Sandra McDonald | (TNS) Los Angeles Times
Cynthia Erivo, whose “Wicked” movie hits theaters next month, has spoken out against a fan-edited film poster that resembles the poster for the Broadway show.
A fan posted a TikTok video that compares the two posters and shows the edits being made. Erivo — who plays the green-skinned witch, Elphaba, based on the Wicked Witch of the West from the classic “Wizard of Oz” movie — is given smirking red lips and a dark shadow over her eyes from her wide-brimmed witch hat. Glinda (played by pop star Ariana Grande) whispers into Elphaba’s ear in the poster. Her hand is moved higher, but no changes are made to her hair or face.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen,” Erivo said in an Instagram story, posting the edited version of the poster and calling it degrading.
“The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real life human being,” she said, arguing she made an artistic choice to stare down the camera straight to the viewer.
“[W]ithout words we communicate with our eyes,” she said.
