• 19 hours ago
Connect with Deadline online!
https://www.facebook.com/deadline/
https://twitter.com/DEADLINE
https://www.instagram.com/deadline/

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00This is a really insane story, actually. I was on a cruise with my family. We were on
00:07vacation. We went to karaoke, and I sang insanely. I was four. I don't know why I was this brave.
00:15But I got up at karaoke, and I sang, ready to hear the most tonally ignorant song choice
00:20I could ever make, My Heart Will Go On. I sang from the Titanic.
00:26Yeah, perfect, on a ship.
00:28Perfect. You know what the last thing is I want to hear when I'm on a ship?
00:36I don't want to hear that ever. I'm on a ship. Leave that away. Put that somewhere else.
00:47You're telling me that was your first party ever?
00:51Would a funeral count?
00:54That was funny.
00:58I couldn't remotely sleep.
01:00Neither can I.
01:01I know. Let's tell each other something we've never told anyone before. Okay, fine. I'll go first.
01:09Fiyero and I are getting married.
01:14He asked you already?
01:16Oh, he doesn't know yet.
01:18Welcome to the actor's side today. Well, well, let's see.
01:21She's set 37 Guinness World Records, 90 million records worldwide, 2 Grammys, 2 Billboard Awards,
01:3010 MTV Video Awards, 9 Nick Kids Choice Awards, 12 Teen Choice Awards. It sounds like the 12 days of Christmas.
01:37Did my mom make this card for me?
01:39I know. I met your mom. She's a big fan of Deadline, she told me, at that Golden Globe launch. Joan, right?
01:45Yeah, she's great. She's your number one fan, there's no question about it.
01:49I'm very lucky, yeah.
01:50Big supporter, that's important, right?
01:52It is, it is.
01:53Did I forget to introduce Ariana Grande right here?
01:56We've been enjoying our small talk, free-rolling too much.
02:01Exactly. Well, all those awards, of course, in the music business, she's just a phenomenon and has been for a long time.
02:08And now, as an actor, nominated for so many awards, SAG, Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, BAFTA,
02:18and the Academy Award for your incredible performance as Glinda Galinda in Wicked. Congratulations.
02:26Thank you, thank you so much.
02:28That means a lot, doesn't it?
02:30It means a lot. It's really extraordinary. It's like the most overwhelming and unexpected thing in the entire world.
02:38This role, getting to do this work, was the greatest gift of my life.
02:42So this is just kind of otherworldly, you know?
02:47I kind of kept my head down and was so excited and grateful to do the work.
02:51And you don't even let your wildest daydreams go there.
02:56Right.
02:58At all.
02:59And so to be welcomed in this way and to be a part of this community with so many actors and actresses and people that I love, it's just been really beautiful.
03:09Yeah. And it's exciting, you know, when you get your first Oscar nomination.
03:14Ew, my God. What? Yeah.
03:16You know, what was your reaction that day? Were you watching?
03:20My dear friend Bowen was doing the announcement.
03:24Bowen, yay. Wow, you're a co-star.
03:26Brilliant, yeah.
03:27And so that was just like the most comforting presence to see.
03:32And I was obviously rooting for Wicked and I was so excited.
03:35And from the moment they announced Nathan Crowley was nominated for set design, I just was bawling.
03:41And then Paul and then Frances and I just was sobbing immediately.
03:46And they hadn't even, I didn't even, they didn't even get to supporting actors yet.
03:50And I just started sobbing.
03:52I was so faint from crying so hard.
03:56But it was just so, and then they announced Cynthia and our whole family.
03:59It just felt like, it felt like everything was being celebrated.
04:03And of course, all of that being an extension of our leader, John Chu.
04:07And it felt like the whole family was being recognized together.
04:10And I, and he will get even more flowers as, you know.
04:13Yeah. John was here and he's the nicest guy and such a genius when it comes to all of this, you know.
04:20I talked about him.
04:21He was going to do early on a movie musical that he never got made.
04:25But at a very young age, Bye Bye Birdie.
04:27Oh wow.
04:28At Sony.
04:29And I was thinking, you know, after he was telling me that, I was thinking, man, you would have been perfect.
04:35Oh my goodness.
04:36In that too, you know.
04:37Bye Bye Birdie.
04:38That's great.
04:39I didn't know about that.
04:40Yeah.
