"It's our job to disappear into these people." Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum and Marissa Bode have truly cast a spell on us with their performances in 'Wicked.' From the audition process to singing live on set, hear the stars break down their entire process for the 'Wicked' movie.WICKED is in theaters November 22, https://www.wickedmovie.comSpecial thanks to Meredith Judkins, Associate Director of Video Talent, and Eugene Shevertalov, Associate Entertainment Director
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00:00I'm going to give Teen Vogue a hand.
00:02Thank you very much.
00:04Oh gosh.
00:06I'm Ariana Grande and this is how I became Galinda.
00:09Elphaba.
00:10Nessa Rose.
00:11Bach.
00:12Fiore.
00:13I am, or portray, was for a little bit, got a chance to put on the skin, live inside the skin of the Wizard of Oz.
00:18And Wicked.
00:19My first audition, strangely, even though I came in all pink and I had my pink mug and I had everything,
00:33they had me sing for both roles, which was very strange because I was very, you know, we know what's happening here.
00:39I sang No One Mourns the Wicked, Popular, and then also Defying Gravity and The Wizard and I.
00:45I had, in my first audition, a ponytail and a cat eye and it's a very branded, familiar thing.
00:52I needed to disappear into this role.
00:54And I think when someone is, you know, branded one way as a certain caricaturized version of themselves already,
01:01it's hard to trust that they'll be able to disappear into a story.
01:04I did not have a 16-bar audition solo.
01:07I had a three-hour sing-all-the-songs audition.
01:12I think I did The Wizard and I, For Good, and Defying Gravity.
01:17I was asked to just let go of the things that are me, very me, so all the piercings.
01:24I think I may have taken out my nose ring as well.
01:27Just so that he could just see...
01:29The canvas.
01:30The canvas.
01:31It's a wonderful thing to ask an actor to be able to do because what he's looking for is someone who can just disappear and be.
01:39He actually gave us the chance to do this job.
01:42It's our job.
01:43Yeah.
01:44To disappear into these people.
01:45Yeah.
01:46I sent a video and then it looked like maybe I wasn't going to be able to be free for the film.
01:53And then when the dates moved within sort of 24 hours, they were like,
01:56do you want to go and visit John Chu and just have a chat?
01:59And so we chatted for about two and a half hours and he started showing me the girls' audition tapes
02:03and he started talking through the storyboard and I thought, hang on a minute.
02:07And then got weirdly very emotional.
02:10We talked about Fiero and I walked off and as the door shut, I remember the door was closing and I just went...
02:16To John.
02:17And he went...
02:18I got invited to a Zoom call.
02:20And on that call, they said, there's a couple more producers that just want to pop in and just say hello.
02:25The first person to arrive was Galinda the Good Witch.
02:28And the second person who entered the room was Cynthia Erivo.
02:30And it was when I saw Cynthia Erivo, I sort of clocked what was happening and I got invited to Shiz.
02:34And I was very British and I said, thank you very much. When do we start?
02:38Excuse me. There is no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shunned.
02:43Did you get feedback? Surely you got just invited in, didn't you? With warm, open arms.
02:49It was Midnight at the Oasis.
02:52Midnight at the Oasis.
02:54Hi.
02:55Coffee?
02:57No.
02:58Midnight at the Oasis.
03:02That's the one I think that got me the part.
03:04He sang to me. He said, embrace me.
03:06My sweet, embraceable you.
03:09I said, John Chu?
03:11He said, embrace me.
03:13You heard me gold bloom.
03:15That's true.
03:17He was making it up as we went along.
03:20So I just got a kind of kiss on the cheek.
03:23Yeah, he got welcomed.
03:24My audition was from the Ozdust Ballroom.
03:28I sang two songs from Wicked.
03:30But I was reading with myself, and one of the songs is where Buck and Nessa sing together.
03:35So I didn't have a reader, so I recorded myself singing Nessa's parts.
03:40And for the scene, I recorded myself playing Glinda.
03:43I read with a video of myself, which was horrifying to send in.
