Ahead of being blessed with another Wicked trailer, Universal Pictures released a behind-the-scenes look into the casting and filming of the Jon M. Chu-directed, two-part movie musical.
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A true passion project for Chu, the over two minute clip takes us along for one Wicked ride as we see Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo living “The dream of a lifetime,” learning they’ve been cast as Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba, respectively.
Filmed during the pandemic in November 2021, Jon is seen delivering the exciting news to his two top-billing stars via webcam. “Cynthia is so raw and vulnerable, and I couldn’t get her out of my head,” Chu said of his decision to cast Erivo as Elphaba.
Quickly cutting to a montage of some of the film’s stars on set, the video cuts back to a split screen of Chu and Erivo talking via webcam. “The world needs to see more of you,” the director said as Erivo smiled. “And we would love for you to be our Elphaba.”
Later recalling the moment in an interview setting, Cynthia once again got emotional, noting “It’s been a really long journey, and I’m grateful for it.”
Afterward, fans had a chance to see how Grande learned and reacted to the good news. “We want you to be our Glinda the Good,” Chu told Grande. Smiling from ear to ear, an emotional Ari covered her face to cry, expressing “Oh my God, thank you! I love her so much. I’m gonna take such good care of her. Thank you so much!” she said of her character Glinda.
In addition to featuring Ari and Cynthia’s audition footage, the clip also showed a throwback interview of Grande answering, without hesitation, that when it comes to Wicked she’d “for sure” play Glinda if she had the chance.
Sharing their connection to the stage musical and how truly special it feels to be starring in the Wicked movies, Ariana recalled that she had the "incredible privilege" of first seeing the Broadway production of Wicked with the original cast when she was 10 and felt an "immediate bond" to the material. While Erivo first saw the show on her 25th birthday and had “never heard anything or seen anything like it.”
Check out all the behind-the-scenes footage, movie scene clips, and emotional reactions in the video above.