Full Transcript for The Question That Changed Our Mind About Ariana Grande And Ethan Slater

way that was so vulnerable and so well done that it like outlasted any other type of chemistry of relationship I've seen exactly. 00:05:24 Speaker 3: Oh go, okay, I'm gonna try and get that right. 00:05:27 Speaker 1: So in Wicked, it's part one because you know it's a long stage show, so it cuts in the movie where it cuts for intermission. So define gravity so you can worry. You get defined and gravity one hundred percent. So in this new movie, you have Cynthia Arrivo, just an incredible musical theater performer, an incredible actress. I won't go through all her awards and roles because we'll be here for six hours. Plays Alphaba, who goes on to be you know, the Wicked Witch. And then Ariana Grande plays Glinda, who goes on to be Glinda the Good Witch. And it tells the story before Dorothy dropped in of these two women who meet it she's at a university, complete opposites, and how they come together to be friends and then embark this huge Like the book Wicked, which I also love, I've read All the Books is a really compelling tale of like a really good look into like society and the political landscape in a way that feels so relevant today, even though it was written many years ago about a fictional place, and so you know, it kind of goes on. You have you know, you have the Wizard of Oz, you have all these other things and other characters. The movie also stars Jonathan Bailey as Fierro, the most charismatic man that has Well, the thing is that's brilliant casting, because he is the most charismatic man I've ever come across, playing the most charismatic. 00:06:44 Speaker 4: Interact, playing his pristian character and everything, and I'm all for it. 00:06:48 Speaker 3: He's so good. 00:06:49 Speaker 1: And Jeff Goldboom playing the Wizard of Oz, who was singing and dancing, so they were sitting above us. But if you're in the premiere, but if you looked up, Jeff the whole time was just singing away and just having the time of his life as the Wizard. So he's living his best life. So yesterday, the day after the premiere, I went to a little Sidney hotel where the cast was staying, where the junket was taking place, and I sat down with some of the cast members. 00:07:12 Speaker 3: So we're going to play those interviews. 00:07:13 Speaker 1: Now and I'm going to give you a little behind the scenes of what happened when the cameras weren't ruling. So the first cast members I sat down with were Marissa Bodi, who plays Nessa Rose, who is Alphabez's sister in the show and has I think a more extended part in this in the movie than she does in the stage show, which was really exciting. And Ethan Slater, who was a Broadway star who was playing Bolk. He's a munchkin desperately in love with Glinda and then you know, his story really takes a turn before we see him pop up again in The Wizard of All Is it a. 00:07:47 Speaker 3: Very central role? 00:07:48 Speaker 1: So here is Marissa Body and Ethan Slater. Is that an added layer of pressure knowing that there's sort of almost a fan ownership over these characters. 00:07:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. 00:07:58 Speaker 5: There was a really sweet sign yesterday in the group of fans that were outside the premiere, which is, by the way, it was the most amazing thing in the world. There's a wonderful sign that said thank you for taking care of them, and that was like, really, really emotional because I think that that was really important to us, is to take care of these characters, and so that it is added pressure, but also it's pressure that we're putting on ourselves because we cared about it. And so I think that it makes me feel really relieved to know that at least most people see that we really did our best to take care of them. 00:08:28 Speaker 3: Oh, you really did it, did live up to expectations. I should lead with that after sort. 00:08:31 Speaker 1: Of heidening how much how excited we were, and I'm just sort of going back to the beginning of the process. I wanted to ask you both about the audition process because I hear that was a very. 00:08:41 Speaker 3: Intense time to go through. 00:08:43 Speaker 1: And what was it like when you finally both found out that you had the roles. 00:08:47 Speaker 6: So the role for Essa because they wanted to cast somebody who was authentically disabled in in a wheelchair, so they did a nationwide casting. I sent him a self tape. I got a call back later that day, and then over the span of a few weeks, I had done callbacks and work sessions with casting, and then after not hearing back for a few days, I freak out for sure, because. 00:09:13 Speaker 3: I was like this is away, man, I want, I need this. 00:09:15 Speaker 7: I put my. 00:09:16 Speaker 6: Whole heart into this, and so I made a little short film that was like spooky and about witches and turning bad luck into good luck. And at the end the spell that I create is good news will soon come knocking, and then you hear a knock at the door and then it cuts to black. And then two days after I posted that to my Instagram, I heard back from casting, So who knows, maybe. 