Wicked director wanted to cast "no-name" actors, settled for Ariana Grande

Later this month, Universal will release Wicked into theaters. The hit Broadway musical has been delighting audiences for decades on stage, and now we'll finally see it in movie form, with actors Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo playing the lead roles of Galinda and Elphaba, the women who will go on to become the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Erivo is an Oscar-nominated actor who's also a great singer; her concerts are all over YouTube if you want proof. And do I really have to explain who Ariana Grande is? Even if you don't like pop music, she's one of the biggest singers in the world so you're probably aware of her.

With that much star power, it's surprising to hear director Jon M. Chu say that he originally wanted to find unknowns to play these roles. "I wanted to have a very clear slate coming into Wicked," Chu told SFX Magazine. "It's a big enough property on its own, so we can discover two people. I was like, 'We're gonna find no-namers.'"

In addition to Grande and Erivo, the movie also stars big-name actors like Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Jonathan Bailey and Bowen Yang in supporting roles, so obviously the plan to find "no-namers" took a turn. W/hat happened? "But then we got calls from all these great actresses who wanted to audition and we saw everybody, and they were all really great. Anyone could have done this role, except there were two people who were meant to do this role, for this particular movie at this particular time."

Ariana Grande understands why some fans wouldn't want her in Wicked

Frankly, I wonder if from someone from Universal didn't call Chu and say, "cast celebrities or we will find someone who will." Mind you, I think the movie is well-cast. There was a problem for a while where Hollywood directors would cast big-name actors in musicals even though they couldn't really sing, and the results could be disastrous. I will never forget seeing the 2007 movie version of Sweeney Todd, a musical I love, and staring agog as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter squeaked out tinny, pitiful little versions of songs that are supposed to be soaring and dramatic. Or remember when Russell Crowe butchered the song "Stars" in the 2012 Les Misérables movie?

But that's not gonna happen in Wicked, because Grande and Erivo are both top-notch singers in addition to being very famous. So if you want to cast celebrities in musicals, this is the way to do it.

That said, apparently there were some people who didn't like the idea of pop star Ariana Grande taking on such an iconic stage role. Speaking on the Sentimental Men podcast, she said she understands where her critics were coming from: “Going off of ‘Side to Side’, I probably would’ve said the same thing. I probably would’ve said, ‘Why the f—? Kill me. I’ve waited 20 years for this. Kill me.’ I would’ve said that — as a fan from the outside knowing of only ‘7 Rings’, probably — I’d say, ‘Well, that’s bull—’ So, you know, I get it.”

Pop music these days is rarely soaring and rangy, so I guess I see how you could feel that way. But Grande definitely has the chops to pull off a role like Galinda; watch her sing songs from Disney's Hercules if you doubt her theater kid bona fides or princess power. I also think her airy persona matches Galinda's prim-and-perfect personality pretty well.

Plus, Grande had to audition for the role like everyone else. “This is something I loved so much about auditioning forWicked,” she said. “It has to be earned. Anything on this scale, being a part of anything, it’s not just given because they know for one thing. So, it’s fun to kind of have the challenge of reframing people’s perception and doing the work to earn your way back into the other spaces.”

I suspect Grande will do very well in the role. I'm less enthusiastic about Chu and company splitting the story into two movies, but we'll see how it shakes down when Wicked (Part 1) comes out on November 22.

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