Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to Star in ‘Wicked’ Movie
A Wicked movie has been in development now for 17 years. If the Wicked adaptation was a person, it could get a driver’s license — and the film still hasn’t been shot. In fact, it lost its director, Stephen Daldry, late last year.
But now it does look like the film, based on the long-running Broadway hit about the witches of Oz, is going to happen. Jon M. Chu signed on to replace Daldry early in 2021, and today the film revealed the Wicked movie’s two leads. Singer and actress Ariana Grande will play Glinda the Good Witch, while Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
The two stars announced the news in separate Instagram posts where each sent flowers to the other. “Pink goes good with green,” wrote the card on Erivo’s roses to Grande. “Congratulations Miss A, the part was made for you. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.”
Grande’s card to Erivo read “honored doesn’t even begin to cover it. I cannot wait to hug you. See you in Oz.”
The show, based on the Gregory Maguire novel of the same name, imagines a new and more complicated backstory for the witches than in ˆThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, or the iconic 1939 The Wizard of Oz movie. It retells the story from the witches’ perspective and shows how and why Elphaba became so “wicked.” Both of the lead actresses have stage experience. Grande actually got her start on Broadway before becoming a Nickelodeon and pop star, while Erivo won a Tony for her work in The Color Purple musical before starring in movies like Harriet and Bad Times at the El Royale. They seem like they should be perfect for their parts.
Wicked doesn’t have an official release date yet; it was recently revealed that the film is expected to start shooting in the summer of 2022 in the U.K.