00:09:37 Speaker 3: I did create a spell by accident from apparently apparently. 00:09:42 Speaker 6: Yeah and yeah, And the callback ended up being John telling me that I got the role via having Cynthia and Ari knock at the door and open it and have a sign that said welcome to oswie Varanessa. 00:09:56 Speaker 3: How do you even do? We youse speech? Just how do you even respond to something like I was absolutely speechless. 00:10:00 Speaker 6: I was not processing at all. I'm pretty sure I look like a deer in headlights and whatever recorded video zoom video out there of me on the reveal. 00:10:12 Speaker 7: For sure. 00:10:13 Speaker 5: It was crazy that on the other side of that I was I was in London, we had just started rehearsals, and John was like, by the way, I think I can't tell you. Yeah, I think we found the Nanessa. She's amazing, and she's like, I think she's

a little witchy. Because you just posted this, I knew and everyone was just so excited. Yeah, because you're perfect, Because you're perfect and amazing. 00:10:31 Speaker 1: Oh and what about when you heard the news of that you'd landed the role. It was I experience like fee. 00:10:37 Speaker 7: I couldn't I couldn't believe that. I was like over the moon. 00:10:39 Speaker 5: But I feel like my story isn't quite as exciting in some ways. But one thing that I did find a little I felt like a big swing. 00:10:46 Speaker 7: Is that I really cared about this. I wanted to put my all into the self tape. 00:10:49 Speaker 5: But you know, when I got the audition, I was like, you know, everybody in the country, everybody in the world who's like, you know, my height or so I was going to audition for Bach, so I don't know if it's going to go anywhere. 00:10:58 Speaker 7: And I didn't have anyone to read with me. 00:11:00 Speaker 5: So what I did was I recorded myself saying all of Glinda's lines, and I recorded myself singing all of Nanessa's lines. Oh wow, And then I read with myself and so the self tape that I sent in was just just three of me. 00:11:12 Speaker 7: Which, as I'm saying it out loud, it's been cute. Centered. Yeah, been to the power of three. 00:11:18 Speaker 5: I was like, Oh, that's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done in your life and it's never gonna work. 00:11:22 Speaker 3: And it's worked out very well, thank God. 00:11:25 Speaker 1: And coming back to Murssa, what you said around the importance of having someone in a wheelchair play this part for the first time, which, considering it's been going for twenty years, is quite astounding. But what is that like for you now knowing that audiences are about to see this movie and what that's going to mean to so many people. 00:11:41 Speaker 6: It feels incredibly full circle to me. So when I first saw Wicked on the stage age I think eleven or twelve, and just seeing a character in a wheelchair which I had never seen on stage before, and then now to be the first disabled person that is authentically in a wheelchair, I know what that meant to me when I was younger, to just see a character like that and then to actually be that for so many other people while being the first authentically disabled person for that role, It just. 00:12:17 Speaker 3: It means the world to me. 00:12:18 Speaker 6: But it means a lot more for what I know is is going to do for the community as a whole. 00:12:25 Speaker 4: Oh my god, they are so cute together. They're so cute together, Like obviously Ethan Sider's romantically involved with Ariana Grande, but I love that we got to hear them be really sweet together outside of the movie, because their chemistry in the movie is beautiful as well. 00:12:43 Speaker 1: There's so many little hidden things there if you're a wicked fan, like when he looks at her and says you're perfect, because there's a. 00:12:49 Speaker 8: Part I know. 00:12:51 Speaker 3: I know obviously if you know, if you know the movie, you know where this love story is going. 00:12:55 Speaker 1: And it's maybe not the most romantic thing, but there is a moment where they're kind of, you know, singing to each other and you know, have this kind of thing about talking about how they're perfect. And then obviously Fierro and gluine isssing that line later on, but I thought that was really Obviously that's hard for me to listen back because you know, it's it's at a very heightened situation. I just want to sort of set the scene a little bit because I feel like, if you don't know what at how a junket rolls. 00:13:20 Speaker 3: The it's so extreme. 