This weekend, Ariana Grande shared her and Cynthia Erivo’s contract process for Wicked during a SAG-AFTRA Foundation talk, explaining that they fully supported each other throughout the process. Before signing on to play Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, Grande and Erivo compared their contracts to make sure they were “aligned.”
“When I got my contract, I called [Erivo], and was like, ‘Hey let’s go through this thing. Let’s go beat by beat through this together and make sure we are aligned in what we need,’” she shared. “If [Erivo needs] something, we need it together. I want us to have each other’s backs. Your problems become my problems and mine become yours.”
The two stars have become quite close since starring in the Jon M. Chu-helmed production, which has adapted the hit Broadway musical into two parts. Part one opened this month and the second half will be released next year.
In an interview with Deadline, Erivo talked about how they would check in with one another during filming because neither one wanted to “be selfish.”
“We’re always like, ‘What’s the ground you need?’” she explained. “‘What feeling do you need?’ We are looking in each other’s eyes to see, ‘What does she need?'”
“We are friends,” she continued. “We are in a deeply honest relationship outside of the work. I talk to her almost every day. She messages me every day and we are always in conversation…if there’s something that I want her ears on or I want her opinion on, I send it to her. If there’s something she wants my opinion on, she sends it to me. We are always trying to be aligned.”
She added, “Because if the seeking of alignment and finding each other in the same space means that our voices work together like that, it means that when I’m in the scene for ‘Popular’ it is funny and I can be alive because I’m there to provide that.”
