Wicked's Ethan Slater & Marissa Bode Can't Stop Praising Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (Exclusi…

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00:00I have to say welcome to Munchkinland.

00:01Thank you so much.

00:02Welcome. This is your territory, sir.

00:04I know. It feels good to be home.

00:05It feels good to be home.

00:06There's no place like home.

00:07Something bad is happening in Oz.

00:11The best way to bring folks together

00:14is to give them a real good enemy.

00:22You have no real power.

00:25That's why I need you.

00:27So we know that Ariana and Cynthia

00:29can bring down the house with those vocals.

00:31But what is it that you will never forget

00:33about hearing them sing live

00:36together for the first time?

00:39I had, when they were filming Popular,

00:41I kind of snuck in for that

00:43and just hearing them

00:45and just

00:47yeah, it was

00:49See, they have me speechless again

00:51because genuinely

00:53it's just like the love and the passion

00:55that they have in those vocals

00:57is just out of this world.

00:59And the way that they're able to like

01:01tell the story with those powerhouse vocals

01:03I think that's what makes it feel so special

01:05and like so special when you're like

01:07right up next to it, when you're like right in the room

01:09but I think it also like flies through the screen.

01:11It's been like a real honor

01:13to see it with people for the first time.

01:15Like audiences experiencing it

01:17and when you know

01:19The Wizard and I ended, it's a movie

01:21and yet everybody like uproariously

01:24applauded, you know, like you were in a Broadway theater

01:26but in this

01:28really special way because it like

01:30comes through and it's that

01:32connection to what they're doing

01:34and we were just talking about wanting to take care of the characters

01:36nobody wanted to take care of them more than Cynthia

01:38and Ariana

01:40and they fought for it like super fans

01:42It's amazing.

01:44They are super fans.

01:46You can room with Miss Galinda

01:48Popular

01:50I know about Popular

01:53Do you really think this is fair?

01:55I do not. I was promised

01:57a private suite, but thanks for asking.

01:59Well you know Bach does have this

02:01like infatuation with Galinda

02:03on screen, kind of like art imitating life

02:05in a way. What do you most appreciate

02:07about Ariana as a person

02:09and then also as an artist?

02:11Yeah, Ariana

02:13as an artist is

02:15really locked in

02:17and she's unbelievably funny

02:19She's like the funniest person on the planet

02:21Get rid of that

02:31And she's able to do that

02:33because she's really locked into the character

02:35so every take is like that and Cynthia is the same

02:37They kind of don't miss

02:39We might shoot a scene

02:41six times. Every version of it

02:43would be the best version you've ever seen

02:45It just happens that it's like slightly different each time

02:47because they're really lived in

02:50They're both just wonderful

02:52warm leaders and I think that was a

02:54really special thing to come into the set

02:56I don't know about you, but I was

02:58really intimidated by the idea

03:00of being in a cast with Ariana

03:02and with Cynthia and with Jeff Goldblum

03:04and with Michelle Yeoh and with Jonathan Bailey

03:06We're perfect. You're perfect.

03:08So we're perfect together

03:10Born to be

03:12forever

03:14Dancing through life

03:16They're just so good

03:18They're so good and I'm such a fan already

03:20As much work as you've done

03:22You were intimidated?

03:24Yeah, are you kidding me?

03:26They're unbelievable, but that intimidation

03:28kind of settled really quickly

03:30Like you were saying, the second we met

03:32each of them, it was just like

03:34we're in it together

03:36Well, Michelle Yeoh did win the Oscar while she was doing the movie

03:38Oh my god, and she came into the Osdorff Ballroom

03:40She came in the day after

03:42She flew back from LA

03:44to London

03:47and walked down the Osdorff stairs

03:49And it was so iconic

03:51It was like such a grand entrance

03:53It was so cool

03:55So cool

03:57You, come with me

03:59Of course

04:01Not you, you

04:03You're the one

04:05the wizard has been waiting for

04:07Do you remember

04:09that first time you came upon

04:11a John Chu set

04:13or the first time you were in Oz

04:16and what that moment was like

04:18versus like, heck yeah

04:20Well, I saw the set for the first thing we filmed

04:22which was the Diliman classroom scene

04:24and I had went in there early

04:26just to make sure accessibility wise

04:28everything was great

04:30and it was more than great

04:32they had a ramp to get up to the top of the class

04:34and the chairs and the desks swung

04:36so that it just falls into place

04:38for me

04:40which was great

04:42and then obviously the set itself

04:44I was like, why can't

04:46why couldn't my college classes look like that

04:48I don't know

04:50John Chu always has a feast for the eyes

04:52in whatever he does, doesn't it feel like that

04:54whatever movies he's directing

04:56I mean that's why I was so excited when I found out he was doing Wicked

04:58because, you know, In the Heights was beautiful

05:00Crazy Rich Asians was amazing

05:02and actually I think

05:04I already was kind of in

05:06but then I had the sort of privilege

05:08while auditioning of talking with him for like 25 minutes

05:10as sort of a callback

05:13and I remember leaving that and thinking

05:15well I don't know if I got it but this movie is going to be incredible

05:17and Nathan Crowley's sets

05:19are like surreal

05:21I mean you said, do you remember the first time

05:23I remember the first time I walked onto every single

05:25version of the set

05:27every time when I snuck onto Munchkinland

05:29just so I could see it because we didn't have any scenes there

05:31every one was just mind blowing

05:43I'm not afraid

05:45it's the wizard

05:47who should be afraid of me

05:49I know you know that these are

05:51some of the most coveted roles in Hollywood

05:53yes, absolutely

05:55and you have them

05:57it's a crazy way to put it

05:59but we can't ignore there is a pressure that comes with this

06:01because as the audience, we know the story

06:03we know the songs

06:05we love the songs, we know the imaging

06:07we want all that

06:09so when you're coming into this project

06:11and you're saying okay

06:13oh yeah

06:15I mean this is my

06:17first big role ever

06:19in general

06:21so yeah, definitely

06:23she's like damn

06:25what?

06:27yeah, literally speechless once again

06:29yeah, I think

06:31casting just everybody

06:33knowing how much we care

06:35and just have a deep understanding

06:37and love for the musical itself

06:40that eased the pressure

06:42amongst everybody

06:44and we're like oh yeah

06:46we got this, we know what's up

06:48and just reading the script

06:50and truly understanding

06:52and really reading in between

06:54every single line

06:56that took the pressure off

06:58and it was just important for us

07:00so that we could give the most authentic performance

07:02especially for fans who have loved it for so many years

07:04and you're a Broadway baby

07:06so you're like I can't go back to Broadway

07:09I mean everybody that I know

07:11who is 5'7 or under has played Bach

07:13and so I'm the last one to do it

07:15short king, we want short king

07:17listen, we do

07:19we stan the short king

07:21so I definitely felt like I got a lot to draw on

07:23too, you know, I just did a show called

07:25Spamalot, which we were talking about right before

07:27and I shared the stage with

07:29Chris Fitzgerald, who was the original Bach on Broadway

07:31and then I also shared the stage with Alex Brightman

07:33who was a Bach on Broadway

07:35maybe the longest running Bach on Broadway

07:37even just doing that show

07:39I was like oh I've got these great people to look up to

07:41so I think we all really

07:43want to do right by these characters

07:45and do right by Wicked

07:47because we are a part of that

07:49community and now

07:51we're really a part of that community

07:53it's kind of an honor to be a part of the Wicked legacy now

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