00:13:21 Speaker 1: It's like a city kind of sets itself up in a hotel somewhere in Sydney for these junkets. And you go early, you check in, you go into a holding area, you're there for a long time. You're then escorted up to the next level where you go into anohing holding area, and you're waiting there for a long time, and then inevitably things are run lay because that's what happens. Then you got taken to another smaller holding area and. 00:13:43 Speaker 3: Every hour, so I was. 00:13:44 Speaker 1: I left this office yesterday at two o'clock and I got home at seven pm, and I was a shell of a human being. And then you go into this other area outside the rooms where all the interviews are taking place, and then they keep moving you from a different chair to a different chair every few minutes to show where you are in the line. And everyone's like, you can't speak because you otherwise your voice will pick up from the mic, and you don't have anything. You have to leave your bags and everything another room, so you're just sitting there with your own thoughts for like hours and hours and hours waiting, and then you walk into this room and they kind of rush you in and the other journalists is just set up from their chair, and you like kind of rush into the room which is set up with like mics and stands and everything, so you're weaving around those, and of course I'm taller than everyone else in the world, so I always either hit my hell on the mic or they have to come and move it for me. And then you have this moment of like the cameras are rolling and they're yelling at you, I'm going to give you a rap at one, man, I'm going to give you a wrap at two, And you have like five minutes in the room and your time starts and when you sit on the chair, whether like everyone's ready or not, so you have to really rush people. 00:14:44 Speaker 3: Do you see how my voice is getting really dense? And then you've got to. 00:14:46 Speaker 1: Try and have this like really emotional interview with these people in a few minutes. 00:14:50 Speaker 3: You have to pretend to not be super breathy and they which I was. 00:14:53 Speaker 1: And then they have done like fifteen of these before. You are actually probably way more than that thirty. Sometimes I've asked you, like, how many

interviews have you done? They have like fifty people before you and you're trying to get a moment with them. 00:15:04 Speaker 3: And they're also trying to give you something new as well. 00:15:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, if they're good at their job, they do not everyone does that. 00:15:09 Speaker 3: These two were. 00:15:10 Speaker 1: I also say, like, obviously I had I fallen with Marissa online and I kind of like knew who she was, but I'm obsessed with her now from her performance in the movie and how she spoke and everything. I'm just so excited to see her and other things. Can I say on the Ethans later thing? 00:15:23 Speaker 3: So yeah, continue. 00:15:27 Speaker 1: When this first came out that Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande had they had both their marriages had ended and they were dating, and there was a lot of, like I guess, public backlash that people. I mean, first of all, people were upset about the whole marriage thing, and to that I said, I know, we talked about the time, But to that, I say, like, we don't know what happened behind the scenes, and we'll actually never know, so we can't really. 00:15:48 Speaker 3: Speak on that. 00:15:49 Speaker 1: But there was also a lot of backlash that she was this beautiful movie star and he was this quirky musical theater guy who had played SpongeBob SquarePants on Broadway and everyone was like, there was kind of this thing, like he was like not attractive enough to be with her or what was she doing throwing her life away for this man? 00:16:04 Speaker 3: And there was so much backlash. 00:16:06 Speaker 1: And can I say, after walking into that room yesterday and sitting across from that man, I get it. 00:16:13 Speaker 3: He was lovely. 00:16:15 Speaker 1: He was so yes And I don't say that, as you guys know, I always tell you about my bad interviews, so I don't say that lightly. But I just found him when I walked in, like so charming and so charismatic. And when you throw on the fact he can sing, I was like, oh, man, I get it. I understand now too why they were like walking because they didn't hold hands. Obviously, she walked down the red carp at the Sydney Premier holding hands with Cynthia because it was like their group moment, and then he and Marissa were more walking together because their characters are together in the film. But once they got into the theater kind of where we were sitting away from the main characters, Ethan and Ariana walked in together, were holding hands, were being very cuply in the theater, and they also do you notice that they when they came on stage together and then they ran off. They grabbed hands as they ran off, which is really sweet. 00:17:00 Speaker 3: And now I'm like, guys, I get it. I'm Slater train. 