Cynthia Erivo chats with The Hollywood Reporter at THR's Studio in Park City and dishes on her reaction to receiving an Oscars nomination, Jon M. Chu's Best Director snub, watching 'Wicked: For Good' and more.
00:02I've seen like the smallest amount, but not like, not in situ.
00:07It's not ordered yet.
00:08I know it's being edited now, but he won't see it yet.
00:11Yeah, that's fair.
00:11I'm going to force my way into the editing room.
00:14I'm not waiting that long to watch this movie.
00:16I want to see film two too.
00:21Where were you on Thursday?
00:24Were you up at 5.30 a.m.?
00:26I was on plane coming from London to here, actually.
00:32And so I guess I was up at 5.30, but just in a different time zone in the air.
00:39Were you trying not to look at the news, your phone, et cetera?
00:44Oh, yes.
00:44I think there are two things that happen.
00:48You're looking completely at the phone all the time thinking, oh, my goodness.
00:53But then I do something for myself and just put it away from me.
00:56And let myself fall asleep.
00:58And I fell asleep because I was exhausted and that's what happens when I'm on planes.
01:02For some reason, the sound just lulls me to sleep.
01:04And when I woke up, I woke up in like small increments and the phone was going off.
01:08So I figured it was something good.
01:09And then I looked and it was that, yeah.
01:12The last time was really, really special because it was my first and it was for Harriet.
01:15And that felt really special because I didn't expect it.
01:19You know, at this time, I don't know, there's just something really special about this project
01:26and having it happen for this moment.
01:31And you never, you can't expect it because you just don't know.
01:35And so you can feel like something feels special and you can feel like maybe
01:40and there's a small chance and you hope and you hope.
01:42And then when it happens, it's really, really special.
01:45And this time felt different, but in the best possible way.
01:48Yeah.
01:49I cried my eyes out.
01:50Did anyone else on a plane see you taking in the news?
01:55I don't think they saw me taking in the news.
01:56They definitely saw me crying.
01:58And then they gave me like a box of tissues.
02:02And I had to explain that it was happy tears and not sad tears, but nonetheless,
02:06they were very, very kind.
02:07And then at the end of the flight, they were already sweet and sort of gave me some space.
02:12But at the end of the flight, the flight attendant said congratulations.
02:16Maybe this is too hard to pick, but was there one other nominee,
02:20Wicked nomination that like felt particularly special that you were like hoping for?
02:25Oh, Ari for sure.
02:27Supporting actress and best picture.
02:31Yeah.
02:31And also for Paul for best costume.
02:35I just think he's a genius.
02:38I really wanted that for him.
02:39And obviously Simon Hayes, who did the sound and the vocals and really without him,
02:45we couldn't have done the work that we did to be able to sing live like that
02:49and have the sound captured that way.
02:51You need someone who actually cares about your voice and the way it is captured.
02:58And Simon is that.
02:59So I wanted for that.
03:02I wish John got his nomination because I think he's a genius and I really don't think we'd be here without him.
03:07What did you tell?
03:08What did you tell?
03:08I feel like I call her Ari.
03:11Because, yeah.
03:13What was your first like, did you shoot her a text message?
03:16I imagine.
03:17Immediately.
03:18Immediately.
03:19And then voice notes.
03:20Both of us just crying on the voice notes.
03:22Yeah.
03:23It was that.
03:23We were, and we're still messaging.
03:25If you were to tell someone why they should vote for her, what would you say?
03:30Like, what's your.
03:31Because she's a fucking genius is why.
03:34You, you, I think people don't realize how hard it is to, to, to sing the way we sing.
03:44The work that it takes to get to that point so that you can make it look easy.
03:49The comedy prowess that she has, the timing, but still being able to marry it with the pathos and heart and hurt and pain.
03:57And so that all the jokes aren't just one layer.
04:01Some of them are to cover up the hurt.
04:03Some of them are to cheer someone up.
04:05You know, she's, uh, she's really clever.
04:10The way she has used this role and worked with this role to uncover all the layers that this character has.
04:16On the art look, at first you sort of notice it as this bubbly, effervescent, pretty sweet lady.
04:23But actually there's so many layers that this character has.
04:26That's why I would tell you to vote for her.
04:28Because it's not easy to sing the way she sings.
04:31And that's not, that's a voice that she's had to train to do.
04:34I think we underestimate the work and the training that goes into doing that kind of work.
04:41Have you been able to, I, I mean, it just, I think the announcement just happened of the new, the new Broadway cast.
04:48Oh yeah.
04:49Yeah.
04:49I'm, Harry, I haven't met her.
04:51I want to be, I'm trying to make sure that I can get there for her first show.
04:56Um, and I, I don't know if we've managed to get the flowers to her yet, but, but I'm getting some flowers to her.
05:01I really want to celebrate that moment for her.
05:03I'm going to celebrate it with her.
05:04Yeah.
05:04Whose like opinion was the most important to you?
05:07Sarah Paulson, uh, sent some really, really wonderful words.
05:11And I, I really cared about what she had to say.
05:14Cause I, and she is truthful.
05:16Debbie Allen, Miss Debbie Allen.
05:18She gave me a really, some really good words.
05:21Oprah also, she sent me some really good words.
05:23That was good.
05:24I just recently sat down with, um, sort of a film critic, pundit called Mark Commode.
05:31He's like really, really well known in the UK and, uh, he knows everything about film and he really enjoyed it.
05:39And I, that's another moment where I was starstruck.
05:41Cause it's sort of like from my youth of like watching people talk about film.
05:46Cause we have this sort of like niche world of like after 10 o'clock, there's like a channel that becomes about film and critique and film.
05:56And, and it's really interesting to watch and what people can come up with.
06:00And Mark Collette is one of those people who just knows everything about it.
06:03And he had really great things to say.
06:05So that was really lovely.
06:06Was there a movie that made you want to be eaten after?
06:10The Color Purple.
06:12Um, and I go back to it, even though I was sort of on my journey already, uh, Devil Wears Prada specifically because of Meryl Streep and the subtlety.
06:22I know we all, it's like cult classic and we love it, but actually there are such, um, slight, uh, small things that she does that most people wouldn't notice that I always notice.
06:36And I love it.
06:37The idea that you can make an impact with really small, uh, like a, uh, clearing the throat or just a movement of a finger or just the, the, the way you say an ordinary phrase.
06:52It changes the way, you know, that I, is what I love about that particular performance.
06:56It's like the very slight, slight, slight, slight smile that she has at the very end before it disappears.
07:01And she asks the driver to go on.
07:03It's, it's those things, you know?
07:05Um, and I think, uh, Memoirs of a Geisha was one of those movies.
07:11I just thought everyone was spectacular in it, but it's the, the combination of movement and color and sound and acting that really, I was like, oh, to be able to make something that, like, of this magnitude is really, really special.
07:26And then Sounder, because of Cicely Tyson, who's just, of all, spectacular.
07:31Yeah.
07:31What was the first time you was starstruck?
07:34Maybe the first time I met Oprah, I was a little starstruck.
07:38That, that will do it.
07:39You know, when I met Aretha Franklin, that, that threw me for six.
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