Sunday, February 16, 2025

Ariana Grande’s Stellar Wicked Performance Earns Academy Award Nomination—Director’s Doubts Proved Wrong!

Ariana Grande’s sensational performance in Wicked has been one of the biggest talking points of 2024, with the actress even securing an Academy Award nomination for her work in the project. However, there’s an alternate universe where Grande wasn’t involved in Wicked at all, and it’s much closer to reality than many would expect. Luckily, this didn’t come to pass, but there were other actresses who were considered for Glinda first—and several came very close to being cast. Thankfully, Grande’s performance was widely accepted by both critics and audiences alike, sparking what hopefully will become a new period of her career as an actress.

The film would not have been the same without her, and her more comedic portrayal of Glinda helped distinguish this cinematic adaptation of Wicked from both Gregory Maguire’s novel and the original Broadway production. Grande is the arguable MVP of Wicked’s cast, but there were concerns during the casting process that it would be difficult to separate the character from Grande’s existing public persona. While many audiences were confident that Ariana Grande would be able to pull off Glinda’s character in a way that felt fresh and new, Wicked’s director Jon M. Chu wasn’t so sure. The filmmaker had expressed concerns that Grande’s reputation would be inherently damaging to her interpretation of the character, with audiences superimposing her pop star image onto Glinda.

Chu discusses this in Wicked’s special features, admitting that “in my head, I was like, we’re never giving this to Ariana Grande.” The first trailer for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s Wicked: For Good may come very soon, building even more hype for this sequel’s debut in 2025. The concerns arose thanks to Grande’s accounts of wanting to play the character since she was very young, which made Chu worry that audiences would struggle to see the character through her own public accounts of wanting to portray her. The director was worried that Grande’s involvement would “just take over the movie,” turning the casting process into a whole public ordeal.

There aren’t many characters quite like Glinda, and it was crucial that Wicked found the right actress for the job. Thankfully, Grande managed to overcome the heavy expectations that came with the role and ended up being the most memorable part of the entire movie—in a good way. Despite concerns that her pop star reputation would overshadow the character and change the audience’s perception of her, Grande totally disappeared into the role and delivered a performance unlike anything she’d managed before.

Glinda is the largest personality in Wicked by a long shot, and Grande fully leaned into the comedic side of this character to transform her into an extremely likable and relatable figure. The traces of Glinda’s “mean girl” persona are still present, but it’s always played for laughs with a witty naivete that was consistently praised in Kristen Chenoweth’s performance in the Broadway production. Glinda’s relationship with Elphaba was tackled perfectly, relying on the natural chemistry between Grande and Erivo to find that spark.

Incidentally, Grande was clearly aware of the effect that her celebrity persona may have on the character of Glinda and actively tried to prevent this. When her involvement in the movie had been confirmed, Wicked’s musician and lyricist Stephen Schwartz approached her and pitched a “hip-hop inspired” version of Glinda’s most noteworthy song “Popular,” which Grande immediately shut down. The actress was concerned that it would change the song’s tone too heavily, upsetting fans and coming across as self-indulgent.

The actress was always adamant that she didn’t want to be playing herself in this cinematic version of Wicked, but rather she wanted to perfectly channel the Glinda that she’d watched on Broadway all those years prior. This decision ultimately proved to be an excellent one, as “Popular” ranked among Wicked’s best musical numbers and managed to stay true to the spirit of Schwartz’s original vision. Despite a few changes to the script and a more openly comedic performance, that’s exactly what Ariana Grande did.

Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. This transformation resonates deeply with audiences, highlighting themes of friendship, identity, and societal expectations, making Grande’s performance all the more impactful.

As Grande’s journey in Wicked continues to unfold, it remains to be seen how her Academy Award nomination will influence her future projects. However, with her undeniable talent and the support of her fans, the sky is truly the limit for Ariana Grande, proving that sometimes, taking a leap into the unknown can lead to a spectacular landing.

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