00:17:04 Speaker 4: I understood why watching the movie, because you can see the chemistry between their characters as well meant to be there, which is not meant to be there, but you see it. 00:17:12 Speaker 1: Oh see, I didn't pick up anything about in the movie. No, No, I think, well, it depends if you were looking for it, because I think you're not meant to have there's not he's he is in love with her in the movie, but she does not like him back. 00:17:22 Speaker 3: I think you can see a little hint hints. Okay, I think you're looking for that. But yeah, okay, I understand. 00:17:27 Speaker 4: What I found really interesting is that Marissa said right in the beginning of your interview, hopefully fans will loved the movie as much as like the musical. Yeah, what do you love more the musical of the movie. 00:17:38 Speaker 1: Oh my god, don't ask me that. Come on, I mean, obviously I love the musical better, but I love I think this is a perfect extension of it. And I've got to say I wasn't there's a few things I wasn't on board with when it was announced, and a few things, and I'm just gonna be honest that I didn't like Ariana Grande's casting. When I first found out that she was going to be in the movie, I didn't tell her that yesterday didn't come on. 00:18:06 Speaker 3: But she's aware. 00:18:07 Speaker 1: She's aware that people were hesitant at her casting, and I understand it. 00:18:11 Speaker 4: Because she wasn't known for being in like Broadway and in musical. She was known for being on Nickelodeon and Victoria and then having a pop star kind of. 00:18:19 Speaker 1: Fame absolutely, and the pop starification of a musical, I think is what I was really worried about. Cynthia is a Broadway star as well as being an actress, and so I just when I heard that she was going to be Alphaba, I was absolutely thrilled at that casting, and Ariana I was very hesitant about. 00:18:35 Speaker 3: But I started to get. 00:18:36 Speaker 1: More on board the idea once I heard that she had gone through such an intense, rigorous audition process, which I did ask her about as well, because I'd heard a few different rumors and a few like people on the record say that you know, they had made her take all of her makeup off and she'd come back and looked a different way, and she had, and she has spoken, and she told me in our interview about how she works so hard to change her voice because that's not the way she normally sings. She taught herself to sing differently. I also think with Glinda, it's a role that can sometimes look a bit throwaway, like oh, it's just the ditzy blonde, and I was like, no, she's She's layered. Also, her level of comedy can be very hit and miss. I've seen Wicked so many times now, and I've seen good Glindas and great Glindas and some Glindas that maybe didn't nail it as well. And I think it's such specific comedic timing in tone that if you get it wrong, it falls flat. And so coming into the movie, I was, I don't know, I was on the fence about it, but I do honestly think her voice. And I'm not just saying this because I interviewed her, because I've interviewed lots of people that I thought their performance wasn't great, but like it was a good interview, but I think

that she really nailed it, and I think it's because they made her work so hard for it that when she got it, she'd earned it. 00:19:46 Speaker 3: Her voice was like outstanding. If you I did think. 00:19:50 Speaker 4: I stand that register she normally sings in you listen to the songs like she's singing in there, you wouldn't even think it's her, Like she had to has such a Broadway voice. 00:19:58 Speaker 1: And they're singing live on the two, which is incredible. Okay, So then I finished that interview and I was feeling pretty good about myself, and then I had to go and wait again for a very long period of time. At this stage, I'm just dying for a hair brush or stick or something to like fix myself up because I'm it was very hot yesterday was very airless in the room I was waiting in. And then as I was sitting outside the room thinking about like what this movie meant to me, and the fact that I was about to go in an interview Arianne and Cynthia, I. 00:20:25 Speaker 3: Freaking tear it up again. 00:20:27 Speaker 1: I did again, and I think I almost went into the interview like maybe a little bit robotic when I look back on it now, because I was. 00:20:33 Speaker 3: So worried about crying. 00:20:36 Speaker 1: You're so yeah, I was overwhelmed, and I think sometimes I know other interviewers went in there and cried with them, and I don't know if that would have happened, if that had been good or bad, if I'd done it, but I think I almost went the other way where I almost am like too formal and robotic because I was just trying really not to cry. And the interview started on kind of an interesting notes. So I walked in and they're sitting up and I hate this and junkets and I understand why they do it, because. 