Cynthia Erivo has admitted that she “uncontrollably wept” when she saw herself on screen as Elphaba in Wicked.
READ MORE: Wicked review: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have real chemistry
In an interview for Awardist, Erivo was asked how many times she’s seen the film. She replied that she’d seen it a total of nine times, both at premieres and before the movie came out. Once she’d processed seeing herself on screen after her first viewing, the second was where things got emotional.
“The very first time I saw it, there was so much coming at me that I was completely overwhelmed and I think my brain completely blanked out,” Erivo said. “I erased myself from the movie. I was like, ‘I don’t think I was in that. I don’t think I was there’.
“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 couldn’t properly articulate how glad I was to see all the things I wanted of this character to be on screen. I was so, so happy.”
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’. CREDIT: Universal
She continued: “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. Then I felt like an audience member. That was the first time I was like, “And I’m in…? I’m in.” I feel like I’m watching this epic and I cannot believe that I get to be a part of this. It was so, so freaking cool.”
In a four-star review of Wicked, Nick Levine wrote for NME: “Wicked flags a little in the middle, but not enough to dampen a dramatic climax in which Elphaba and Glinda travel to Oz to meet the fabled Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). He and Yeoh sell their brief musical numbers on twinkly charisma, but Erivo and Grande are both vocally extraordinary. Crucially, they also have crackling chemistry punctuated by Erivo’s bursts of intensity and Grande’s slick comic timing. By the end, you won’t quite be levitating off your seat but you’ll definitely be enchanted enough to stream the soundtrack on the way home. Funny, colourful and full of empathy for outsiders, this film really is the Shiz.”
Meanwhile, Erivo recreated the viral “holding space” meme with co-star Ariana Grande at the 2025 Golden Globes.
It stems from an interview featuring Erivo and Grande, when they both appeared overwhelmed to find out that fans “are taking the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that, and feeling power in that.” Grande then held Erivo’s finger as a show of support – though this quickly turned into a meme on social media.
Grande and Erivo recreated the meme when host and comedian Nikki Glaser asked Grande to hold her finger. As Grande reached out, Erivo intercepted the two and have Ariana her own finger. Ariana mouthed to Glaser as she held Erivo’s finger: “I’m holding hers.”
Wicked won the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement in Motion Pictures. However, Grande lost out the honour for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, and Erivo lost Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical.
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