Because “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” were shot simultaneously, Ariana Grande had to rely on a color-coding system to remember how her character, Glinda, was feeling at any given time.
“I would have a tab for each little insecurity or emotional thing that was peeking through when she feels safe,” Grande says. “I wanted to map it all out so that in my brain I knew where everything was coming from before we got to set. By the time we got there, that work was in my system and I could throw it away.”
In “Wicked: For Good,” Glinda looks like she has everything going for her after she decided against going away with Elphaba.
“Beneath the bubbly, shiny, perfect exterior, there’s a person underneath that has a lot of insecurities, a lot of wounds that contribute to her need for all of that external validation,” Grande says. She mapped Glinda’s childhood and sourced where some of the darkness may have originated.
Scenes for the first film (which is decidedly lighter) were filmed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays of a week. Then, scenes for “For Good” were shot Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“I liked going back and forth, even on days when you had no idea what the next day was going to be like,” Grande says.
“For Good,” the iconic song in the second part, was shot on a “weather cover” day.
“We were supposed to be out in Munchkinland, doing something completely different, and we ended up shooting this emotional climax of the movie on a random day," she says. "And I loved that so much, because for me, it’s all about the preparation. It was the biggest challenge emotionally, but it was so gratifying.”
Grande created a list of triggers that would get Glinda to react in any given situation. Even if they weren’t referenced in a scene, “they were just there so she could have her own monsters.”
Like co-star Cynthia Erivo, Grande sings the praises of director Jon M. Chu. “He has such an innate understanding of the human experience, what it feels like to be ‘other,’” Grande says. “What I love most about him was the balance between his meticulous preparation and his freedom and his ability. He’s just like, ‘Let’s catch butterflies and see what happens.’ He trusts his actors. Every person who works underneath him is cared for, respected and thought about. He’s never impatient.”
Now, as “Wicked: For Good” hits theaters, Grande realizes how important the story has been in her life. At 10, she learned the songs, retrained her voice and focused on getting the role that meant so much to her.
To realize those dreams, “we need two things: Somebody that believes in us and we need to believe in ourselves,” she says. “If you have both of those things, you can achieve anything.”