00:21:01 Speaker 3: They want the Opera House in the background. 00:21:03 Speaker 1: That's why they're here to show that they're in Australia so people don't think it's like the moon landing and there's no allegations the same rejunket. 00:21:10 Speaker 4: I've said, I've seen Zendea, I've seen za Efron in that same of you. You've seen more celebrities, and it's seen the Opera House exactly. 00:21:17 Speaker 1: So I walked into the room and they let the talent know who's coming in, so they said it's Laura from MAM and Mia and then Cynthia goes, oh mom and Mia great, and then I'm kind of like, Okay, does she know the website or does she think it's the musical. 00:21:32 Speaker 3: Which it's either time. It's hard working. Everyone thinks we're working for a musical. 00:21:37 Speaker 1: I walked up onto the platform and I sit down. I'm so overwhelmed. And then Arianna leans over to me and goes, hi, I'm Ariana and leaned out her hand to shake my hands so earnestly, and I'm like, I couldn't think what today is, so I said, I know, oh, I'm nice to meet you. 00:21:56 Speaker 3: I'm Laura. 00:21:57 Speaker 1: And then I'm nice. 00:21:58 Speaker 3: To meet you, Laura. It's so nice. She was being so polite. 00:22:02 Speaker 1: It means to like mimic her voice here, but she has such a distinct voice, and it's it's so pretty. 00:22:06 Speaker 3: It sounds like she has a distinct voice. 00:22:07 Speaker 1: Now she's she's cult to a beautiful voice. It sounds like she's singing when she's speaking, which as someone with a terrible voice, I can only dream to sound like that. And then I leaned over to shake Cynthia Rivo's hand and my hand is shaking because I love her so much, and she shook my hand and she still had those beautiful in the premiere, sheh those beautiful. 00:22:27 Speaker 3: Long long green even in. 00:22:29 Speaker 1: The Yeah, exactly, so incredible, and I'm shaking her hand and then she goes, oh, and she looked at me, and I'm like, this is a split second in the in the maybe i'll put the video up. I don't know, Yeah, I'll do it. This is such a split second, but it felt forever. And she looked at me and she goes oh. And I was like, oh my god, I'm like, what is wrong with my face? 00:22:47 Speaker 3: Like, what's happened? Am I crying? Make that noise? Yeah? 00:22:50 Speaker 1: And then she goes and she did that the universal sign that women did to each other where they have something on your teeth, crunch up way worse where you scrunch up your face. And then she starts rubbing her finger, looking at me back and forth over her face, and she's and she's telling me that all that time, I've been sitting out there, and I've did check my face fifty times before I when and I talked to twenty people. Somehow in the three steps that I have taken to get from the people I just spoke to up on stage with them, I have lipstick all over my teeth and she. 00:23:18 Speaker 4: Lipstick, however, is better than having like spinach or something, because then you have to pick that out and then you're like, wait, do I. 00:23:24 Speaker 3: Well then I wut in my mouth? Or do I drop it on the ground? My god, I don't want that. Do I hand it to the camera? 00:23:29 Speaker 4: Man, I would have just thrown myself off this day, so I might think of the like that was the best scenario that could have happened. 00:23:36 Speaker 1: And then I said, oh, oh, thank you. 00:23:37 Speaker 3: And then I'm cleaning. 00:23:38 Speaker 1: I'm trying to clean my teeth in front of Ariana and Cynthia, who both smiling at me really encouragingly. 00:23:43 Speaker 3: Like well, wait, don't institute. 00:23:45 Speaker 1: And then I was like yeah, and I'm like okay, oh sorry that I'm like, oh, that would have ruined my day. And what I meant to say is it would have ruined my life if I looked back over my Wicked interview and its lipstick go over my teeth and look, they'll be commentary afterwards. But here is Cynthia Arrivo and Ariana Grande. 00:24:00 Speaker 3: Hi, you do this, oh thank you saying musical great? Okay. That would have my day. 00:24:10 Speaker 1: To start by asking you both what it was like to experience a movie with an audience last night, because I saw you walking down the

