From Ariana Grande's contagious laughter with the squeaky perfume bottle to Cynthia Erivo's gravity-defying stunts, these behind-the-scenes moments showcase the fun and challenges of bringing this magical musical to life. Watch as our favorite witches navigate harnesses, unfinished CGI, and improvisational mishaps that made filming this blockbuster truly memorable.
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00:00That was funny. Thank you.
00:03Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:05And today, we're counting down our picks for the best and funniest bloopers,
00:09alternate takes, and behind-the-scenes footage from this blockbusting movie musical.
00:13Did they have brains or knowledge?
00:15Well, actually...
00:16Don't make me laugh.
00:17Glinda makes her entrance.
00:19In the first scene, Glinda joins the celebration among the munchkins of Munchkinland.
00:23Let us speak now.
00:27Look! It's Glinda!
00:30It's an entrance reminiscent of her counterpart in The Wizard of Oz.
00:40Arriving in her pink bubble, the first time we see her in her ornate pink gown,
00:45she makes a huge statement.
00:47The footage of Ariana Grande's first entrance in the dress is really powerful.
00:51It's good to see me, isn't it?
00:53She's luminous, and it really feels like the start of something amazing.
00:56Footage of that day shows Grande introducing herself to the crew
00:59and fellow performers on set,
01:01fully embracing the experience of making this incredibly special movie.
01:05You say it?
01:06Say the line.
01:07Exactly how dead is she?
01:11What's your name?
01:12James.
01:13James? Okay, thank you.
01:14Ari, Glinda.
01:17Completing the jump.
01:18In a pivotal scene in the Emerald City,
01:20Elphaba and Glinda make a daring escape from the flying monkeys and the wizard's guards.
01:25Elphaba comes into her powers just in the nick of time.
01:28From a flying bird, flying gravity,
01:33and soon I'll match the Minarina.
01:36She runs and flies across a giant gap between two platforms.
01:44Cynthia Erivo actually performs the stunt herself,
01:46with assistance from a gravity-defying harness and pulley system.
01:50I knew when I was going into this that stunts would be needed,
01:53and I knew that I wanted to do my own stunts.
01:56I wanted to do the work.
01:57Even more amazing than the stunt
01:59is the clear sisterhood between Erivo and her co-star Ariana Grande.
02:03When Erivo clears the jump,
02:04Grande can't even contain her excitement.
02:07She can be seen cheering from the other platform.
02:19Exciting times.
02:21Glinda's perfume bottle.
02:22The Oscar-winning sets of Wicked were full of old-fashioned,
02:25whimsical, and downright ridiculous props.
02:28It's really a shot, don't you think?
02:31You know, black.
02:33Is this your stink?
02:34You deserve each other.
02:37This hat and you, you're all so smart.
02:40One of these crafted items was so amusing for Glinda actress Ariana Grande
02:44that she had a hard time keeping it together.
02:46The character's perfume bottle came with an extra special atomizer bulb
02:50that made a truly distracting, high-pitched wheezing sound when sprayed.
02:54We've done dance.
02:55Props and special effects.
03:00In this hilarious outtake,
03:02she insists the crew needs to hear the sound it makes,
03:05proceeding to spray it repeatedly all over herself.
03:08The wheezing of the perfume bottle
03:09has Grande gleefully cracking up after the take is over.
03:12The sound that this perfume bottle makes,
03:16I really needed to hear it.
03:17Falling off the rail.
03:23Not everyone on set could defy gravity.
03:26During the song Popular,
03:27Glinda is meant to do a death-defying walk along the railing
03:30overlooking the Shiz University quad.
03:32Luckily, most of that was achieved through CGI.
03:47But it did require Grande to balance on the railing underneath a mat to break her fall.
03:51That came in handy.
03:53Grande actually does take a spill in this behind-the-scenes footage.
03:56While she's not hurt, it's her reaction that's priceless.
04:00I didn't come close to falling off the banister.
04:02Only when we were not filming.
04:04Did she jump off the side of it?
04:05By accident.
04:06Oh!
04:08Oh, no.
04:10I'm sorry.
04:12All right, folks.
04:13Okay, folks.
04:14Everyone gets so nervous.
04:16Oh, God, I'm so sorry.
04:17She goes out of her way to clarify that she nailed the take used in the movie.
04:21The fall, she insists, was not when she was doing the actual stunt.
04:24I'm always nervous about doing anything in their heels.
04:27No.
04:27And they said, anything we can do in our bare feet, we can do in heels.
04:30We can do in heels better.
04:30Elphaba backstage.
04:32Elphaba is not exactly a character who belongs in the modern real world.
04:35There are wonders like I've never seen.
04:38It's all green, it's all green.
04:40I think we found a place where we belong.
