Producer<\/strong> : Marc Platt, David Stone<\/p>\n Screenwriter :<\/strong> Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox<\/p>\n Distributor<\/strong> : Universal Pictures<\/p>\n Production Co<\/strong> : Marc Platt Productions<\/p>\n Rating<\/strong> : PG (Some Suggestive Material|Action\/Violence|Thematic Material)<\/p>\n Genre<\/strong> : Kids & Family, Musical, Fantasy, Adventure<\/p>\n Original Language<\/strong> : English<\/p>\n Release Date (Theaters)<\/strong> : Nov 21, 2025, Wide<\/p>\n Box Office (Gross USA) :\u00a0<\/strong> $297.6M<\/p>\n Runtime<\/strong> : 2h 17m<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ‘Wicked: For Good’ : Press Conference With Star Cynthia Erivo<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q:\u00a0 When you look back on this project, was there a specific moment when you realised it would not only change your career but also change your life forever?<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: I don\u2019t think I could have fully prepared for what has happened since the first movie, and what is happening now. I knew that it would be a life-changing project from the beginning. I didn\u2019t quite know the gravity of what it would be. But I knew from the beginning that it would be something that would change my life. I knew it was something that would challenge me, something that would change the way I see my art, and increase the love I have for it.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: How was it to be able to craft your performance and the sound of your new song in \u2018Wicked For Good\u2019 from the ground up?\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: Delightful. Music is my other language, whenever I get the chance to dive into it, I am in heaven. To work on the new song in \u2018Wicked\u2019 with Stephen Schwartz was an honor and really, really fascinating to discover and mine it for the story that was true to Elphaba. Because it\u2019s one thing to sing a new song, and it\u2019s another to be able to make this version of the character\u2019s own, and that was lovely. To find the new nuances within the music, it was always a new learning curve for me. We sing the way we sing, the other Elphaba\u2019s sing the way they sing, there\u2019s no way I can mimic or remake, or double what has been before. All I can do is use the tool I have to make the sound I make. It\u2019s tailored to what I have already, and I\u2019m just glad I could be a part of it, to be honest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q:\u00a0 What are some aspects of Jon M. Chu\u2019s directorial style and guidance as a filmmaker that unlocked the fullest potential of this story, from your perspective as an actor?\u2019<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: He\u2019s so playful. He\u2019s so curious. There is a will to get at the core of what each of the characters wants. Everybody has their own language when it comes to making the art that they want to make. He learnt my language, we would always do different takes, we would always capture things. He started to realise that, if I was able to just play and do something, throw anything at the wall, we would always get what we needed. So I would exhaust everything, and do as much as I can. He was like: \u201cIt\u2019s either the first or the last take with you, so we\u2019re just gonna go until we have the last, or we\u2019ll go until we have the first. Whichever it is, we\u2019ll go.\u201d There\u2019s such a joy about doing that, about going on the journey with you. I had so much fun, I felt safe to dive in. He\u2019s a very special human being and an incredible director, he trusts you, and because he believes in you, you just don\u2019t want to let him down. There is a part of me that so loved being on the set just because it was him directing. If I could stay an extra hour or two just doing something, I would stay, because I loved working with him.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Did your concept of good and evil change while making the film?<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: I\u2019ve never seen Elphaba as an evil character. But what was clarified for me is that perception is everything. What we see as good, and what we see as evil can be warped and shifted, depending on who we are looking at, through what lens we\u2019re looking through. Depending on how you feel about a certain type of person, depending how you feel about the skin the person is living in, depending on how you feel the person sounds or looks, is the lens we look through. And that can shift perspective. And how do we use the word \u2018good\u2019: is it really good or is it an apparition of good? The difference between what good actually is, and what good can be perceived to be. What evil actually is, and what evil can be perceived to be. That is what was demystified for me, that perception.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: There are so many wonderful songs in both movies. Can you please share with us your process of learning the songs, practising and recording them?\u2019\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: First I look at lyrics, they\u2019re the touchstone. If you go back to the lyrics and you know what it is you\u2019re talking about, what you\u2019re saying, what\u2019s the story you\u2019re trying to tell, then the melody will be informed. You have your set melody, whatever shifts you decide to make are informed by the story you\u2019re trying to tell. We\u2019ll go back to \u2018I\u2019m Not That Girl\u2019: when we were recording it, when we were doing it for film, Jon realised that it had come after a really intense moment of connection, and now was a moment of reflection. So there\u2019s loads of silence before she even says the first word. In order to come into the song, it\u2019s like the admission that this exists. So there’s trepidation. And now it\u2019s not so much about just saying the words, it\u2019s now about understanding what actually happened in this moment. That for me is the process. You start with the lyric, you take the melody, and you combine to find out what story we\u2019re actually telling. You can then decide how much detail to put in it, how much space. I do it bit by bit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q:\u00a0 What moment from the film are you most proud of?