03:47I couldn't believe that anybody but me was going to watch it.
03:50I recently brought it up, and he's like, oh, I actually didn't know that was you.
03:53I was like, that's incredible.
03:55And then he watched it back, and he's like, that's crazy. Why did you do that?
03:59But it's good. It worked.
04:00Buck Woodsman of Munchkinland.
04:04I was very last minute.
04:05I was one of the last, I want to say, people cast? I could be wrong.
04:11I had, I think, three, actually.
04:14One is the one between Elphaba and Nessa in the library where she's asking Elphaba,
04:21let me go to the dance, trust me on this.
04:24The second one is the one with Buck and Nessa.
04:27And the third one, you'll see later.
04:30That perfectly adorable Munchkin boy just asked me out.
04:34The first time we sang together was at John Chu's house for dinner.
04:38Where Stephen Schwartz played the piano for us, and we sang for good together.
04:43We'd never sung before.
04:44No, I was a huge fan of her voice.
04:47I was a huge fan of hers, but we're very different.
04:49Yes, and it was just such a strange thing to sing together and sound so one.
04:55Because we have very different voices separately,
04:57but together we kind of completely disappeared.
05:04We changed our lives completely.
05:06We just made sure that our lives matched the roles that we were playing.
05:09I was running like a crazy person every single morning, two hours,
05:13Pilates, if that's right.
05:15And working out and making sure my body was ready to be in a harness and flying
05:20and holstered and singing at the same time.
05:23I had to sort of transform my voice as well for a multitude of reasons,
05:27but it was a long training journey for the vocal side of things.
05:31My vocal coach, Eric Vitro, was incredible.
05:33We started long before my first audition,
05:35just because I wanted to make sure that even on the first audition,
05:39that when I did sing for Glinda,
05:41it was as authentically sounding operatic as possible.
05:45So we did a lot of training.
05:47Just you and I defying gravity.
05:54Do you know the song Finishing the Hat?
05:56Finishing the Hat is a book about Stephen Sondheim.
05:59That's right.
06:00Titled after one of his famous songs about an artist's process.
06:04And really, in Sunday in the Park with George,
06:07it seems like he talks about looking through a window at the world going by
06:10when you're committed to a creative endeavour.
06:12And that is what this film felt like to me.
06:14And this is a testament to Cynthia and Ari.
06:17But you do, you just lean in and every sort of minute of every day,
06:21you're thinking about your voice, you're thinking about dancing,
06:24about keeping your body fit and strong.
06:26And then on top of that, you try and keep the sort of anticipation
06:30of playing a beloved character in a beloved thing at bay.
06:33But also, having been in a scene with Jeff,
06:36it's just an embarrassment of riches.
06:38It's an embarrassment, period.
06:39Myron Kirstein was the editor, and boy, I owe him a great debt.
06:43And the scorer, they add some music to it.
06:46Oh, and it takes off.
06:48Makes it go, go.
06:49And then I had some music to do and some dancing to do
06:52with the great Chris Scott, and I practiced, practiced, practiced.
06:55Well, I did that, yes.
06:56I practiced what that could be.
06:58There was a suggestion in the thing, and then he dances.
07:00I sort of came up with that.
07:02And then Alex Frank and I worked every phrase of the songs
07:06and got the key, anyway, you know, prepared.
07:09I am a monster.
07:12I'm terrible.
07:14I had seen Wicked, I think, half a dozen times.
07:17I saw it when I was in, I'm pretty sure, 6th grade,
07:20because it was 2004.
07:22So I saw the original cast, and then I saw it a bunch more times,
07:25including with my niece.
07:26I brought her for her 9th birthday.
07:28So it was kind of in me in that way, as a fan.
07:31On top of that, I did read the book again,
07:34which has a nice big chapter, a whole section on Vox,
07:37and I kind of helped that sort of infuse into my version of Bach.
07:42And I read the original L. Frank Baum books,
07:44just to sort of remind myself of where we're drawing inspiration from.
07:49But one of the things that I love about doing research for acting,
07:52at some point you kind of let go of it, and you just kind of have to be there.