yellow brick carpets so excited I saw you on stage. Did you have a moment backstage to kind of take it in and celebrate that moment together? 00:24:24 Speaker 8: I think a little bit, but I think it when we were sitting watching. I think we really took it in at that point right together. 00:24:32 Speaker 1: And that was that because the gowns were too we just needed to be to. 00:24:38 Speaker 3: Oh I had a we were like, we need I understand that would have not done at all. 00:24:45 Speaker 1: So going back to the beginning of the process, I understand that the audition process was very extensive, and I wanted to ask you both what your memories are of that time and was there ever a moment where you thought, oh, I want this part so much, but it might not work out. 00:24:58 Speaker 8: I just assumed it wasn't going to come my way for a while, so I just didn't want to know anything about it until I had the opportunity to come in and I was lucky, and because this lady here was working very, very hard as well, I was brought in to do a camera test and I was in the room for about three four hours learning everything, and I remember being in that room, wanting to give everything I possibly could. The morning of, I think it was running back and forth doing lap, singing the songs just so the words in my body. I just wanted to put everything I could into this moment, to make sure that I had left everything on the table, so that if it didn't happen, I knew that I had given it everything. 00:25:40 Speaker 9: I feel like my audition process was a long cookie any now, but you know, I mean we both love and care about this so much and wanted to give it everything we had. I remember before even my first audition, I had an audition and then some callbacks and then chemistry tests, and even before my first audition, I was training my voice and with an acting coach for two months, I think, just every day to make sure that I was prepared for no matter what was asked of me. I just wanted to make sure that my instrument was ready because Glinda's vocal part is very different than what I usually sang, so I wanted to train my muscles and make sure. 00:26:22 Speaker 2: That I was in shape, and we both just really left it all in there. Yeah, we just wanted to leave everything. I even left my lashes on the mirror and I ended up with. 00:26:29 Speaker 8: This ridiculous Oh really, Yah, I got sick immediately afterwards. 00:26:34 Speaker 1: Yes, we've given everything and I was just Harry Morris is a beautiful story of how she found out she was in the movie with you both surprising her. What was that moment like for you when you found out you'd landed the roles? 00:26:46 Speaker 8: Oh, very very emotional. Yeah, changed that changed our lives, Yeah, for sure, of course, just to be I mean, John is so wonderful that he wanted to make that moment really special for us, and the fact that he took the time and made the effort to do that with our teams was really special. And it's one that it meant that we would never ever forget that that moment. 00:27:08 Speaker 2: Yes, all of them did. Bernie Telsey, the casting kid director, he was in a show. He was at a theater and he ran out of the theater because he heard that they were calling us. 00:27:18 Speaker 3: He just left. Had to be a part of it. 00:27:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very special. I don't think I've ever felt that feeling in my life. 00:27:24 Speaker 3: I just felt I never. 00:27:26 Speaker 2: Torrential downpour of gratitude and like, oh my goodness, this is everything's happened, and everything will be okay no matter what. 00:27:35 Speaker 7: Because we get to do this thing and now we have to do it well. 00:27:38 Speaker 1: So, speaking of the I can see the relationship you formed over making this movie. I wanted to ask you about that because I think one of the reasons why Wicked is so enduring, apart from the songs and the characters and the costumes, is that I can't think of anything else that centers the complexities of female friendship as the central part of the show. And so I wanted to ask you, do you think we're still in a world where women are being pitted against each other? And do you think this movie being out there is going to change the conversation, because that's that's how it feels. 00:28:06 Speaker 7: I think we definitely are. 00:28:07 Speaker 2: But I think we're also in an environment time when women are more supportive of one another than ever and spoke loud and not afraid to set boundaries and stand up for themselves and their friends. 00:28:20 Speaker 7: And it really is a beautiful time. 00:28:22 Speaker 10: So even though things will always try, there's something that's coming into at least really actually wonderful to watch as women and new artists and are coming together, collaborating and making it clear that we're not to bed against each other anymore. 00:28:40 Speaker 1: If I did not try, and if you saw the women lining in that carpet to see you both yesterday, and they would not be having that is not. 00:28:46 Speaker 3: What they were there to see. 00:28:47 Speaker 9: You know. 00:28:47 Speaker 3: It's self supportive. It's been wonderful. 00:28:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I want to ask you as well about a very iconic song that's coming in the next movie for good, where your characters sing to each other. Because I knew you, I've been changed for the better. So I wanted to ask you, since you've met and formed this relationship and made these films together, how have you changed each other for the good? 00:29:06 Speaker 9: Oh? 00:29:06 Speaker 3: My goodness, I don't even know where to start. 00:29:08 Speaker 7: I really don't. 00:29:09 Speaker 3: I think there's not like just one thing. 00:29:12 Speaker 8: I think the way we've communicated and the way we've held space for one another, the way we've been honest with each other. I think this is a relationship this unlike any because we've sort of managed

