Cynthia Erivo sparked an intense backlash earlier this month after seemingly lashing out at Wicked fans who digitally manipulated a new poster for the upcoming movie to hide her face. Now the actress has walked back her comments, citing her love of the character and need to protect her as the reason she reacted in the way she did.
The issues began when Universal released a new poster for November’s big musical adaptation of the popular Broadway show. This poster reimagined the classic theater one-sheet showing Glinda whispering in Elphaba’s ear. In the original poster – which is an animated interpretation of the characters – Elphaba’s face is mostly obscured by the brim of her hat, and all that can be seen is a red-lipped smile. Fans were not impressed that the new version, which featured Ariana Grande and Erivo, switched this up to fully show Erivo’s face and did away with the red lipstick. Several fans decided to create their own versions to compensate.
Of course, this being the internet, there was one version that took things a little further, adding some NSFW captions referring to the color of Elphaba’s intimate body parts. Erivo reacted to the new posters with a scathing retort, calling them “incredibly offensive” to her, and suggesting that she believed those manipulating the posters were wrong to both hide her face and add such lewd comments. Now in a new interview, it appears that the backlash her outrage received has seen her reflect on the way she allowed her reaction to blow up out of proportion.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Erivo was asked about her heated response to those AI-generated alternate posters, admitting that her reaction was not quite as critical as it was received. She said:
“It wasn’t necessarily a clapback. Because I think I’m really protective of the role and just as, I’m passionate, I am passionate about it, and I know that the fans are passionate about it, and I think for me, it was just like a human moment of, like, wanting to protect little Elphaba. And that was like a human moment. I probably should have called my friends.”
Of course, Erivo’s feelings about how fans reacted to both the original poster and her response to their alterations are as valid as anyone else’s. In the end, it is her face on the poster, her role in the movie, that is being altered, and for anyone that can be a maddening thing. Naturally, this kind of controversy could potentially have an impact on the movie itself, if those fans caught up in it decide that they don’t want to support Erivo and the film over something as simple as a slight change made to a promotional poster.
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For now, there is no sign of that happening, and early projections have estimated an opening weekend of up to $120 million for the film, something that would instantly see it avoid the disappointing opening weekends of other recent musical movies such as Cats, West Side Story, and Wicked director Jon M. Chu’s own In The Heights.
- Release Date
- November 22, 2024
- Cast
- Cynthia Erivo , Ariana Grande , Michelle Yeoh , Jeff Goldblum , Jonathan Bailey , Ethan Slater , Marissa Bode , Bowen Yang , Bronwyn James , Keala Settle , Peter Dinklage , Aaron Teoh , Grecia De la Paz , Colin Michael Carmichael , Adam James , Andy Nyman , Courtney Mae-Briggs , Sharon D. Clarke , Jenna Boyd
- Runtime
- 160 Minutes
- Writers
- Gregory Maguire , Winnie Holzman , Dana Fox , L. Frank Baum
- Studio
- Studio(s)
- Marc Platt Productions
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Character(s)
- Elphaba Thropp , Glinda Upland , Madame Morrible , The Wizard , Fiyero Tigelaar , Boq , Nessarose Thropp , Pfannee , ShenShen , Miss Coddle , Doctor Dillamond (voice) , Avaric Tenmeadows , Gilligan , Professor Nikidik , Glinda’s Father , Governor Frexspar Thropp , Melena Thropp , The Midwife