<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: Hard to choose. I\u2019m going to be greedy,I\u2019m going to give you two moments. I\u2019m really proud of \u2018No Good Deed,\u2019 because we shot it in the space, it was me on my own, there was no-one there, I\u2019m shooting against a blue screen and a plinth and fire and rocks. The dynamism with which we had to shoot it, it\u2019s all in the mind. So I was really proud of being able to do something that was that big, that grand, and still be able to hone into the feeling, the moment. I was really proud of the vulnerability that we were able to achieve in \u2018For Good.\u2019 Because there\u2019s a choice to back away from the hurt and pain that they both have to experience. There\u2019s a choice to avoid it. <\/span><\/p>\n But we ran headlong into it, I\u2019m really proud of that. Elphaba has often been thought of as a strong character, who is very, very confident. We\u2019ve been able to crack open her vulnerability, crack a softer side of her that hasn\u2019t necessarily been on show before. To reveal the humanity within. That\u2019s something that I\u2019m really proud of, that we humanised this character and made her three-dimensional, someone whose heart really beats, who has guttural instinct, heartbreak, loss and grief, hurt and pain and love and lust. And desire.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n Q:\u00a0 After all of these years, it\u2019s now finally coming to an end. What will be your greatest takeaway from this experience when you look back in say ten to fifteen years from now?\u2019\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: The way in which people have connected with these characters. The way I\u2019ve connected with the people who made this even possible in the first place. I feel really lucky. I feel really grateful. This has been the ride of a lifetime. These stories that keep coming from people who have watched this movie, it really warms my heart. To be a part of something that does that to people is a privilege. To play a character like this wasn\u2019t just an adventure, but it changed things. It helped people. That shifted the way people feel and think about themselves, that\u2019s really special.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q:\u00a0 When you experience the power of the fanbase, does that change your perspective on your craft at all? Did you learn something new about your craft?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: There\u2019s no way to prepare for something like this. The work you put in really does matter. There\u2019s something really gratifying in doing work that other performers recognize. That other performers can see as hard work. Sometimes I can discount the work that I\u2019m doing because I love it. Sometimes you can\u2019t really see the way other people see it. The hard work doesn\u2019t feel so much like hard work, until you step away and go: \u201cOh yeah, that was hard work.\u201d Because when you\u2019re in it you don\u2019t even realize what\u2019s going on, you\u2019re moving from place to place, you know you\u2019ll do whatever you need to do in order to get the story, to tell the story as truthfully as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n You will put yourself through crazy things. It will feel like nothing until you\u2019re done, and you don\u2019t realise it. That\u2019s the name of the game. You want to make sure that you can give as much as you can give, to tell the story. Now I can see it through someone else\u2019s eyes, that\u2019s what\u2019s really changed my perspective. I\u2019m getting it back now. People are turning the mirror back on me, and acknowledging that work. I would\u2019ve done that a hundred times over, it reinvigorated my knowledge of the fact that I love the work that I\u2019m doing. I love this work. I love my job. I love being able to tell stories, I love being able to assume a character and then give that back out there. I would do anything I need to in order to represent whichever character I\u2019m playing to the fullest.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Q:\u00a0 Was there a small specific detail in your performance or character design that you hope fans notice? Something that might not be obvious on a first watch?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n CYNTHIA ERIVO: This is character design. Her freckles. The reason I knew I was going to have freckles at the beginning is because, by the end I wanted those freckles to have expanded ever so slightly, so that where you would normally have a wart, are beauty spots and freckles. I just put those in because I wanted to take from the idea that perception is everything. Sometimes you see one thing that isn\u2019t actually what you see, and then it gets expanded and turned into something completely different. That\u2019s a tiny little thing that I put in there.<\/span><\/p>\n @Courtesy of Universal Pictures<\/p>\n If you liked the interview, share your thoughts below.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n![\"Wicked](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/wicked-for-good-poster.png\")
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@Courtesy of Universal Pictures<\/p>\n![\"Wicked](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Wicked-for-Good1.png\")
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