Sarah Madden
THE AWARDIST: How many times have you seenWickednow?
The first time you saw the final cut, was that a different experience than watching those rough cuts?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a very different experience.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande at the L.A. premiere of ‘Wicked’.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
I erased myself from the movie.
I was like, I don’t think I was in that.
I don’t think I was there.
Sarah Madden
And the second time I saw it, I wept like, uncontrollably wept.
I couldn’t even articulate how grateful I felt to even be a part of it.
I was so, so happy.
Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba delivers the ‘Defying Gravity’ money shot in ‘Wicked’.Universal Pictures
And then seeing the finished version blew me away.
All of the details were there, everything.
The finished cape, the sky, the monkeys going over the rainbow.
Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda arrive in the Emerald City in ‘Wicked’.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Then I felt like an audience member.
That was the first time I was like, “And I’m in…?
I’m in.”
Marissa Bode as Nessarose and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
It was so, so freaking cool.
You mentioned that cape.
That slow-mo spin…holy cow.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’.Universal Pictures
[Laughs] Filming it was crazy.
So when did you get to meet her?
What was that first meeting like?
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda in ‘Wicked’.Universal Pictures
We sent each other flowers, and we should have known that that was a good sign.
And then we said we should meet, we should sit, we should chill and connect.
And we just hit it off.
Cynthia Erivo in ‘Wicked’.Universal Studios
Talking not aboutWicked, just life talk?
Just talk about life.
We had a little chat aboutWicked, but not very much.
And we still had not sung together.
We didn’t sing that day.
We didn’t know what our voices sounded like together.
Pablo Larraín/Netflix; Frazer Harrison/Getty; Universal
The first time we sang was at Jon’s house.
What if that had just gone not the way you guys were hoping?
It would have been terribly dreadful if it didn’t work the way we needed it to work.
So in reality, for our voices to work the way they did was a bit of magic.
That’s what it needs.
Your musicality depends on the other person.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
It meant that that was what was going to happen throughout.
What have younotbeen asked?
What have I not been asked?
Nikki Glaser hosts the 2025 Golden Globes.CBS
Ummm…
What was your favorite thing from Craft services?
Maybe you’ve been asked that.
No one has asked me that at all.
Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara present at the 2025 Golden Globes.CBS
And that’s a really lovely question because the chef who came on board was really wonderful.
I’m in a corset all day.
She’s in a corset all day.
So I would really be taken care of.
The sustenance that we needed to get to keep going was really important and they took it really seriously.
They listened to everything that we needed.
MUBI / Courtesy Everett; A24
So this is a really beautiful question because I think sometimes we take for granted what that is.
I was not shy.
I was chatty and bossy very, very bossy.
Renée Zellweger at the 2020 Oscars.CRAIG SJODIN via Getty
So I would often be the person who was in control.
I care really deeply about people.
And that’s still something that is part of Big Cynthia.
It’s something that I’ve taken into my life now.
She was a deeply, deeply caring kid.
I was, yeah.
I was not shy, that’s for sure.
Well, that worked out well for your chosen profession.
But when did you discover your voice?
I mean your singing voice.
I knew I could make a sound that made people happy when I was about five.
I knew I could sing when I was about nine or 10.
I could listen to something and sing it back to you and it could sound good.
The age that I knew that I could do that was about nine.
Which is probably about the age that Elphaba is in thosee scenes.
They trusted each other, and Karis took great care [of Cesily].
Karis has these really beautifully expressive eyes that I loved looking at because she just understood.
And so when Cesily would be scared, Karis would want to comfort her.
They did have a really beautiful sister relationship.
I feel like it comes through when you watch them.
I know, it’s heartbreaking, just ruins me.
It goes right through me when I hear it.
I actually think it was just a real moment of, like, breakdown.
I think she was overwhelmed.
So I think they got a real cry from her.
That is a cry performance for the ages right there.
“The Wizard and I” chills.
And those final moments of the movie, I think I caught myself not breathing.
It’s just such incredible stuff.
What were those moments for you?
What got you emotional on set?
It’s hard to pick just one.
Yeah, after the strikes.
I couldn’t get off the set.
I couldn’t leave.
It was just hard to go.
And Ozdust was really that.
Ozdust, I had to be sent home.
Ozdust, that was Ari, Marc, and Jon telling me to go home.
When Ariana grabs your face, I was done.
Was that wink planned?
Because…No, you’re shaking your head no.
Jon said to me, “Let her know it’s gonna be okay.”
And the wink happened.
It’s so great.
Ariana credits you for getting her “Give me my leg” line on camera.
[Laughs] Because it’s brilliant!
And she said, “Yeah.”
I said, “Jon, you have to get that.
It’s so funny, you have to.”
Because I could not keep it together.
It made me break.
I heard, “Give me my leg!”
And I was like… [Laughs] I told Jon, “We can’tnotget that.
That has to be in there.”
It’s so good!
What other lines, shots, scenes like that exist that just came out of something in the moment?
And I go, “What?
I was just gonna exit the door.”
That was not written, that was just something that happened.
That was just us f—ing around.
“Froat” is made up…frock, coat, froat, boop.
That’s made up.
And when she says “Come on!”
with the wand, and “Do you need my help?”
That’s us just again just messing around.
“Just wear the froat, it’s pretty.”
Love those special moments.
Yeah, we had a whole day.
All of that material.
You never know, you might see it again, I don’t know.
Is it true Jonny Bailey was shirtless in that scene?
I’m not saying anything!
I’m not, I’m not saying a damn thing.
[Laughs] You’re gonna get me into trouble.
I’m not saying anything.
Here’s the thing.
You might see a shirtless Jonny Bailey at some point.
That’s a fair enough tease.
Have you already seen a cut of Part Two?
And I’ve told Jon it needs to happen immediately.
So I will see it soon.
He’s editing it and I’m bothering him constantly about it.
I want to see.
I want to see.
I know there’s a cut somewhere.
I know there’s a cut and I want to see it.
Universal Studios
There’s been so much praise for how you made “Defying Gravity” your own.
Should we expect that for, perhaps, “No Good Deed?”
[Laughs] I’m playing coy.
I just think I sing, I sing things the way I know how to truthfully.
The aim is not to just make it my own and change it.
So it will end up feeling like me because I only know how to do it that way.
Will things be different?
Will it be recognizable?
But they won’t be different for the sake of just being different.
It’s a phenomenon.
I love it because it really was just a moment of freedom for me.
I was given the space and the permission to make the war cry my own.
It’s really cool.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
2025 Awards Season Calendar
JAN. 8-17* Oscars nomination votingJAN.
12* PGA Film nominationsJAN.
15-FEB. 21 SAG Awards final votingJAN.
23* Oscar nominationsFEB.
7* Critics Choice AwardsFEB.
11-18 Oscars final votingFEB.
22 Independent Spirit AwardsFEB.
The 2025 SAG Awards will stream live on Netflix on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m.
ET / 5 p.m. PT from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall.
Were the 82nd annualGolden Globesactually kind of…fun?
(Her bits continued to kill throughout the night especially herConclave/Wickedmusical number, “Pope-ular.")
I want to start by saying this whole angled camera thing is very weird.
I said no, but I regret that now completely.
Check out the rest of ourbest and worst moments here.
“RENEE ZELLWEGER | LEAD ACTRESS, 2020 |JUDY
