Cynthia Erivo reveals what filming Defying Gravity was really like, and how long it took

Defying Gravity was the monumental end to a monumental film – Cynthia Erivo brought more magic than all of Oz could muster in Wicked. While her extraordinary talent needs no explanation, she opened up in a Variety Actors on Actors interview with Angelina Jolie about her experience handling the great responsibility of the song. The two got emotional as Cynthia described the wild broom ride that took an insane time to film.

The emotional responsibility

“I remember my daughter watching Defying Gravity,” Angelina told Cynthia. “I remember catching her, and I felt that feeling of, oh, she needs this, she sees this, she’s feeling this desire to know there’s endless possibility and something within her she hasn’t discovered yet.”

Cynthia explained that before she even knew she was going to do Defying Gravity, there was a “huge responsibility” around Defying Gravity because it’s such a well-known song that people from the Wicked fandom love. However, she said it was important because she “really wanted to mean it,” and because “you can’t say something like that, ‘it’s time to try defying gravity,’ and then actually fly.”

The physical rollercoaster

Defying Gravity is already hard enough to master in a theatre, never mind on a movie set. Cynthia was swinging around while belting out high notes at the top of her lungs, which looked so fun. She’s been on the West End before, but I can’t say many people have had the experience of doing the stunts she did on the set of the Wicked movie.

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“The physical work of [Defying Gravity] was hard because I’m in a harness, I’m flying and I’m singing at the same time. So it’s so many things that are happening, and that was new for me. Like, to figure out how my body, my brain and my voice would all come together to work as one,” Cynthia explained.

Being Elphaba was a lifetime in the making for Cynthia. “I felt really proud of being able to figure that physical, practical side of it. But I think the journey of getting to that moment, not just in the film, but the journey I’ve taken to get here. Being in drama school at 20, putting myself through school, finishing at 23, not getting jobs and not really being seen, and not really being, feeling accepted… I had to figure out how to make my own way through this.

“This business is hard and there are so many people who want to feel seen and know that it’s possible to exceed people’s expectations of them and exceed your own expectations. And I kind of, in that moment, wanted to exceed my own expectations of what I could do,” she said.

Filming Defying Gravity at last

Cynthia recalled the gruelling days of making Defying Gravity that came at the very end of filming. “There are so many people on this set right now who have been waiting for this moment and this film, and we’d all worked towards this one part. It’s how we finished shooting. It was the last thing we shot. I think I just had to channel several different things. Little Cynthia who didn’t know she could do this, and big Cynthia who wanted to make everyone proud and herself proud.”

She also explained she wanted to “serve the desires of people who say ‘you can do anything you put your mind to,’ even when it’s scary.”

“I was so ready to do it,” she said.

Cynthia recalled the “wild” ride of filming Defying Gravity, which took three days, due to all the stunts and practicality of the scene. Despite being used to performing eight shows a week in theatre, it was a “challenge” because Cynthia “had to repair” afterwards.

“It was a challenge because we’re up early just to get ready. It took three hours to get green.”

Nobody is doing it like her!