Ariana Grande totally committed to her Glinda wardrobe — off camera, before she even got the part!
In an exclusive clip for PEOPLE from Wicked digital home edition, available now, the 31-year-old actress and singer admits she “had a little bit of my wardrobe that was just little pink T-shirts and stuff, just in case” to land the role of a lifetime.
“I asked myself, ‘What underwear would Glinda wear today?’ “Big jokes.
The two-time Grammy winner hasn’t been shy in the past about what she’s long called her dream role in Glinda, and in the clip she says with a laugh: “I juggled [producer] Marc Platt was down for about 10 years, wondering when this movie was going to happen, when I was going to get a chance to audition.”
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Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked (2024).
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Ariana Grande broke down in tears on the last day of filming in Glinda Wicked Bubble: ‘I have to call my therapist’
“As soon as I heard that maybe in a few months they could start seeing people, I was like, ‘Great! Now’s the time to start,'” adds Grande.
She also recalls the details of her “first audition” that eventually led to her being cast in the musical, including singing not only “No One Mourns the Wicked” and “Popular” but also Elphaban’s “Defying Gravity” and ” Wizard and I.”
“Strange, strange, I sang for both of them [Glinda and Elphaba],” Grande says of the roles that landed her and co-star Cynthia Erivo. “I don’t know why — I think we all kind of knew why I was coming in, and it was for Glinda.”
“I love Elphaba, but you know,” she jokes.
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Art for the home edition Wickeddigital on December 31, 2024.
Courtesy of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
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Director Jon M. Chu also appears in the footage and says he was fully aware before casting Grande that she had “publicly said she always wanted this role.”
He was hesitant at first, explaining, “In my head, I was like, ‘We’re never going to give this to Ariana Grande. It’s going to dominate the movie— [it’ll be] about Ariana Grande.’ ”
But the director, 45, quickly changed his mind after seeing what she had to offer.
“Every time she came in, she was an Ari like I’d never seen before. And every time she left, she was the most interesting person,” he adds.
Wicked is now available to buy or rent in digital format, with pre-orders also available for the film’s 4K, Blu-ray and DVD release, out on February 4, 2025.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education