04:41Well, you know, they have, they did a TV remake, but of course the original 1963.
04:45You can't go wrong with Ann-Margaret.
04:47It's perfect.
04:48But anyway, he didn't get to make that.
04:50But fortunately, he's been able to make a lot since then.
04:53And then Wicked, which is, they don't say part one.
04:56They just say Wicked.
04:57But we're going to see Wicked for good next year.
05:01Are you excited about that?
05:02I'm so excited about that.
05:04I haven't seen it yet.
05:05But I remember, of course, experiencing it.
05:08And I know that it feels quite different.
05:10And it's tonally different.
05:14There's a lot of heaviness.
05:18Part one is kind of like, part two is the consequences of part one.
05:25And people are forced to sort of make decisions and become ultimately who they're going to be.
05:34You get to see Glinda become Glinda the Good in a real way.
05:38Which I know that people have some questions about now.
05:41And I understand them.
05:43But I don't necessarily agree with them just because I know her the way that I know her.
05:46But it's beautiful to see that arc kind of become complete for her.
05:50And I love her.
05:53There's so much to look forward to.
05:54It's great.
05:55When I saw it the second time, I saw so much more in it.
05:58And I'm going like, God, there's so much in this movie.
06:02There's a lot, yes.
06:03Really.
06:04What it says about the world, what it says about where we are, you don't normally expect it in a big lab.
06:09Right.
06:10Broadway musical.
06:11But the themes are ever present.
06:12And it just feels like a very timely story.
06:16And these themes, we need them more than ever.
06:19But also, it's timeless as well.
06:21Because I remember feeling that exact same way about the musical and hearing my mom have that discussion about it.
06:27Even back when the musical came out 21 years ago.
06:29Right.
06:30And then all the way back to The Wizard of Oz, which also had those themes and undertones.
06:35And it just feels like a beautifully timeless story.
06:38But I'm so grateful that right now, in this moment, people are able to use it as a safe space.
06:45Or a reminder to lead with empathy.
06:48That's the key word, empathy.
06:50When you look at what they're trying to do with the animals in this.
06:53And book banning and everything else.
06:56And authoritarianism.
06:59Yeah.
07:00I mean, this could not be more timely.
07:01No, it couldn't.
07:02And I think it raises the question of how can we become more and more present for one another.
07:09And safe for each other.
07:11And look past differences or whatever it is.
07:13And create a safe space as a means to survive what's happening around us.
07:18So, you're Ariana Grande, in case you didn't know.
07:22Everybody knows you around the world.
07:25Did you have to audition?
07:27Of course.
07:28That's such a funny question to me.
07:30Because it's wicked.
07:31And also, I feel like because of, you know, the Ariana Grande of it all.
07:37That was even more of a reason why I needed to prove and earn it.
07:42And prove myself and earn this.
07:44Because I think, you know, it was really important that I was able to disappear into this.
07:51And erase any sort of pieces of familiarity.
07:56Or anything that might be distracting to the story.
07:59And also, yes, I love high notes and comedy.
08:03But there's so much beneath the surface with Glinda.
08:06That I feel like it's a role that really truly deserves to be earned.
08:12And also, no one is bigger than Wicked.
08:16Yeah, right.
08:18To be able to have the opportunity to play a role like this.
08:23And be a part of this ensemble, this story.
08:28It's a privilege and it has to be earned.
08:31It's amazing.
08:32Well, you know, I don't think you need to prove yourself.
08:34But I see what you're saying.
08:36Is you're walking on to the most giant of movie productions.
08:40Just the sets alone had to be mind-boggling.
08:44So you want to know for yourself as a performer.
08:47Am I going to be the one that will make this work for him?
08:51Yes, truly.
08:52Yeah, and also just sort of, yeah.
08:56The work that goes into being able to become someone else as an actor.
09:02I feel like no one had any reason to expect that I would be able to handle a role like Glinda.
09:10So that's why before even my very first audition.
09:13I started training three months before to transform my vocal cords.
09:19Because even the singing track of Glinda is completely separate from what I do with my pop career.
09:25It's a coloratura soprano, classically trained, operatic.
09:30You know, authentic, full sound.
09:32You have four octaves for the voice I've read.
09:34Well, it's different than doing whistle tones.
09:36And it's different than doing like mixing and belting in that way.
09:40Because it's sort of a different.
