Wicked director explains why he almost didn't cast Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

30 November 2024, 14:15

Wicked director Jon M. Chu initially wanted to cast unknown actors in Wicked. Picture: Universal Pictures

By Katie Louise Smith

Elphaba and Glinda were originally intended to be played by unknown actresses.

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After seeing Wicked, can you even imagine watching anyone else in the roles of Elphaba and Glinda? Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have won audiences over with their incredible performances, but things almost turned out very different.

The duo were cast way back in 2021 but, prior to that, director Jon M. Chu had a completely different vision of how he wanted to approach the casting of the two main characters.

Initially, Jon was set on casting complete unknowns for the roles of Elphaba and Glinda and had no intention of casting well-known actresses to front the film. However, after a lengthy and thorough audition process, that all changed.

Read more: Wicked director explains why they changed 'Defying Gravity' in the movie
Read more: Wicked director explains why they cut iconic Glinda line from the film

Wicked almost didn't cast Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda. Picture: Alamy

Speaking to SFX Magazine, Jon M. Chu explained his thought process going into the project and why he initially believed the movie would be better off without big names attached to the leading roles.

"I wanted to have a very clear slate coming into Wicked," he said. "It's a big enough property on its own, so we can discover two people. I was like, 'We're gonna find no-namers'."

"But then we got calls from all these great actresses who wanted to audition and we saw everybody, and they were all really great. Anyone could have done this role," he added, before admitting: "Except there were two people who were meant to do this role, for this particular movie at this particular time."

Jon continued: "What we found out when we were auditioning everyone, was that the songs are so important in this movie, and so emotionally important to this movie, that the person who's doing it has to get into song and out of song so easily that it's like butter, like you don't even notice it. That means having good chops in their skill set."

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sang live on Wicked

Jon elaborated on those comments while speaking at an event about Cynthia and Ariana's auditions.

"These songs are very difficult, the task is very hard. It will probably require professionals. Somebody who has crashed and burned at some point to have learned the lessons," he said, before explaining that they would not have made the movie if they couldn't find the right people to play Elphaba and Glinda.

Jon revealed that Cynthia wasn't brought into the audition room until later in the process. Her moving renditions of 'The Wizard and I' and 'Defying Gravity' completely won him over. As for Ariana? She was actually brought back multiple times and eventually landed the role thanks to her commitment and total understanding of Glinda.

And the rest is history!