Cynthia Erivo didn’t think twice about committing to sitting in the makeup chair for hours a day to become Elphaba in Wicked.
“I had the choice to be green or have CGI and I wanted it to be practical. I wanted people to see Elphaba as more than a green girl. I wanted to look back at her reflection and see a green woman in front of me,” says Erivo, 37. , in a new video shared exclusively with PEOPLE.
The timelapse video shows Erivo putting on green makeup on set, which she told Ella sometimes it lasted up to four hours.
Makeup and hair designer Frances Hannon, who oversaw the entire process, told PEOPLE that it averaged between two hours and 15 minutes and two hours and 45 minutes each day, depending on how much of Eriv’s skin they had to cover. .
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
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“I really wanted her skin to be textured. When you look at her, she has freckles, she has a shade, a shade, just like skin would be,” Erivo says in a video of her decision to wear green makeup. “She has these green eyes that come from the genetic makeup of who she is and it’s not just on her, it’s in her — part of the essence of who she is.”
Eriva’s makeup was created especially for her by Hannon and SFX professional David Stoneman, based on the discontinued eyeshadow. For her look, Eriva’s skin would be covered in green primer, followed by “Cynthia Green” green makeup. Her eyebrows are transferred like a temporary tattoo and her freckles are also layered with air makeup. The contour was added with multiple layers of green for dimension, and Hannon tells PEOPLE that Erivo would even be “interactive” with her makeup by sometimes editing her eyes.
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Another aspect of her glamor that was vital to Elphaba’s look was her nails — which Erivo brought to the table herself. Hannon says the actress walked in the door with her nails and told director Jon M. Chu that she wanted to “keep” her own look and incorporate her trademark look.
“I was thinking about this character and I noticed that the original Wicked Witch had fingernails,” Erivo says in a new video he shared exclusively with PEOPLE. “I wanted progression. As she grows as a witch and a woman. Some people wear makeup, I always have my nails done. It’s like another extended form of expression.”
Hannon agrees, saying, “Cynthia was bringing her Elphaba to it.”
Much like Elphaba’s micro-braids, which she told Ella was fond of herself as a black woman and helped her “fall in love” with Elphaba, Erivo was determined to pour every bit of herself into this character.
“I think there’s a real wonder and defiance in this beautiful character,” she says in the video. “There must be wonder and defiance in me.”
Go behind the scenes Wicked with a new special issue of PEOPLE, available here.
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