09:43Yes, it's a similar range.
09:45But the technical style of singing is totally different.
09:49So I had to train to strengthen my falsetto and those top, top, top notes.
09:56But in kind of some of it was whistle register, but some of it not.
10:00Some of it just relying on falsetto alone to strengthen it and make it sound fuller and rounder.
10:05And it was quite a transformation.
10:07You know, I was listening on a really long flight the other day.
10:12And my vocal coach Eric Vitro texted me congratulating me on my nomination.
10:16And we were emotional and we were sort of reflecting together.
10:20And I went all the way back to the very first voice lessons when we started working on it.
10:25And the tone is so different.
10:28There was so much more air coming through because I hadn't kind of reshapen that part of my vocal cords yet.
10:34It's really interesting.
10:36And then two weeks later, the voice note sounds completely different.
10:39And then two weeks later, it sounds even fuller and stronger.
10:42Yeah, so it required a lot of work behind the scenes, even on just the vocal side, let alone the acting side.
10:49I was training with my acting coach, Nancy Banks, who's just such a brilliant healing person.
10:56And you're also a great physical comedian.
10:58I have to compliment you on that.
11:00I'm watching your pratfalls and the things when you walk in.
11:03You make it look effortless.
11:05Comedy is tough.
11:06And the physicality of the role, people will be surprised.
11:09Lots of Pilates.
11:104 a.m., Pilates before rehearsals, every day.
11:14It was really fun.
11:16The chandelier, I was like very proud.
11:18The chandelier, wow.
11:20Gunda has surprisingly a fantastic upper body strength.
11:24Who knew?
11:25She's just this incredibly awkward person who then all of a sudden can do that.
11:29She was just really excited to impress Elphaba in that moment.
11:33Yeah, well, to impress Elphaba, I have to say, too, the second time I saw this picture, I really focused on the dance.
11:39And that dance you two do is just stunning.
11:43And it's so meaningful.
11:45And the way it's shot, the way it's performed and everything, what was it like shooting that?
11:50Well, it was an incredibly long and quiet day.
11:58Everyone on set was sort of on the same energetic plane.
12:03All of our beautiful supporting actors and dancers and every single grip and cameraman and person working was just sort of on the same energetic field.
12:15It was very tranquil and sensitive and beautiful.
12:22But, you know, that takes so much incredible collaboration to make a scene like that possible.
12:27Alice Brooks, our DP, had to work with our lighting team to program 700 different lighting cues so that we didn't have to cut.
12:34Every time we ran the scene, it was a 10 minute take so that it could feel that way every time.
12:40That's great.
12:41But I love that moment because it's, you know, like we speak about empathy.
12:46It's a true act of empathy.
12:48It's a pivotal moment for Gunda.
12:52And I think what exists deep down for her is that she really is a good person.
12:57Yeah.
12:58That's why I'm so thankful for that shot that John allowed us to get after I give her the hat where I look back kind of and you get to see a little bit of like, I don't like that I did that.
13:09Yeah.
13:10I'm so glad that we got to get that shot because it protects her.
13:16And she's just not had the chance to pop that bubble of privilege yet, you know, to look outside herself in this way to see the repercussions or to be offered this invitation, which is what Elphaba's doing in that moment is inviting her.
13:33OK, do you want to become someone better?
13:36Yeah.
13:37Can you do this?
13:38Are you ready?
13:39Yeah.
13:41It's a really beautiful and important moment.
13:45And I think they both find their first true friend and only in that moment because Glinda's had a lot of friends, but none that hold up the mirror or challenge her in that way.
13:59That was it.
14:00And it's so beautiful.
14:01And of course, Cynthia Erivo is just incredible.
14:03She's so incredibly phenomenal.
14:05Yeah.
14:06When you put the two of you together, that chemistry has to work.
14:08That whole thing has to work or the whole souffle falls.
14:11And it never does for a minute in this, which is why this is the biggest movie musical adaptation of all time.
14:19Crazy.
14:20Already.
14:21What a wild sentence.
14:22You know, it's like you hear it and it's like, wow.
14:25It's just very…
14:26It's important to have musicals back in movies.
14:28I've always been a movie musical fan.
14:30And to see this year, a lot of different variations on the musical form seem to be coming back.
14:36Thank goodness.
14:37Right.
14:38Thank goodness.
14:39We need the musicals.
