Wicked has already soared to the top of the box office charts, grossing more than $251 million globally after less than a week in cinemas. But as popular as the film adaptation has been, its press tour is on a whole other level, largely thanks to its inseparable leading duo, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Since March, the pair have been in hardcore promotion mode. They’ve presented at the Academy Awards dressed in their characters’ colours (Grande in pink and Erivo in green); they’ve got matching Wicked tattoos; and they’ve gushed over how much they’ve changed each other for good during press junkets.
Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo (left) and Ariana Grande want you to know they’re besties.Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Their mission statement is clear: bring Galinda and Elphaba’s on-screen friendship to life for the fans. What’s also clear is that Grande and Erivo are taking the task very seriously, ironically leading some to wonder just how genuine their closeness is.
In one particularly viral moment, they were asked how they felt about the impact the film’s final number, Defying Gravity, has had on audiences.
“People are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that,” US journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist said. As a result, Erivo was overcome with emotions, leading Grande to grab hold of her massive acrylic nail – not her hand, her nail – in tender support.
Their shared sentimentality during the movie’s press tour, which some argue has veered into the extreme, has inspired endless memes online, but it has also shone a spotlight on how modern promo tours operate.
Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for the behind-the-scenes of a film to capture more attention than the film itself. We all remember the Don’t Worry Darling debacle of 2022, right? The alleged affair between director Olivia Wilde and leading man Harry Styles, as well as the rumoured drama it caused with the rest of the cast (to the point that people were convinced Chris Pine spat on Styles at the premiere), helped turn that relatively mediocre film into a major box office success.
A year later, the rumoured love affair between co-stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney while filming Anyone but You drove so many people to the cinema, it was credited with heralding the “return of the rom-com”. And even more recently, the supposed feud between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, both of whom star in the Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends with Us, arguably eclipsed the film itself.
