Cynthia Erivo: 'Wicked', FaceTimes With Ariana Grande And What's Next
Cynthia Erivo is beautifully at odds with her environment. She slides onto the bench beside me in the industrial-size bakery where we meet, her petite stature pronounced against the vast, floury-ness of the space.
Against the backdrop of the no-frills racks, bearing freshly baked loaves, Erivo’s outfit is an exquisite assembly of style (knitwear, tweed, metal, belts, buckles, ear and septum rings) and colour (red, yellow and green). She orders a herbal tea, seemingly oblivious to the heaving counters of sugary, cream-filled croissants and cinnamon buns.
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Being focused and disciplined isn’t optional in Erivo’s line of work. We meet ahead of the imminent release of Wicked – the Gregory Maguire novel turned musical adaptation, which has won over Broadway and West End audiences for more than two decades. Now, as she stars in its major, live-action film adaptation, Erivo is still taking stock. ‘Physically, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, truly,’ she admits. ‘I did all my own stunts – the jumps, the flying. It looks simple, but 20 seconds on screen takes hours to do. So, I’m in a harness for hours, and it has to be extremely tight,’ she says emphatically.
Erivo is a natural storyteller. And, seeing my horror at the thought of hours in a tight harness, she goes on. ‘Think about the word “chafing”,’ she muses. ‘It sounds funny, but it’s the consistent rubbing of material, causing friction that removes skin, so you actually have a superficial burn in that area. And,’ she adds, ‘you’re experiencing it repetitively. You have to find ways to keep going. That was my life for a few months.’
There is a sense of pride in her resilience, which comes as no surprise. Even for an actor who is one of the best-known names in Hollywood, having already picked up an Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award – only an Oscar-win away from coveted EGOT status – Wicked is a game-changing project. ‘I think I am metabolising that now,’ Erivo reflects. ‘But also, who knows? But I do feel a nice stillness. Waiting for whatever is to come.’
She first came to prominence as Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway, attracting widespread plaudits and the above awards. She went on to supporting roles in two major 2018 movies: Widows, directed by Steve McQueen, and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. Erivo’s star rose further when she took the lead in the 2019 film Harriet, based on the true story of Harriet Tubman, the iconic, formerly enslaved Black woman whose rescue missions to the American South led dozens of others to freedom. Erivo earned two Oscar nominations for the film.
Even that has not been enough for some, who questioned whether she deserved the starring role in Wicked. ‘There have definitely been conversations about me getting this role as a “woke hire”,’ she says. ‘I had to audition, just like everybody else. And I’m glad I had to do that,’ she adds, with defiance. ‘I have the credentials for it. I’ve done the work. But I’m glad they got to be sure about the choice. It allows me to take this, and to know that I had to work really hard for it.’
In Wicked, Erivo plays Elphaba – who is best frenemies with Ariana Grande’s Glinda, the Good Witch – in a Wizard of Oz prequel, set long before Dorothy arrives. Directed by Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M Chu, the movie-musical is a confident bonanza that blends elements of nostalgia with hard-hitting themes, helped by performances that hit an irresistibly compelling note. Erivo brings a tenderness to the role, balancing out the inevitable Technicolor kitsch of a world that includes, obviously, a yellow-brick road, munchkins and the Emerald City.
She is also very, very green. ‘At the beginning, there was a question about whether we would use CGI, but I wanted it to be practical make-up,’ she explains. It’s a choice she stands by, even though it was primarily she who paid the price. ‘The make-up took about two hours and 45 minutes if it was head, neck and hands. If it was the whole body, that would be about four hours,’ Erivo recalls. ‘I really appreciated the power of transformation. There were a lot of people on that set who had not seen Cynthia yet. Their first interaction with me was when I arrived, and they would see a green person,’ she says. ‘There’s something really powerful about witnessing a reaction to that.’
The results are impressive. Erivo’s green skin is somehow real, its sheerness revealing freckles. More surprisingly, for a character who is green, she is also undeniably Black. ‘I was conscious that I didn’t want to erase the thing that I am underneath the green,’ she says. ‘For me, it was about using my own experience as the “other”, as someone who exists in that way. So, that’s partially the reason why Elphaba has braids, as opposed to straight hair. It’s the reason why she has long nails.’
Isn’t it fraught to conflate the greenness of a fictional character – one known for her wickedness, no less – with the otherness of being Black in a society, and an industry, that is predominantly white? The opposite, Erivo counters. ‘I think, because Elphaba’s otherness is about the colour of her skin, I immediately feel connected to it as a Black woman,’ she says. ‘The beauty is that it connects with anyone who feels like they’re the other – whether they are Black, whether they are queer, or whether they are just... different.’
