Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on Oct. 19.Photo:Emma McIntyre/Getty
Emma McIntyre/Getty
Cynthia ErivoandAriana Grandehad their work cut out for them filmingWicked. And the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help.
“There was one time when I got Covid, there was another time when she got Covid,” Erivo, 37, revealed toThe New York Timesin an interview published Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Not only that, recalled Grande, 31, but each actress contracted the virus in the days before filming their biggest musical numbers: Erivo, who plays Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, sings the climactic act one closer “Defying Gravity,” while Grande as Glinda the Good Witch performs the bubbly “Popular.”
“We only got sick once each, but both were before some of the most important works of the whole movie,” said the “Yes, And?” singer.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Granda in ‘Wicked’.Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
Filming “Popular,” she added, “I came to set with a mask on my final days of recovery… no one liked this joke but I loved it so I’ll tell it: We were in the dorm room together and I sang in her ear, ‘Positive, you’re going to be positive!’ But I wasn’t positive anymore, don’t worry! I took the test.”
For Erivo, catching COVID the week before shooting “Defying Gravity” was a cosmic sign: “It was literally like, ‘Sit down, Cynthia, not yet.’”
“At first, it felt like an interruption, and then as it went on, it felt like the rest we needed,” recalled Erivo. “We’d worked ourselves to the bone. I was really grateful because the next thing that we had to do [until the strike happened] was ‘Defying Gravity,’ and it felt like the universe going, ‘You need your full strength to do this.’”
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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on Nov. 3.BIANCA DE MARCHI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
BIANCA DE MARCHI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“It was funny though because no matter how much time passed, the second we got back into those clothes, the characters were right there with us,” said Grande, growing emotional when asked about wrapping filming and leaving Glinda behind. “We cried every minute, every hour. We both were in a horrible state for a few days.”
Erivo said she was “devastated” upon finishing filming as Elphaba, adding, “I still fiercely love her.”
“Me too,” said Grande. “We brought our corsets home and our shoes and our wands. I still have all of my wigs.”
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source: people.com