Why ‘Wicked’ Avoids Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo’s Signature Looks

While sitting down with TooFab to discuss the makeup process behind the highly-anticipated film adaptation of Wicked, lead makeup designer Frances Hannon said her process began by searching for the “perfect color for Cynthia.”

“And, of course, to find something that worked in every different light because the stage is a set piece,” Hannon exclusively told TooFab.

“We would go from an interior to an exterior, to complete darkness. So, we didn’t want to lose Cynthia within all that, that was how my process started, how to find the reflective quality that is needed,” she shared.

Elphaba’s striking green skin is the prominent visual in Wicked — where the central theme revolves around the eventual-Wicked Witch of the West’s journey of self-acceptance — so nailing the correct hue was paramount.

On the big screen, Elphaba’s tears fall down the side of her cheeks, her mouth is wide as she belts out powerful tracks such as “Defying Gravity,” and all the while, not the slightest bit of make-up moves.

“It also looks like it’s real skin, and I think that’s a wonderful achievement because if you paint something on the surface, and you don’t work on top of that as well, and have the right base in it, you can never get away from the fact that it looks fake. But it just works brilliantly,” Hannon said, feeling proud of her team.

She also added that, if the perfect color wasn’t found, there was a chance they would do it in post.

“But it wasn’t ever what Cynthia wanted,” she revealed. “Luckily, we found it and never had to go to that place with it.”

One the other hand, the makeup for Glinda — played by Ariana Grande — was kept relatively soft and natural.

“[I wanted] to keep it very classical and timeless really. My inspiration in the early days with Paul’s [Tazewell] amazing costumes, Princess Kelly was very popular when I was younger, and she was much older. But she had a quality that was so timeless,” Hannon recalled. “But also, on Ari we used opulence and iridescence to keep it reflective when they were together. The lights still work very well on both of them. But also, to keep in line with the beautiful costumes that Paul designed. So, you know that quality rose up through her face and arms. Because they were always bare, well 90% of the time.”

When preparing to bring the Broadway show’s characters to the big screen, Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell brought his focus back to where it all began — The Wizard of Oz.

“It influenced our visual culture and entertainment culture,” Tazewell told TooFab. “I went back and researched the original Wizard of Oz book and the 1930s film to hopefully embrace those icons and weave them through all of the ideas that I had for Wicked.”

It was ultimately director Jon M. Chu’s vision that helped with Tazewell’s creativity, which he balanced with homages to the original story and stage show.

“This is led by Jon to create an original point of view of how we want the story. I think that is what’s tricky. To honor the Wicked fan base that exists and what their expectation is. Everybody that comes to see Wicked either has some relationship with Wizard of Oz or with the original Broadway show. Hopefully, they are still invited in some of the work that we created, and they feel at home, and experience the story in a new way.”

Grande and Erivo were already household names before landing roles they have been eyeing for years. However, it was important to Hannon to help the audience differentiate between the stars they knew and the characters they’d be playing on screen.

“I always research everything those artists — in every film, not just this one — have done before,” Hannon explained.

“So hopefully what one brings is not only what you read on the page, or the director wants, or Paul inspires, but it’s also you are not overlapping something they have done before what was done before,” she continued.

“You want to always bring something original. So, that was quite easy for me to do with Ari, because she was so iconic in her ponytail. So, I could break that quite easily,” she added. “But Cynthia as well as her shaved head. It was just finding something new for both of those artists.”

Tazewell’s mood boards for the intrinsically detailed costumes, meanwhile, started off with “icons from the original film” and then led into images of vast landscapes.

“There was the Glinda dress, there was a tornado that was a part of it. There was an expansive meadow, then it went into spiral. Then those spirals become kaleidoscope that opened up into architectural spaces,” he said. “I’m thinking about this whole world. Where you’ve got Emerald City which is mostly green and has elements of gold. Then you have Munchkinland where the tulip growers are. It is a very humble, but quaint, and fairytale like as well.”

The masterpiece that the Wicked team ended up creating, ultimately ended further than his mood board initially anticipated.

“It was an exciting process to be able to look back at that and I think, ‘Oh my gosh, we got all of that into our film.’ It went farther than that. Definitely that was the inspiration for what we ended up with,” he told TooFab.

Wicked: Part One hits theaters on Nov. 22.