04:42The heavy green makeup and intricate braid Cynthia Erivo wore while in character as Elphaba
04:47took hours to apply.
04:49So she couldn't exactly take it on and off between takes.
04:52It required massive patience and a lot of sacrifice as far as comfort.
04:56It will hurt you when you're taking it off.
04:57It won't hurt me when I take it off.
05:00In various backstage videos of Erivo, she can be seen walking around all the very modern,
05:06ultra-realistic trailers and equipment in her entire fantasy get-up.
05:09It's kind of hilarious to see her walking around set in her makeup, costume and totally
05:14out of character, but wearing a comfortable pair of shoes.
05:17These are not the shoes, by the way.
05:19These are just shoes to be comfortable in.
05:21I've been through.
05:22On an episode of Wicked co-star Bowen Yang's Last Culturistas podcast, he and Ariana Grande
05:27fondly remembered some of their favorite outtakes and alternate takes.
05:30So Ari is going to go, so how are you, it's been so long, how are you guys really?
05:33And then I, for some reason, made the choice to go, I've, I've been through.
05:38And we said, I've been through for two years after that.
05:42Although Yang expressed some reservations about doing bits with the star, clearly she
05:46was game.
05:47One alternate take that was eventually released sees Grande asking Yang how he's been.
05:52He responds by simply saying,
05:53Oh my goodness, how are you, truthfully?
05:57I've been through.
05:58I've been through.
05:59Oh, I'm sorry.
06:01This cryptic and dramatic answer became a go-to response on the set.
06:04Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any trace of the infamous strawberry bush blooper
06:09yet, but maybe they'll release it by the time part two comes out.
06:12We did an ad lib where it was like, and, and, because he mentions the famine, and then
06:16what do angry people do?
06:17What do I, angry people try to find?
06:19I'm butchering this.
06:19This is terrible.
06:20And then I go, wait, I'm ruining this.
06:22It's just, he said, he said, like, a strawberry bush or something.
06:26Strawberry bush?
06:27And I smacked him laughing.
06:29Unfinished CGI.
06:31Glinda and Elphaba's frantic escape from the wizard's lair is pretty frightening in the
06:35movie.
06:35Where are you going?
06:36Elphaba, please come back.
06:43Let's just have a word with them.
06:43Once you see the scenes that were cut before all the digital effects and CGI flying monkeys
06:48have been completed, you can't quite look at it the same way.
06:51This edited clip is an alternate take of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande racing through the
06:56halls of the Emerald City set.
07:02You can't say they're not giving it everything.
07:05Without all the effects, though, Grande's flailing arms and screeching as she dodges fake
07:09monkeys just reads as hilarious.
07:11It just goes to show how much movie magic there's still left to do after the actors do
07:15their thing.
07:21I'll get the next one.
07:27Sure.
07:28Defying Gravity.
07:29The performers of Wicked were tasked with a lot of live singing.
07:33Defying gravity.
07:34Defying gravity.
07:38Defying gravity.
07:40Defying gravity.
07:42Defying gravity.
07:44But if you thought Cynthia Erivo was exempt from that due to her high-flying climactic
07:48number, you'd be dead wrong.
07:51Defying gravity is exactly what she has to do to perform the movie's most famous song.
07:55Attached to a huge harness and being thrown around, turned upside down, and tossed across
08:00a blue-screen soundstage, all while having to stay in tune and belt to the rafters.
08:05Director John M. Chu expresses his amazement, wondering aloud if it's ever been done before.
08:10Someone told me that everyone deserves a chance to fly.
08:17Has that ever happened in a movie before?
08:19We're wondering the same thing.
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08:37Popular Outtakes
08:38Although Galinda's big solo is chaotic energy personified, the real thing was a well-choreographed,
08:44polished sequence.
08:46La la la la la
08:50We're gonna make you pop you
08:53Outtakes and deleted scenes reveal just how much room Ariana Grande was given to riff.
08:59In her puffy pink nightgown, she cycles through all sorts of physical comedy bits with her wand
09:04and lessons on being popular.
09:06Co-star Cynthia Erivo has the biggest challenge.
09:08She has to stand there and not laugh.
09:11From the clips we've seen, she mostly succeeds, but every now and then, it seems like Grande
09:15finally got her to break.
09:17With all this improvisation, it's easy to imagine just how many ruined takes were probably left
09:22on the cutting room floor.
09:23When you got something to say, but you can't really say it, and you want to get your way,
09:27raise them.
09:36That's good.
09:37Are you excited for part two?
09:39Let us know in the comments.
09:40No, I'd never show it.
09:43I'd be so happy I could melt.
09:53I'd be so happy.
10:09I'd be so happy.
10:15Let us know in the comments.