Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Cynthia Erivohas done action, and she's done plenty of singing (and dancing) on stage — forThe Color Purplealone, she appeared in some 450 Broadway performances.
But combining action and stunts,andsinging? In hindsight, theWicked: For GoodGolden Globe nomineeadmits she wasn't fully prepared for everything she'd have to do physically during the production of the two Wicked movies.
"I think some of my life prepared me for it, but really and truly, no," she says on the latest episode ofThe Awardistpodcast. "I think I had to start honing in my preparation for this film when I knew that I was going to play this role. Stunt work is one thing, wire work is another. I had never been in wires. I had never been in a harness like that before. I didn't know what it felt like to be in the air moving, let alone singing. And so to learn how to sing whilst in the wires moving was a completely foreign experience, idea. And my body had to get used to it, and so did my voice. I've been singing my whole entire life, and yes, I've put the work in and I'm familiar with my voice, but I'm not familiar with my voice when my feet aren't on the ground."
Erivo — an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner — says playing Elphaba required using "everything in her toolbox and then pick up some more tools."
"It's been definitely a learning curve for me. It makes you want to do anything, that's for sure. I think it says if I have the capacity to learn something like that, then I must have the capacity to learn much more," she says. "So I think I'm eager to do more. I don't know if that makes me a glutton for punishment, but I think I'm sort of eager to see what comes next. What else can I put myself through? What else can I learn?"
And because both movies were filming at the same time, Erivo and costarAriana Grandemight be filming something for part 1 in the morning, but something for For Good in the evening. Or, as was the case one day, weather prevented them from filming outside, so their unexpected backup plan? Inside to film the emotional closing number, "For Good."
"Both of us were like,okay, that's what we're doing. And actually, there's sort of a beauty in having to discover in the moment that that's where you have to be," she says, because Elphaba and Glinda also"weren't ready. So it's about using the thing that you're given in that moment and finding a way for it to serve you. And that's what we did. We realized that we were going to be put in this position right now, and we needed to access the emotion."
Erivo says she and Grande each had different ways to get into the scene. "I like quiet and solitude in order to focus in, and she would need contact or just a moment of connectivity before we could begin," Erivo explains. "I think knowing that having no prep time meant that we could be influenced by the elements in the best possible way."
Universal Pictures
Check out more from EW'sThe Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.
Listen to Erivo's full episode ofThe Awardistbelow, where she also discusses the importance of Elphaba's new song "No Place Like Home," what she made of people dubbingElphaba's gray sweater the "sex cardigan"and what the piece of wardrobe really meant to her, the character she'd love to see explored more if other movies are ever made in the Wicked universe, and more.
And elsewhere on the episode, EW's awards experts analyze some of the Oscar shortlists, and we remember filmmaker and actorRob Reiner, who died tragically over the weekend.
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
