Washington [US], October 30 : 'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo was disappointed with a fan-edited movie poster of the film that hides her face. Now, she has addressed her recent criticism of a fan-edited 'Wicked' poster, reported People.
The actress and singer explained that she is "really protective" of her role as Elphaba in 'Wicked', "I'm passionate about it and I know the fans are passionate about it and I think for me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment," she said, adding, "I probably should have called my friends, but it's fine."
Universal Pictures released a poster for the Jon M. Chu-directed film that paid homage to the poster for the Broadway musical.
However, the altered version of the official Universal poster hides Erivo's eyes and much of her face to get closer to the original animated Broadway poster.
"The original poster is an illustration. I am a real life human being, whose chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer ... because without words we communicate with our eyes," Eviro, who plays Elphaba in Wicked, stated on her Instagram Story.
She plays Elphaba (who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West) in the upcoming movie musical, while co-star Ariana Grande plays Glinda (who becomes the Good Witch).
"Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful," Erivo added showing her disappointment.
"This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equality to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people post the question 'is your ***** green' None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us," Erivo shared.
'Wicked' is a movie adaptation of Winnie Holzman's 2003 Tony Award-winning musical, starring Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively. The film chronicles the narrative of an odd relationship between the soon-to-be Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the South, and how their lives alter once they meet the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked is in theatres on November 27, with the movie's second part slated for Nov. 26, 2025, reported People.
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