She is the same girl.
Thanks to the film, Cynthia Erivo transformed into Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in “Wicked.” Makeup artist and hair stylist Francis Hannon,
Hannon told The Post His work on Erivo, 37, And the rest of the cast began researching the world of Oz.
“I looked at everything. Every book. I’ve watched ‘Wicked’ several times. I went and refreshed myself. Even the original ‘Wizard of Oz,’” Hannon said.
He said of the creation of Erivo’s character, “But we were never going for the witch look.” “We were making it very real, very timeless and very relatable to everyone. We weren’t going for an artificial fantasy version at all. John [M. Chu] Always wanted everything to be real.”
Hannon had already formed her idea of Elphaba’s hair for the film before Erivo arrived in the United Kingdom for filming in 2022.
“She loved micro braiding, which gave her a lot of scope to be free with her hair,” he said. “But we always kept in mind that it was very important never to go too big because with the black hat and the huge black cloak, she could disappear. Her hair wasn’t black, it was mixed with brown, but she could completely disappear into it.”
As for Erivo’s makeup process, Hannon explained how she created the look of Elphaba’s infamous look.
“I started by trying to find the right shade of green for the skin color because no one would use anything that was used on stage because that was painted on the faces and for the back of the audience. While we wanted it to work in every light, but definitely in big close-ups,” she said. “Once I got the shade of green I wanted while working on the models, I wanted it to work. felt right, so I all Couldn’t get that shade of green to work in different lighting.”
Hannon also confirmed that he never changed Erivo’s green color while filming both parts of the film.
“The green color was the base, and then we drew the outline on top,” she explained. “I added the freckles to give her a story arc, so we had to be young somewhere and then progress as she changes her story. So the green remained the same. The features became stronger, the shadows of the eyes became stronger, her hair became looser and wilder. The color of his skin was the color of her skin.
to convert Ariana Grande in Glinda the Good WitchHannon’s main priorities were to make the character “very classical and princess-like”.
“Again, kindness was very important,” she said. “We looked at all the history. [Costume designer] Paul Tazewell took the pink color from the original movie [‘The Wizard of Oz’] And used it instead of stage blue. And Nathan Crowley, our set designer, he used circles a lot, which Paul used within the costumes and I also used within the hair.
“More waves and flow. We kept her hair hot and short and simple for school, not so wavy and curled,” Hannon continued.
“And when she went into the bubble dress for the beginning of the movie, we worked our way up from Paul’s dress. We kept her skin very transparent, opalescent. And kept my hair curly and with an inward wave The Complete Story of Oz.”
Hannon said that no makeup or hair-related accidents occurred to any of the actors during shooting.
“We were very structured and controlled,” he told The Post. “I would often prepare everything before they arrived, and then make a choice. Someone always says that the artist chooses the character and how they see him.”
‘Wicked’ is in theaters now.