14:40I think that the response to Wicked is just sort of like evidence that it's such a safe space for so many people.
14:48And that's what it was for me and for Cynthia.
14:51We both found such a safe space in the music of Wicked since it came out.
14:57Forever.
14:58When did you first see the show?
14:59When I was 10.
15:00When you were 10.
15:01When I was 10.
15:02But over the course of…
15:03Did you know you were going to do the film version then?
15:04It was probably in like some sort of journal somewhere.
15:07Some sort of witchy journal I had.
15:09I don't know.
15:10But I don't know.
15:11It's just such a safe space for people.
15:13And musical theater is that for so many beautiful souls who need it.
15:16And Cynthia and I are two of those theater nerds.
15:19And it's been a safe haven for us.
15:21You started…
15:22Well, you didn't start, but you were on Broadway in 13.
15:24Yes.
15:25That was my start.
15:26That was my first job was 13, a musical by Jason Robert Brown.
15:29And it was thrilling, yeah.
15:32That's pretty wild.
15:33Very wild.
15:34Yeah.
15:35Did you go back to The Wizard of Oz at all, to Billy Burke's wonderful Glinda?
15:40You know, I just watched a movie the other day.
15:42I watch all these old movies.
15:43The Young Philadelphians, which was a 1959 Paul Newman movie.
15:46She was an old woman in this.
15:48But when she sat down to talk in this movie, she could still hear Glinda in her voice.
15:55Even as an 80-year-old woman that she was at this point when she made that movie.
15:59Did you go back to that at all?
16:01Yeah.
16:02I think that's some of the most…
16:04One of my favorite parts about Our Wicked is that it's a sort of gorgeous little sampling of pieces of familiarity.
16:13So, for me personally, I tried to look at elements of the Billy Burke of it all.
16:20Whether it was sort of pieces of her vibrato or like sort of the register in which she speaks.
16:25And then sort of then also drawing inspiration from Broadway Glinda's.
16:30And then translating that to what my Glinda is.
16:33And sort of putting everything in a beautiful witch's cauldron, if you will.
16:41And then having the influences there in certain ways.
16:45While also just sort of going back to the text and what's in between the text.
16:50And sort of designing a real, real, real human being with a beating heart and insecurities and trauma.
16:56So that everything could be honest and in the moment.
16:59Finding the balance between paying homage to the Aussie and lore.
17:05And the Glindas and good witches that have come before.
17:09While also just making sure that I knew enough of her truth to stay present in the moment.
17:15And just like listen and respond as her and as my Glinda.
17:19Has this inspired you to want to do more musicals?
17:23Now, we have this coming next November again, part two.
17:26Yes!
17:27Is this like, in other words, your career.
17:30It's been so heavy.
17:32All you have to do is look on Wikipedia to look at this incredible list of…
17:37It's mind-numbing almost, you know, the achievements in music.
17:42But I'm wondering now, do you want to take another turn yet again here and maybe…
17:48I think the turns have been such a fun part.
17:52The surprises and sort of, you know, doing Wicked is sort of doing the musical.
17:57The dream musical of all time.
17:59I don't know if it makes sense.
18:01If it's something that I feel like I could really add value to, of course I would.
18:06But, you know, it all just depends on what the character is and what the story is.
18:11And if I really feel like I could add value, you know?
18:14I loved you in Don't Look Up.
18:17First of all, I love Don't Look Up.
18:18Adam McKay's movie, in case you didn't see it.
18:20It's on Netflix.
18:21But it's all star cast.
18:23You're working with everybody.
18:24Leo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence and on and on and on.
18:27The list goes on.
18:28And you popped into that movie too.
18:31And got a SAG cast nomination, just like you have right now, with Wicked.
18:36So even with the limited number of feature films on your resume,
18:40you're a two-time SAG, now three-time SAG nominee alone.
18:46I don't know how I got here.
18:49But it's very great to be here.
18:50You're picking the right projects.
18:51I'll tell you how you got here.
18:54Adam McKay is so brilliant.
18:55I do love that film.
18:56I think it's so incredible.
18:57What a cool thing to have been a part of.
18:59Right.
19:00Yeah, it's cool.
19:01It was my first sort of feature film or the big, small part in a big film.
19:06But, yeah, what a welcome.
19:09My first scene was with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.
19:12And it was just very, what a welcome, I guess.