Her impact on Elphaba’s story extended beyond the visuals, shaping the language the character uses, too. Watching Wicked, I noticed how intriguing the spells sounded, compared to the gobbledygook Hollywood is sometimes tempted to use. ‘I really wanted to make sure the words we were saying were real,’ Erivo says. ‘The original spells are based on Latin, and I asked to add words in different languages that have the right rhotic sounds and vowel sounds. You are hearing some Arabic, some Igbo and, I think, some Finnish. I found a word in Punjabi that means “flight”.’
The subversion of the wicked witch’s story into a celebration of otherness is particularly striking, given the tale’s history. While Maguire’s Wicked gives Elphaba a voice as a marginalised person, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L Frank Baum, espoused violently racist views, using a South Dakota newspaper he ran in the 1890s to advocate for the extermination of Native Americans. ‘It’s really interesting, with that being the origin, and Gregory Maguire, who’s so opposite, reimagining the whole thing,’ Erivo says. ‘To just turn it inside out and actually make Wicked a comment on societal abhorrence, and connect it to the othering of people. I love that he had the audacity to do that,’ she says. ‘It’s like the reclaiming of the word “queer”,’ she suggests. ‘Saying, actually, I’m going to take this word. Not for the whole of society, but this special group, this family of people who don’t necessarily fit. This is where we exist,’ she says proudly.
Erivo says she keeps her friendships tight. ‘I have people, but I’m a Capricorn, so I have few people,’ she says. ‘I’m very selective about who the closest ones are. I think that makes for good relationships, with people who know more than I do.’ With the coming release of Wicked, it seems clear to everyone – with the possible exception of Erivo herself – that her career will enter a new phase. The star is questioning what she would like to do next. ‘I’m in the era of asking, “What does it look like to play more dark and mysterious people?”’ she says.
As much a musician as she is an actor, she is working on the release of her second album, and is planning to spend the rest of her day in the studio. She’s adding, she says, the ‘final touches’. ‘This album is life-story based, but my voice is the focus. Where the instruments would be, it’s my voice. And I wanted to use the body as a whole, so some percussion is me with my nails.’
If that sounds boldly experimental, Erivo doesn’t quite see it that way. ‘I was experimental in its creation, but the music itself just feels grounded. I’m really proud of it!’ she says. Erivo has also gained a new friend in music, acting and life – her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande, with whom she has become exceptionally close. ‘We cultivated a friendship, outside of all of this, that allows us to have these real, deep connective conversations that join us as friends and sisters. We sit on FaceTime for hours,’ she says.
Does she care about the reactions of the press, which has become slightly obsessed with the friendship, documenting their appearances together and Wicked-themed outfits, even off set? ‘Well, we are also really protective of each other. It’s real. Take it or leave it,’ she says, shrugging.
Erivo keeps a home in London. She says her relationship with her hometown has had its ups and downs. ‘It was temperamental before,’ she says. ‘I just felt like I didn’t really belong. I would voice wanting more for myself, and people would shut it down. Or tell me that I was ungrateful, that I was looking down on other people. That was never the case,’ she says. ‘I want you to want what you want for yourself. But I’ve always been like, “How big can I go?”’
The performer is not the first to express this frustration; the exodus of Black British stars has become noticeable in recent years, with actors including Idris Elba, David Harewood and Daniel Kaluuya finding success Stateside, while voicing how hard it was to get recognition at home. ‘There’s this sort of mentality about just putting your head down, and kind of shrinking,’ she says. ‘But you still work really, really hard. That’s why, when you go to LA or New York, you already have the tools. But now, when you have the encouragement as well, it flourishes.’
Shifting to America has its drawbacks, as the nation’s volatile politics draw increasing concern. ‘I do worry about censorship, and what that means for creatives, especially Black creatives,’ Erivo says. ‘I worry about what it means for indigenous creatives, who have other stories to tell. I worry that storytelling will become less and less honest. I hope and pray that doesn’t happen, because it’s against everyone’s interests.’
Honesty is important to Erivo, as someone who felt she never easily fit in – perhaps even more so now, as being in the spotlight brings uninvited feedback on her personal choices. ‘I keep spotting people saying, why is she bald? She needs to get a wig,’ she says, chuckling. ‘Why does it bother you so much that I don’t want to wander around with blonde tresses? I like my bald head. There’s nothing wrong with my hair – it grows in very fast. I just like my face.
‘When I walk into a room, I’m not pretending,’ she adds. ‘I’m gonna come in with my nose ring, I’m gonna come in with my ear- rings and my many piercings and my nails, and I made that decision a long time ago to just, like, be.’
It’s a confidence she had to learn, and sometimes the hard way. ‘In my very early twenties, I was trying to fit in. But I remember, early on, walking into an audition, and seeing people going in as the character, and not as themselves. Because they wanted to be seen as the character,’ Erivo says. ‘But I believe that, if you walk in as yourself, just wholly you, you give anyone who’s watching a chance to see you transform; to become a character, right in front of them, with no need for a costume.
‘That’s the magic!’ she says.
This interview features in the February issue of ELLE UK, available on newsstands January 2.
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