Wicked star Ariana Grande says she and Cynthia Erivo were ‘insufferable’

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter

Wicked star Ariana Grande has said she and Cynthia Erivo were “insufferable” and “horrible” in the build-up to the film’s release.

Grande, 31, also said her co-star was a “brilliant gift of a human being” while being interviewed by Gladiator star Paul Mescal for US news outlet Variety.

Mescal told the singer and actor: “I’m watching you guys in the press tour. You’re obviously in love with each other.”

To which she replied: “Insufferable. Yes. We’re horrible. It’s bad.”

The 7 Rings singer plays Glinda, while her 37-year-old co-star plays Elphaba, in the film which is an adaption of the musical stage show of the same name and is set in The Land Of Oz before the events of The Wizard Of Oz.

Their interviews for the film, which have seen the two being emotional towards one another and holding hands, have gone viral on social media.

Speaking about Erivo, Grande said: “Cynthia is just an absolute brilliant gift of a human being. I think we tried to keep the pressure out of the room, obviously, as much as possible.”

She also said she had not had any read throughs with her co-star before joining the cast.

Grande said: “We never chemistry read together, it was three rounds for me, and I read with two different actresses.

“I stayed for three and a half hours the final day, and I had cried so much.

“We did Popular, Defying Gravity, (and) For Good (songs from the film), and I left my lashes on the mirror, because I left everything else in the room.”

The film follows Elphaba, who is misunderstood because of her green skin, as she forges an unlikely friendship with Glinda, a student with a desire for popularity.

Bullying of the green-skinned witch saw the movie, which also stars Peter Dinklage, Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey, given a PG rating by the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) for “discrimination”.