We live in ‘Wicked’ times indeed. With not a lot of time remaining before the adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked airs in theatres on 22nd November, 2024, the movie seems to have found its way into controversy.
The Ariana Grande starrer is a part of director Jon M. Chu’s gargantuan effort to bring to life Winnie Holzman’s musical of the same name. No wonder the cast and crew of the movie will be mixing a few things up. The departure from the official Broadway poster was one such move. And that poster was at the center of quite the storm.
An edited Wicked poster tinkered with Cynthia Erivo’s eyes
With a little over a month left before Wicked’s release date, the production team wants the hype to be at its maximum. All of them are leaving no stone unturned in order to get the last drop of mileage that they can from their campaign.
Amidst all this, Wicked made news yet again. For the wrong reasons though. In the upcoming movie’s poster, Ariana Grande‘s Glinda can be seen whispering something into the ears of Cynthia Erivo‘s Elphaba, leaving the audience wondering what they’re talking about.
The only thing that managed to catch their eye were Erivo’s eyes, ones which could tell a million tales. And in an edit being shared online, her eyes themselves have been forced shut, forcing the 37-year-old to pour her heart out. She took to Instagram to vent her emotions.
She wrote,
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the question is your ***** green.”
Erivo was not in the mood to mince words. She tore into everyone who had been a party to this ‘blasphemy’.
Cynthia Erivo tore into ‘degrading’ fans
Cynthia Erivo felt devastated on seeing the edit of the poster. To many, it might have seemed trivial. But not to her. She wrote,
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us. The original poster is an illustration. I am a real life human being, who chose to not look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer… because without words, we communicate with our eyes.”
It is anyone’s guess how deep an impact it had on her. She continued,
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face & hide my eyes is to erase me. That is just deeply hurtful”
The Harriet star’s statements have to be considered in the light of the fact that this ain’t the first time someone has sought to take a jibe at her role. Her Wicked role has been at the center of a storm of memes as well. Seems like the poster edit was her tipping point.
With a cast that includes the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater, apart from Erivo and Grande, the movie looks set to enthrall fans. While it will not be on the same lines as the Broadway musical, it will still be something to look forward to.
The movie is all set to be released on 22nd November, 2024.