07:55So I wasn't going home and rereading these sections.
07:58I didn't want the refresher.
08:00I wanted to be Bach.
08:01And I think that one of the things that I was so impressed with
08:04and I looked up to in so many of our cast members
08:06is how, like, just fully locked in they were.
08:10And they knew their characters front and back.
08:12They didn't have to think about it.
08:133, 2, 1, action.
08:14When you yelled action, they were locked in.
08:16I'm not really sure that I was conscious of the changes I was making.
08:20I just remember spending more and more time with the material
08:24and sort of getting in her body and her shoes and her corset and things.
08:28And I just kind of, like, I moved differently.
08:31I didn't realize because I wasn't a person who wanted to watch the dailies or anything.
08:34So when I saw it for the first time, I was like, oh, my goodness.
08:38That is not my face or body or why I walk.
08:41I don't walk like I don't do.
08:43My face is like, it was really weird.
08:45I feel like we're watching people we know and love but not us.
08:49The side smile came by itself.
08:51I don't even think I was thinking about it.
08:54I think I realized maybe she's sort of like a tentative, expressive person.
08:59So the smiles don't come big immediately.
09:03The subtleties in it, the way she moves her hands.
09:06The hands were a real thing.
09:08John loved that, and I liked using my hands as a way to express.
09:13So you'll see that she uses her hands a lot and they'll move a lot.
09:16And even when she grabs the broom, it's sort of something.
09:19But her small expressions sort of built over time.
09:23For me, it wasn't lifestyle changes.
09:25What really helped was journaling as my character,
09:29giving a little bit of backstory to her early life
09:32and then just the start before going to Shiz and thereafter
09:36and filling in a lot of blanks just on my own and figuring it out
09:40but also talking with John in between as well, of course.
09:43With Nessa specifically was a lot of reflection
09:48and bringing the parts of my 18-year-old, off-to-college self
09:54for the first time into her.
09:57I love Bach because I could always sense
10:01that he was somebody who was looking for his place in the world.
10:04He was looking for his community. He was looking for love.
10:07In looking for those spaces, he sometimes stumbled or tripped
10:12or said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing.
10:14I also always knew that I wanted to lead with that a little more
10:18than I think you're able to do on the stage.
10:21On stage, you have to come in, be a big burst of energy as Bach,
10:26play to the back of the house, get a laugh and leave.
10:29I was really excited to bring what I feel is a kind of humanness
10:33and nuance to Bach that you can only get
10:36when you're allowed the time to focus on his emotional inner life.
10:40I'm a big proponent of using a scent for a character.
10:43Me too.
10:44So we both had very specific scents for our characters
10:47and mine would change depending on where she was within the story.
10:52Older Glinda had a different scent than younger Glinda.
10:55Older Glinda had a whole rainbow.
10:57A whole rainbow of different things.
10:59At the beginning, she smells like one thing.
11:01Defying Gravity is another thing.
11:03Then film two are different things altogether as well.
11:06Big, more robust flowers, like tuberose, lilies, rose, jasmine
11:12were mixed in with mine.
11:14It's really interesting because it really is so triggering.
11:17Scents can really take you to a certain time and place.
11:20I think that's why it's so much fun to use it to help with characters too.
11:23She would always smell me coming and I would smell her coming.
11:25We would smell each other more.
11:26Where is she?
11:27Oh, she's arrived.
11:30Did you know there's one crazy shot, and it's not even on my face or anything.
11:35You know when you pick up your pen while I pick up my cardigan for loathing?
11:42I'm like, is that my hand?
11:45I know it's my hand.
11:46I was there for that.
11:47I was right out of frame when I watched it.
11:49I don't remember doing that, but I know that that's my hand.
11:51I think I gave that hand a round of applause.
11:53If you catch my drift, I gave that hand a round of applause.
11:59To see a set like that fully realized with a working moat and arches and boats,
12:08it was insane.
12:10I didn't even realize that we were going to be in a world like that.
12:13I didn't know that it was going to be like that.
