At the 'Wicked' Los Angeles premiere, Ethan Slater chats with THR and reflects on his casting audition. Plus, he explains the similarities between working on Broadway and working on 'Wicked.' Slater also mentions feeling "privileged" to have experienced Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's powerful on-screen chemistry.
00:02What did you think when you heard this was happening and then you got the role and all that?
00:07Well, I got the role was way after I heard it was happening.
00:09I remember, I mean, it's been in the air for a long time.
00:13And then I remember I was at coffee with my sister, and she went inside to grab something,
00:18and I, like, pulled out my phone and saw that Ariana and Cynthia had been cast.
00:21And my first thought was, oh, this movie's going to be really good.
00:25That's so smart.
00:26They're incredible.
00:27I never thought of that.
00:28And then a year and a half later, I get an audition.
00:32And, you know, everyone in the world, I was going to say everyone in New York who's, like, 5'7 or under is going to be auditioning for Bach.
00:38So I was like, there's no chance this goes anywhere.
00:41But I really want to give it my all.
00:43And I made a self-tape, and I read with myself.
00:45I read all of Glinda's parts, and I sang Nessa's parts, and I acted with a video of myself,
00:51which is, like, as I say, it is, like, the most narcissistic thing I can imagine.
00:55But I sent it in, and I was immediately, like, humiliated.
00:58But it worked, and I got a call back, and the rest is, now we're here.
01:03How much did your kind of Broadway experience help with this, or is this kind of a very different kind of thing when it's a movie?
01:09I think they're really similar.
01:11They're more similar than different.
01:12Just like Elphaba and Glinda, there's more that unites them than divides them.
01:15Thank you so much.
01:17And I think that I was really helped by my experience on Broadway because we were singing live, and we were doing this.
01:27It's not like a long arc of the show.
01:29It's not the same kind of stamina per night.
01:31But to, like, really have to find the way that your character expresses themselves through song and not let it be a break, not be acting and then singing, but rather connect those things, that was something that I've worked on a lot on Broadway.
01:46And then being able to apply it to something where the camera doesn't hear what you say, it hears what you think, so you can kind of just be there with your scene partner.
01:55I think it was helpful, and it's also totally different.
01:58And what was it like seeing Ariana and Cynthia transform into these iconic roles?
02:02It was kind of indescribable.
02:07They are such a powerhouse.
02:09The two of them have a crazy chemistry on screen and off.
02:15They're, like, really close, and they've got each other's backs, and it's a really beautiful thing to see.
02:20But then to see them play these iconic characters and bring, like, a humanness and a depth and a nuance that can only be captured on film, and they have it in spades, it was just a really beautiful thing to see.
02:30I feel, like, privileged to have been there.
02:33And I heard they kept their gowns, they kept their wands.
02:36I mean, did you take anything from set?
02:38I tried to sneak a couple of things away, but I feel like I shouldn't share what I did.
02:42You know, I'm going to keep that.
02:43Those are going to go with me to my grave.
02:47I know.
02:47They're going to go with me until after movie two.
Be the first to comment