to meet each other on a really even thing field and have made the choice to be good for one another and take care of each other and be. 00:29:33 Speaker 2: Honest and lead with empathy every single day and meet the other where we're at, you know, it's been so beautiful, and I don't know, I feel I feel very spoiled by that and very grateful for that because it just sets the tones for everything via. 00:29:49 Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for your time, and thank you so much. And I'm such a die hard Wicked fan. It's not just my favorite thing in the world. It really lives up to the hype. 00:29:59 Speaker 3: So thank you, thank you very much, thank you. No, I wanted to keep going. No, it's really quick emotional. 00:30:11 Speaker 1: I didn't think they caught her fixing my lipstick on camera, but glad about that. 00:30:15 Speaker 3: So we have to post that on the spilling we will. 00:30:19 Speaker 4: Can you just give me a minute, let me just process or just want I just witnessed right there what they said about that changing their life and being the biggest thing that's ever happened to their lives is like such a unique experience that so many people will never experience in their lifetime. 00:30:36 Speaker 3: And that made. 00:30:37 Speaker 4: Me like you're about to cry to that. That made me so emotional, like I can't even like it's just the way they described that, like that's something I've never felt before, and I feel like that's something that everyone wants to feel once in their lifetime, and it's just so nice to see women who like deserve it, like like you, I love Cynthia Evo, and like I want her to get an ego and I'm like, I want you to have everything you ever dreamt off because like the way she explains that just shows that they so deeply care about the work they put into that movie, which came across so well. 00:31:09 Speaker 1: And that's one of the reasons I wanted to ask like Ariana in particular about the build up to it, because I think she has talked about it before. She's very aware that people were nervous about her casting. And then I think the reason that she wanted to she's like really driving that home. The work she did is to kind of circumvent that. And it was interesting because what you probably can't see from just listening to that is when I started my question about women being pitted against each other, they both looked a little shocked, and they a few times during the interview they kept leaning into each other and they would often lean over and hold hands, which they got matching tattoos on their hands. When they put their hands together, the tattoos join, which is another amazing thing. 00:31:46 Speaker 3: You can't see, you. 00:31:48 Speaker 1: Could never be up if we need to get matching tattoos. Act you get sp and I get ill, I double well, and it won't be the same. And I think they're very protective each other, and they're sort of just really kicking off this world wide press to us. So I think they don't know yet how the public is and media is going to treat them in some cases, and so I think they're very protective and they don't want anything out there that would even hint that this relationship they have is for publicity or anything like that. And so when I went to ask them that question, they leant into each other and started holding hands, and then Ariana is looking at Cynthia. 00:32:24 Speaker 3: It's such a split second. I didn't even know the. 00:32:26 Speaker 1: Video if you would really pick it up, because I think she's thinking that am I asking if they have that against each other? And my soul left my body because I want to say no, like I'm on your side. 00:32:36 Speaker 3: I believe I'm That's why they answered so quickly. 00:32:39 Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's the thing they both started answering before i'd finish my question, jumping and being I think it will change. I think it will, and I wish I had more time to give them the backstory and saying like, just so you guys know, like I work in pop culture media, and nothing clicks across the world. Nothing gets more side traffic, more podcast traffic, more views on TikTok, than the idea that two famous women might not get along or have some sort of beef or have something even if just a famous woman is involved and it's with a man, as we saw with Blake Lively, Like, and I do hate that side of it, even though like it, you know, is what makes the media world turn round in many cases, and so I wanted to ask them about that. But I do think that they thought that I was maybe leaning into do you guys hate each other? Or what I was like, this whole thing, there's tatoos, They're gonna rubus from books of Water on you. And so that was kind of a moment where I was like, oh, I just don't know if that kind of like hit the way it was supposed. 