12:15I didn't know Jeff's head was going to be Mount Rushmore in the thing.
12:19I had no idea.
12:20I actually was taking a walk with Bowen, and we were just taking a walk,
12:24and we turn the corner, and Jeff Goldblum's head is in the Rockies.
12:27And we were like, holy s**t.
12:29It's insane.
12:30The whole thing is insane.
12:31Bach, for some reason, had the longest hair and makeup of anybody on set.
12:35I was in the chair for like two and a half hours.
12:37But during that time, I could just sort of breathe in the space.
12:41Let my hair become Bach.
12:43Let all of those little things happen so that by the time you get to set,
12:47you're just kind of living in it.
12:49And the sets were so immersive.
12:50Oh, yeah.
12:51You know what, I have to bring up I'm Not That Girl.
12:53Because I think that her I'm Not That Girl is just,
12:56I have to excuse myself and go to the back of the theater to watch it alone.
12:59I'm serious.
13:01When I had a screening with my family, I said,
13:03bye guys, I'll see you later.
13:05Then I just go to the back and just sob and enjoy my friend's performance.
13:09That might be up there for me.
13:11I love her I'm Not That Girl.
13:12He could be that boy.
13:18I'm not that girl.
13:23Live singing on a film.
13:25He's getting ready to go.
13:26I would say is very, very intense.
13:30You can really go for it on film.
13:32You only have to do it once, but you have to do it probably 50 times in a day.
13:36It's like a workshop.
13:37You're kind of finding it as you do it, even though you've prepared a lot.
13:40And there's so many other elements.
13:42You're in a harness now.
13:43And you're up and you're doing that.
13:45And you're finding it.
13:46And finally, all you got to get is one, like you say.
13:49And he says, okay, I think we got it.
13:52And you go home in the car.
13:54What else could I have done?
13:56What else could I have possibly done?
13:58I think then you watch it and you go, was that the best I could have done?
14:01I think so.
14:02Vocally, we were given so much room to play.
14:05We would sing it by the Bible, as was.
14:08And then they would go, well, and then what else?
14:12Try something else if you want to.
14:14One of the things that we're proudest of are the ways in which we brought ourselves
14:18and our own truths to these roles while wanting to honor the original material
14:24that we have loved so much.
14:26And John is like such a collaborative and open and playful director.
14:31So he will come in with the most organized plan.
14:34Right.
14:35And then throw it away and ask us to play.
14:38It was really nice singing live because it felt like we could take more time
14:43with the emotion and building that front and center,
14:47whereas we can't do it again when you're on a stage.
14:50I do want to say your voice is so good.
14:52And I'm really glad that working on it made you feel more confident
14:55so you would feel better about it.
14:56But from jump, you sounded amazing.
14:58Aw, thank you.
15:00Yeah, it's true.
15:01Yeah, thank you.
15:02So do you, SpongeBob.
15:04You sounded great.
15:05Aw, thanks.
15:06But I also think that one of the things that was really intimidating for me,
15:09and I don't know if you felt this, but when you're on stage,
15:12even if you're on a big intimidating stage like Broadway
15:15where there's however many people in the audience,
15:18it's just that many people, and then if you mess up,
15:21you can do it again the next night.
15:23You always have that moment.
15:25And we could do more takes.
15:27That's true.
15:28Which is nice, but then it's on camera forever.
15:31But I do remember there was a take where I was like,
15:34absolutely, please tell me you're deleting that.
15:37Please, please tell me you've deleted that.
15:39We saw one showing in Australia where 1,500 people saw it.
15:43I think we're going to please the deep, you know, fanatic fans.
15:49The themes of friendship and being othered and unity
15:53is just so sort of engaging and inspiring.
15:56And I suppose when it comes to the film,
15:58we just hope that we've done all the fans.
16:00And that is how we became our characters in Wicked.
16:03I remember you.
16:05You're the one who made my dreams come true.
16:10Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.
16:13I'm like a little duckling following Jeff as we go along.
16:15Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
16:17Life is but a...
16:18Jonathan Bailey is but a...