BeforeCynthia Erivoeven began rehearsals as Elphaba for the onscreen adaptation ofWicked,Frances Hannonstarted collecting green makeup.
Wed look at that in all different lights.
Wed go out in the daylight, into the sunlight, into the shade, pre-cameras and pre-sets.
But with every test trial, she kept running into the same problem.
And there was no way we could change the makeup to alter the different lighting.
A teeny weeny little thing.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba
It was discontinued, she says.
And with that, it worked in every light.
We ticked that box straight away, and that was before we got Cynthia in the country.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda
She wanted to be able to have that every morning, says Hannon.
It was the start of her day.
It was bringing Elphaba into her.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba
Once the green was settled, Hannon set out to design a makeup look fit for the big screen.
Despite her bright skin color, Elphaba still had to look natural and believable.
It turns out, purple also goes well with green.
Ariana Grande as Glinda
I found it quite fascinating, the experimentation with contouring, says Nuth.
You want that skin to be luminous.
Then making it darker and longer as she grew older, says Hannon.
That was all within our timeline breakdowns.
Tapping into these small details is what sets the onscreen adaptation apart from the stage production.
Because the film is so emotional, isnt it?
Plus, the final touch Grande personally added in the makeup chair to become Glinda.
And thats something that very much Sarah and I collaborate on totally because there are so many characters.
Everyone is fitted; everybody wore either a wig or a hairpiece.
Ariana Grande as Glinda
Thats really our starting point, and it gets more complicated from there really.
Sarah Nuth:Its the character development.
How much do you reference what already exists?
Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero
Frances:We took the iconic moments.
One lovely one to refer to is Elphabas braid.
Ive seen the stage show.
Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible
So I have a very good memory, a history of the theater.
Youre so restricted on stage.
The development that Jon and Marc both wanted to see within the characters didnt tie to the stage production.
Ethan Slater as Boq and Marissa Bode as Nessarose
Our only thing really was our green skin.
We also took some tiny pieces from the originalWizard of Oz, the 1939 version.
But we were very careful with that because copyright had to be always taken into account.
If you could estimate, how many tests did it take to land on Elphabas look?
Cynthia shaves her own eyebrows and has a shaved head.
So we did eyebrow transfers, contouring, learning the colors that worked on the green.
So I would guess around 60 tests on models roughly.
When Cynthia got in the chair in the morning, what did that utility process look like?
Frances:Were airbrushing the green on.
He also developed a green primer for us as a base.
And then airbrushing very lightly.
And then the contours, eyebrows, freckles, lip shape, and everything on top.
When you are working with body makeup, is there skin care preparation needed?
But Cynthia is very, very into working out.
I think her natural body sweated so much, it prepared itself for our work.
Her skin never got dry.
She naturally accepted the makeup beautifully, whether it be on her legs or arms.
We never did body scrubs on her in advance ourselves.
We never had to do that with Cynthia.
It just worked brilliantly.
Frances:She has just got great skin.
She doesnt have dry skin.
Shes got that beautiful natural oils to her skin that things sit on.
It doesnt dry out; it doesnt cake.
But the girls worked incredibly hard to maintain it throughout the day.
They did a beautiful job and it always looked so flawless.
From getting Cynthia in the chair to her being completely greenified, how long did that process take?
Frances:The girls who made her up wereAlice JonesandOlivia Jerrard.
But the whole process, once we got it down, was roughly two hours and 15 minutes.
When it comes to removing the green, is it just hopping in the shower and washing it off?
Or is it not that simple?
Frances:Not exactly.
Thats a special remover.
But then the average time was about 45 to remove.
So all thats incorporated into the length of her working day.
Moving on to hair, Elphaba wearsmicro braids.
I imagine Cynthia was part of that conversation around hairstyling from the beginning?
Frances:Very much so.
It was in the early days of research that I came across this particular micro braiding that I liked.
We researched everything, the history of braiding and the contemporary looks now.
We wanted to make it timeless, so it was trying to find a balance.
Cynthia as an artist is tiny, and her costumesthat big witchs hat and those cloaksare big.
So we had to bring a style to Cynthia that could grow and change but not swamp her.
Micro braiding fulfilled every nuance.
It kept her head shape very small and tight.
It allowed development by letting it free, but keeping it very simple.
I brought it to Jon Chu and Marc Platt.
Jon really loved the idea, then he took it to Cynthia, and she loved the idea.
It just developed from there.
We made four simple hairstyles but as Cynthias Elphaba developed, more hairstyles developed within it.
How many wigs did Cynthia wear throughout both movies?
Frances:Cynthia had seven in total that were for her.
Those wigs were made bySamuel Jameson green lace, six to eight inches long of the right texture.
And then the braids were put in afterwards.
It took four braiders several days to braid each individual wig.
We trialed the green and it worked great.
It was really, really unattractive and harsh.
Because theyd have to completely copy the wigs to look identical and obviously braiding one as they go.
So sometimes theyd have one in that theyre marrying up to and matching and referencing.
And they did a phenomenal job.
Why was it important to reflect that change in the setting in her nails?
Frances:Cynthia brought the idea of Elphabas nails to the table.
The nails were something she used a lot within her performance.
We started off with the little seven-year-old having very small, tiny green nails.
And then we developed it into Elphabas sheer and long but natural nails.
