Wicked fever is sweeping the nation — and before the movie’s even hit theaters (it arrives next Friday, FYI), Cynthia Erivo is pulling the curtain back on some of the film’s styling secrets.
In a recent interview with Elle, the actor behind Elphaba revealed how long it took for her to make her full transformation in costume — and the surprising body mods that were necessary to alter her appearance.
Cynthia says that the shade of green makeup applied to her skin was literally called “Cynthia Green” — and that it usually took a long-ass time to cover her skin with it.
“Depending on how much green we were doing — head, chest, hands, full body — it could take up to four hours,” she claimed.
“Everything was particular, right down to my eyebrows,” Cynthia added, stating that her makeup artist also “created a vacuum form so the freckles would stay in the same place every day.”
Most surprisingly, Cynthia revealed that she also had to have ear prosthetics created for her to fully become Elphaba — and the reason why has to do with Cynthia herself and not the character she played.
“I have a million piercings, so they brought in a prosthetic artist, who created basically a shell for my ears,” she said. “Those aren’t my ears!”
Just for comparison’s sake: Here’s Cynthia on the red carpet, with her real ears…
And here’s a good look at the prosthetic ears she wore on set. (That’s Wicked director Jon M. Chu talking with her while Ariana Grande looks on in the background.)
The magic of the movies, everyone! Read the entire interview here, and if you’ve got some amazing cinematic transformations of your own to share, drop ’em in the comments.
