Cynthia Erivo wishes some “evil” fans had (just) a heart.
On social media, the actress slammed a fan-edited poster that hid Elphaba's (Erivo) eyes under her witch's hat. The unauthorized photo was an edit of the actual poster for the Universal Pictures film, which shows Elphaba's full face while Glinda (Ariana Grande) whispers in her ear. The fan-made graphic mirrors the famous advertisement from the original Broadway production.
Erivo said the fan-made photo was “very hurtful” to her.
“The original poster is an illustration. “I am a real human being who chooses to look directly down the camera in front of you, the viewer… Because without words we communicate with our eyes,” Erivo wrote on her Instagram Stories. “Our poster is a tribute, not an imitation. Editing my face Hiding my eyes means wiping me out. “This is very painful.”
See the original Universal poster (right) and fan edit (left) below.
And here's the poster for the OG Broadway show:
It's not just the fan-made image that Erivo takes issue with. Some of the “vicious” online parodies are downright evil, she said.
“This is the most brutal, most offensive thing I've ever seen,” Erivo continued, “and it's on par with the horrible AI that we're fighting, and it's on par with people posting, 'Are you evil?'[y] green?' None of this is funny. None of it is nice. It degrades me. “It degrades us.”
The fan-edited poster isn't the only image haunting “Wicked.” Grande said the production itself was struggling with the cameramen.
“It seemed like a small, secret student thing — intimate. It seemed very small and private,” Grande said. “Until all of a sudden, we were outside, and the Daily Mail was on hand.”[g] “It slides over our group.”
Grande, who has been working to get “Wicked” greenlit (no pun intended) for years, also spoke out against critics who accused her of changing her voice since playing Glinda.
Grande was mocked on social media after a clip of her sexy voice on air Podcrushed Podcast. It spread widely. She later posted on TikTok, “I intentionally change the position of my voice (high/low) depending on how much singing I'm doing. I've always done this bye.
“Wicked” will be released on November 22, 2024; Part 2 will premiere on December 25, 2025.
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