For those who are unaware, “Defying Gravity” is the Act 1 conclusion of the beloved musical “Wicked,” an anthem of empowerment and freedom that’s become one of theater’s greatest ballads and maybe one of the most challenging songs for any actress to sing. Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba and sings the song in the long-awaited film adaptation, knew, on a technical level, this would be the most difficult part of taking on the role, but nonetheless knew how important it would be to get it right.
While speaking at a recent Q&A at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on Friday night, Erivo discussed the process of building her character towards “Defying Gravity,” but how her efforts were delayed by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
“‘Defying Gravity’ was like a massive journey for me,” said Erivo. “I think from the very beginning, I kind of knew that I wanted Elphaba’s voice to grow. I like to make a big sound — Cynthia likes to make that sound. I knew that Elphaba had to earn it. I knew that she didn’t know what that sound was yet and so it takes her a second to get to that point. It takes her a second to get to ‘Defying Gravity.’ She has to learn a lot. She has to go through a lot before she can get to singing, ‘It’s me’ and telling people, ‘So if you care to find me, look to the western sky,’ it takes her a second before she can get to that. But the journey to get to the actual song was long and complicated because it was paused by a six month wait of a strike.”
Erivo went on to explain how when the strikes started, they had filmed everything up until “Defying Gravity,” so for the process to all of a sudden be halted, it felt like a huge message from the universe and one she was happy to accept.
“We are at our bones at this point. Skin rubbed to the bone. And I felt like that six months gave me time to process all of the things that had happened so that I could use the things that I had experienced to finally really tell the story of what it is to defy gravity,” Erivo said to the crowd at the DGA. “So when we got there, I was really ready and the universe said, ‘No, you know, sit down, have a cold, have a fever, and I was out for a week when we came back.”
Erivo managed to get sick on her birthday of all days, forcing yet another delay in her performing and shooting the “Defying Gravity” sequence. By the time she finally was able to get in front of the camera, she was more than ready to take on not only the song, but the emotions that come with it.
“I was so ready to rule those words and mean them, because I was able to put together the things I had experienced in the film and the things I had experienced in my life to be able to say, ‘I’m defying gravity,’” said Erivo. “Because it’s a really special thing to be able to proclaim those words and I was so looking forward to being the conduit to which I could bring that to people and hopefully have a bunch of people able to say, ‘I’m defying gravity,’ not just through actual flight, but by defying the odds that people might set against you. Because I know what that feels like when people look and go, ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’”
Additional reporting by Anne Thompson.
Universal Pictures releases “Wicked” in theaters on Friday, November 22.
