It has felt like an eternity. We’ve collectively lost decades off our lives. But finally, after 14 years in development, a nearly two-year filming process prolonged by Covid and the Hollywood strikes, and a ridiculously protracted marketing campaign, this weekend saw the much-anticipated release of Wicked.
With a star-studded cast including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum, the film was always going to be an all-consuming, big bucks, spectacle. But its press tour over the last few months has defied all expectations of unhinged Hollywood insanity.
I quite simply do not remember a time when this film wasn’t in the news. First, there was the scandal surrounding co-stars Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s shock relationship (he allegedly left his wife and newborn baby for the singer, and last the world knew Grande herself was happily married). Then, there was the bizarre Cynthia Erivo AI-generated poster debacle, when a fan edited one of the film’s official posters – hiding Erivo’s eyes so that it looked more like the original Broadway poster – and she slammed it as “the wildest most offensive thing I’ve ever seen… to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me.” Right. And earlier this month, Mattel was forced to apologise after accidentally printing the address to a porn website on its Wicked dolls, instead of the film’s official site.
There has also been all the concern around both Grande and Erivo’s somewhat disturbing weight-loss – both were thin before the film started shooting, but have become virtually non-existent since – resulting in Grande posting a video on TikTok urging fans to stop speculating about her weight.
But most captivating of all has been Erivo and Grande’s seemingly unwavering dedication to perpetually being in tears. Appearing everywhere holding hands in a sort of cult-like co-dependence, these two quite simply cannot stop crying. In every interview about the film, even the most pedestrian questions like whether they enjoyed working with each other or what they did when they weren’t filming, prompt a tearful breakdown, as they gush over how they’ve changed each others lives or the world or whatever it might be.
Was there a gas leak on set? Are they all on acid?
The pièce de résistance came in a viral interview posted this weekend, which saw a reporter from Out magazine inform Erivo that people have been “holding space for” the lyrics of Defying Gravity, and “really finding power in that” (whatever the hell that means). “I didn’t know that was happening,” Erivo responds, tearing up, as Grande nods earnestly and grips her co-star’s singular index finger in support. “That’s really powerful. That’s what I wanted.” The interviewer then clarifies that she doesn’t know how widespread the holding space phenomenon is, but that she has seen a “couple of posts” as she works in “queer media”.
I cannot tell you how many times I have watched this video. The finger, the nonsensical therapy-speak, the revelation of a “couple of posts”: it the apotheosis of Hollywood gobbledegook distilled into a thirty-second surrealist fever dream. I haven’t seen Wicked yet, but I already know it can’t top this masterpiece.
Was there a gas leak on set? Are they all on acid? Delirious from hunger? Why is everyone taking this film so seriously? They’ve made a movie musical, not a cure for cancer. Perhaps it is because, despite Erivo and Grande being huge A-list stars, they are both ultimately still musical theatre kids at heart, and they really are playing their dream roles. Which is very sweet, of course. But they do seem to have been cocooned in a high school musical echo chamber for two years, high off their own supply, and perhaps weren’t quite ready to be re-released into the real world where things like “holding space” don’t actually mean anything.
To be clear, this is all said with the utmost love. I am completely obsessed with all of this, and I adore everyone involved. The film looks spectacular and both women are insanely talented – they’re also just clearly a bit insane too. It’s a level of annoying that’s so impressive to achieve that it circles back to endearing.
Fortunately for all of us, this isn’t actually the end for the Wicked press tour – Wicked: Part Two, the second half of the adaptation, is set to release in November 2025. I, for one, am holding space for it.
Emma Loffhagen is a London Standard writer