Whenever was possible, Shea would put on proper gels, not press-ons.
If we had to interchange, wed often use press-ons.
But it was always planned and taken into account.
Cynthia used it beautifully in silhouettes.
It was as strong as her beautiful witch hat.
For Glinda,Ariana Grande dyed her hair blonde for this film, but shes wearing wigs.
So for all the dance rehearsals and everything she had to do, she went in blonde herself.
The visual of the blonde, no different from the green, was very important to her.
She had seven wigs herself, and I cant quite remember how many we had in total.
Sarah:Glinda had more stunt doublesshe had a riding double and various stunt doubles.
There were probably 17 in total.
So you might often do six Glindas in one day for various moments.
Ariana Grande as Glinda
Something I kept thinking about when I watched the movie was the toss, toss!
Frances:Gabor Kerekesdid her hair, and he was in there as much as theyd allow him.
Gabor did a lovely job and thats probably why she felt like she wanted to flick it around.
Describe Glindas overall look.
productsand other products for covering tattoos; she has so many.
There was a lot of groundwork before you actually got into the beauty side.
And for her growth within her look, it was really that it just became stronger.
Her eyes grew stronger, her eyebrows grew stronger.
What did you use to cover Arianas tattoos?
Its got a really high pigment density.
Its a product that we recommend.
In our industry we use it all the time.
You dont need too much of it, so you dont have that problem with transfer onto costumes.
It certainly wasnt done in post.
Any covering up was all done with makeup.
MAQPro Creamy Full Cover Makeup
Precious About Makeup
What R.E.M.
products were used on Ariana?
Frances:I do remember one very well because it was a lovely finish to her.
We did use it in other places for her makeup too.
Why did you add that detail?
Frances:It was really because Glindas dresses were so extravagant and spectacular.
Glindaseyelashesare also particularly striking.
Were those extensions or falsies?
Frances:They were half pieces.
And with then some individuals just to make the blend.
She has this lovely lift on her eyebrows that she likes very much.
And the lashes were used to give that effect too.
And then the hair also went with that whole effect.
So everything from here was going up and out, not just round.
How did we settle on aFrench manicurefor Glinda?
Sarah:It worked across the board with all her costumes because its so classic.
Whereas the classic French works seamlessly throughout any of her costume choices.
And yeah, it is a classic and it looks so flattering.
Another character Glinda often appears with is Fiyero, played byBridgertonstarJonathan Bailey.
How do you make Jonathan, who is already this huge heartthrob, look even more princely and swoon-worthy?
Frances:Johnny came to us from another film, so I had everything made prior to his arrival.
He was in Canada filming.
And then I went toRay Marstons wig studio and had his wigs made.
But one thing we knew about Johnny is he had masses of action with regards to his dance routines.
That went over many, many days for 8 and 10 hours a day.
Johnnys own hair, though he has plenty of it, would actually collapse with the body heat.
I had a medium toupee and a large toupee made for him.
Id seen all his costumes, and he needed more bulk.
And he agreed straight away.
That way we could control the wig and the wig doesnt drop so much.
So its all part of the things that Sarah and I do throughout any film.
I was inspired very much by Paul Tazewells use of huge brass buttons over his uniforms.
And I had a story arc that we had to keep in mind.
It was right over the front of his hair.
The length gave him an extra two or three inches in height and more bulk on the sides.
He starts in Shiz with his vanity.
And then theres a storyline still to come that he changed into.
But with Jonathan himself, keeping his qualities.
He wore makeup; we always kept him tanned.
InBridgertonhe is very dreamy, but hes very clean-cut.
I believe we achieved that with Jonathan.
What was the most challenging part of this whole process?
What was the most rewarding?
Frances:We had terribly high collars to deal with, which are never easy with fake hair.
Sometimes you cant avoid it; you just have to battle with it constantly all day.
Sarah did with Madame Morribles wigs.
I dont think anybody would know Jonathan is wearing something fake.
The most rewarding thing was to achieve it all.
There was some really difficult stuff all of us went through to get to the end.
And there was never a flaw, I dont think.
Because if that hadnt been perfected, firstly it wouldve gone to post and that wouldve been very sad.
Frances:We had to give looks to different lands.
Finding the munchkins was very important.
In the originalWizard of Oz, they were fancy and colored and blue-haired and everything.
We werent going into the fantasy world at all.
So I thought red hair, it has such a variation in color.
Being very textured because theyre an agricultural culture; theyre outdoor people.
We tanned them because they work in the field.
We kept the high forehead.
We used a hundred shades of red and more.
And everyone had curls of some varying degree.
But he still had to look attractive.
Marissa still had to want him.
So it was very important to keep the beauty but give the distinction.
I remember when Fran came to me with the first images of the references and the vision.
And playing around with the wig after that.
It was trying to create effortless and intricate shapes without erring on any particular period in time.
Something very new and fresh.
Michelle had nail extensions as well.
And you could see when her nails were done, she would slowly turn into Morrible.
The way in which she used her hands.
What is one thing you hope audiences take away from the hair and makeup in this movie?
Frances:I hope its inspiring.
That their eyes have a feast.
And it makes it more interesting to watch time after time.
Sarah:I hope they just feel joy.
Theres so much in the world at the moment that doesnt necessarily bring joy.
I hope that a film like this does bring joy and a bit of innocence.
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