Wicked's Cynthia Erivo reveals surprising reason she wore prosthetics as Elphaba
26 November 2024, 11:28
Wicked's Cynthia Erivo has revealed why she wears prosthetics to portray Elphaba.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
And just like that Wicked: Part 1 is ours! After literal years of anticipation, theatres around the world have seen Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande grace the big screen as Elphaba and Glinda.
Director Jon M. Chu seamlessly translated the first act of Wicked the musical into a 2 hour and 40 minute masterpiece. So seamlessly, we didn't even realise Cynthia was wearing prosthetics to portray Elphaba.
That's right, amid all the wizardy, witchy, wonderfulness, Cynthia used more than just green body paint to transform into the Wicked Witch of The West.
- Read more: What does Holding Space for Defying Gravity mean? Viral Cynthia Erivo interview meme explained
- Read more: Cynthia Erivo recalls mum’s adorable reaction to watching Wicked
Cynthia has revealed she wore prosthetic ears for the role, but why? In conversation with Elle, she said: "I have a million piercings, so they brought in a prosthetic artist, who created basically a shell for my ears. Those aren’t my ears!"
She went on to reveal that the type of paint they used was custom mixed to be the perfect shade of green on her skintone, "It was literally 'Cynthia Green,'" she said.
"Depending on how much green we were doing - head, chest, hands, full body - it could take up to four hours," the star explained.
Cynthia's makeup artist Frances Hannon has spoken about how she had to create the unique blend of green for Cynthia. Frances wanted a colour that complimented Cynthia's features but also looked great in every light, but "the product didn’t exist", she told Variety.
Frances revealed that she found a discontinued Canadian cream eyeshadow that was perfect and turned to British makeup manufacturer and developer David Stoneman to help her recreate it.
"He took the base out of the little eye shadow, which was a neon yellow — just some drops of it — and added to the green shade. That was the perfect shade. It worked in every light," she explained.
After Wicked's opening weekend, Cynthia shared an Instagram post thanking her 'green team'. She wrote: "I can’t let opening weekend go by without mention of my spectacular, wonderful Green Team!!"
"Your hard work and dedication, tenacity and love, shines brightly through this film. Grateful for all of your early mornings and late nights. Thank you for bringing this Elphaba to life."
In the post she shared a first time look at them applying her prosthetic ears. Someone commented, "The ear coverings are witchcraft in the best way," and we have to agree - who would have even known?
Read more about Wicked here:
- Wicked Part 2: Release date, cast, plot spoilers, songs and news about the sequel
- Wicked's Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum reveal Part 2 will include new original songs
- Is Dorothy in Wicked? Director reveals how she will be included in Part 2
- How long is Wicked? Here's why Part 1's movie runtime is longer than the entire musical
- Wicked's Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande say Elphaba and Glinda are queer
