can move forward.”
Erivo also spoke about singing one last reprise of “For Good” during the film.
She said she loves the line “because it’s something that Elphaba has to record, too.”
“I think it’s the first time that she settles into what has to come next,” Erivo explained.
Erivo previously told USA Today that she didn’t know which scene would close out the film series.
“We had shot this wonderful day of moments together [in a field]. [Director] Jon [M. Chu] said he was going to use it somewhere, but he wouldn’t tell me where,” Ervio said. “Then when I saw the film, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s where it is!’ ”
Chu said that he didn’t know “exactly where [the scene] would go” but thought, “That’s interesting.” He explained, “It felt like a natural way that you would hang out with a friend. But then once we had it in the can, I was like, ‘Oh, this has got to go at the end of the movie.’ It’s just such a beautiful moment.”
Erivo went on to share what she learned from portraying Elphaba and the overall theme of Wicked.
“That things aren’t always as they seem. That what you see isn’t always what you get, and that you can expect people to grow and change for better or for worse. And both are okay,” she said.
“I’ve been really overwhelmed by just how supportive people have been,” Erivo said. “The dialogues that have been started because of it, and the conversations that have come up. And how passionate everyone’s been and the difference in all of that.”