00:33:28 Speaker 4: I think it did hit because I think like we have talked about it in the past and like there's no point harping on about it. But I think Ariana grind the especially with her relationship, has had so many of like the she's not a girl's girl. 00:33:43 Speaker 3: Those accusations have been out there. Yeah, and I can I felt like it was risky hearts that question. But for me, do you think it was? 00:33:50 Speaker 5: For me? 00:33:50 Speaker 4: It was mainly because I know so much about that. Obviously, not everyone is as chronically online as we are, where we read these deep pieces and stuff and what's happening on socials. But I thought you were going you were referring to those comments when I asked. I mean, look, I wasn't still a fair to ask, because that's what people are talking about, right, And I think they answered that really well. 00:34:12 Speaker 3: Absolutely. 00:34:13 Speaker 1: I think in the lead up to this, Ariana in particular, and I guess because she has this kind of huge level of global theme that's built on celebrity as much as it's built on her work, and so her storyline leading up to this has been very

different to everyone else Whereas Cynthia, everyone's been like. 00:34:27 Speaker 3: We love her and she's a real star. 00:34:28 Speaker 1: And Jonathan Bailey were in love with him, and Jeff goldwoman in love with him. Michelle Yeo who wasn't there, but people as Madame Morrible, people love her and she's an Oscar Winner, and I'm so excited Tona. 00:34:39 Speaker 3: But I would have dropped dead if I saw her. I actually would have would have dried your life body. 00:34:45 Speaker 1: This is what I mean. And but then the conversation around Ariana leading up to this is like, is she good enough for the role? Is she just there because she's famous? Did she break up a marriage with her co star? 00:34:56 Speaker 9: She? 00:34:56 Speaker 1: Is she not a girl's girl? Has she had beef with co stars in the past? Who does she still talk to? Who does she not like? It was very different set up for her, and I think that maybe she would never say it, but I feel like she's so aware of it, and so I think that there's there's a different layer of questions that she's going to have to face on this press to it, and I think she's very aware of it. But I think she did a good job of speaking on it. And I'm not just saying this because I was in the room with her, because I would tell it to you guys straight. I think she was a bit guarded, but I think she also that's almost a moment when that question, that small question about women being pitted against each other where her guard dropped, because can you hear her beautiful, musical little voice go and don't fuck with us, like, and she's whispering it because I think she's probably like Glinda doesn't swear, but she can't hold it in, and it's like you kind of see the real bit of her in that moment of the interview. So and then I just told them I love them, and then I walked outside. I'm crying, No, I want to cry. And then I waited an hour to get my tapes. I have my recordings, and that was interesting because then all the journalists had to be held in the space together, all waiting for our tapes to be delivered to us. Everyone had had like very different experiences with them of them being guarded or them being kind of open, and I think it was, yeah, a real, real momentous experience with so many people. I think, just coming off what that movie means. 00:36:11 Speaker 4: So I can't wait for everyone to watch it. And we definitely will be doing a broodly honest review. 00:36:18 Speaker 1: We had a lovely spiller sitting behind us at the premiere who suggested that and I was like, we're stealing your idea, Jess, Yeah, thank. 00:36:26 Speaker 3: You, Jess. 00:36:27 Speaker 1: I was too stressed to even think about that, but you're right, that's happening. 00:36:30 Speaker 3: So we kid. 00:36:31 Speaker 1: Part one is coming out in Austray in cinemas on the twenty first of November. 00:36:35 Speaker 3: Go and see it. 00:36:36 Speaker 1: And then let Emily and I know because obviously this is all we care about, we want to talk about, and yeah, thank you very much, talk it. 00:36:44 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for listening to the Spill today. 00:36:47 Speaker 4: We also have video footage of these interviews, including the Little Lipstick mishap with Laura and Cynthia. If you want to watch those, we will be posting that on our Instagram at the Spill Podcast, leave a comment, and also while you're listening, leave a rate and review five stars only. We will be back here on your podcast speed at three pm tomorrow. 00:37:07 Speaker 1: Bye bye, Cell Up, sive up.