19:16Do people, going back to your early acting,
19:18everybody knows Nickelodeon and Victorious.
19:21And, of course, Sam & Cat was a spinoff of that.
19:23And you played Cat.
19:24But do they still talk to you about that those days?
19:29Because you're developing a very young audience at that point that are following you.
19:33Well, the beautiful thing is they've grown up with me.
19:35So it's like I was a baby, they were babies.
19:37And we sort of have been able to grow up alongside each other.
19:42So it's really sweet when I meet people in public or whatever it is and they bring it up.
19:46It's just sweet to hear, like, oh, I grew up with you in my household.
19:50It's like a very sweet thing.
19:52It's very special when that comes up
19:55or people share how it's sort of been a part of their lives.
20:00It's very crazy to have been able to connect with so many people through art.
20:07And I feel like I'm still just getting started in a weird, in a strange way.
20:14So it's just really beautiful to remember how many beautiful connections have been made already.
20:20What was your initial inspiration?
20:22I read Gloria Estefan had something to do with it.
20:24Oh, my goodness.
20:26Which I was interested in.
20:28How did that connection come so early?
20:30No, so the strangest, the craziest, this is a really insane story, actually.
20:34What happened there was I was on a cruise with my family.
20:38We were on vacation.
20:40And we went to karaoke.
20:43And I sang insanely.
20:46I was four.
20:47I don't know why I was this brave.
20:49So I got up at karaoke and I sang, ready to hear the most tonally ignorant song choice I could ever make,
20:56My Heart Will Go On.
20:58I sang from the Titanic.
21:01Yeah, perfect, on a ship.
21:03Perfect.
21:05You know what the last thing is I want to hear when I'm on a ship?
21:11I don't want to hear that ever.
21:12I'm on a ship.
21:13Leave that away.
21:15Put that somewhere else.
21:17And I decided to sing that.
21:20Anyway, it just so happened that Gloria Estefan was in the audience on this cruise on a vacation with her family.
21:27And she sort of invited me over to say hello.
21:31And my mom came with me and she just said, you keep singing.
21:34I never would have done that at your age.
21:36And you've got a gift.
21:37Keep going.
21:38Keep going.
21:39Isn't that so sweet?
21:40That's amazing.
21:41That shows you fate.
21:42That is fated right there.
21:44Yeah, I could have picked a different song.
21:46Yeah.
21:47But I love that song.
21:48But it's really sweet that she did that.
21:49That was really nice.
21:51That's so funny.
21:52Well, you know, and look what happened.
21:54I mean, my God.
21:55You know, everything has fallen into place.
21:58But Wicked has such a unique hold.
22:02I watched it with my wife.
22:04Watch how she reacts to it versus everything else we see together.
22:08And there is just something that's like a club or some secret society that that speaks to, to so many people.
22:16I think the themes of sisterhood and love and acceptance and humanness and allowing there to be nuance,
22:25allowing there to be decisions that you don't agree with but you understand, that acceptance.
22:32And I think it hits home for so many reasons.
22:36But, you know, all of that being underneath the surface, which is just such incredible music by Stephen Schwartz and the comedy.
22:44And it feels like an escape.
22:46But the themes, I think, are what really.
22:48I think you were.
22:50I use the word fated a lot.
22:51But you did the NBC 15-year celebration of Wicked.
22:54You were on that long before this.
22:56Yes.
22:57Singing.
22:58The Wizard and I.
22:59The Wizard and I.
23:00Which is so cosmic because the only time that I ever sang Wicked publicly before.
23:07Oh, that's not true.
23:08When I was really little, I also sang Populous.
23:10But there's no record of that.
23:12I can't find the video.
23:13But I sang Elphaba songs and Cynthia sang Glinda songs.
23:18Oh.
23:19So isn't that interesting?
23:20That is wild.
23:21Really crazy?
23:22Yeah.
23:23Well, you never know how these things are going to work out in the end.
23:25But it certainly has worked out.
23:27We are going to see you.
23:29I'm going to see you a lot.
23:30Critics Choice, SAG, and the Oscars, and so much more.
23:35I love when we get to see each other.
23:37Yeah, absolutely.
23:38It's so much fun.
23:39Thank you for joining us on the Actors Side.
23:41Thank you so much.
23:42And my mom says hi.
23:43Say hi to her.