Grande beat this Oscar nom for role of Glinda in ‘Wicked’ film
NEW YORK: Ariana Grande’s that girl — but it could’ve been an Oscar nom.
The “Dangerous Woman” singer, 29, may have scored the coveted role of Glinda the Good Witch in the long-anticipated film adaptation of “Wicked,” but Amanda Seyfried revealed this week that she wasn’t just in the running, but trying to land the role while filming Hulu’s “The Dropout.”
“I have dreams that I’m still auditioning for ‘Wicked,’” the Academy Award-nominated “Mank” star, 36, told Backstage in a new interview.
While portraying Theranos founder-turnedconvicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in summer 2021 — a role that earned Seyfried an Emmy nomination — the actress said she spent weekends “auditioning in person to play Glinda in the movie version of ‘Wicked’ — because I wanted it that much that I was like, ‘You know what? Yeah, I have to play the last scene of ‘The Dropout’ on Tuesday. I’ll give my Sunday to you.’”
The mom of two said she “literally bent over backwards while playing the hardest role of my life.”
Though the role, originated on the stage by
Kristin Chenoweth, has since gone to Grande, Seyfried credits the experience with having “taught me how far I’ve come as a singer, which I really wanted to prove.
“Because ever since ‘Les Miz,’ I was like, I need to be beter. I need to do beter. So whatever comes next in terms of musicals, I’m finally prepared,” continued Seyfried, who played Cosete in Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning 2012 film adaptation of the epic stage musical.
Seyfried has also showed off her singing chops in both the 2008 big screen adaptation of ABBA jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” as well as the 2018 sequel, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”
Grande and two-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo took to social media late last year to announce that they had been cast as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in Jon M. Chu’s two-part “Wicked” film. The first instalment is currently slated for Christmas 2024.
Grande began her music career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical 13. She rose to fame for playing Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014). Grande signed with Republic Records in 2011 ater label executives viewed Youtube videos of her covering songs. Her 1950s doo-wop-influenced pop and R&B debut album,[2] Yours Truly (2013), topped the US Billboard 200, while its lead single, “The Way”, reached the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. Grande’s voice and whistle register on the album drew immediate comparisons to Mariah Carey.
She continued to explore pop and R&B in her second and third studio albums, My Everything (2014) and Dangerous Woman (2016). My Everything experimented with EDM and achieved global success with its singles “Problem”, “Break
Free” and “Bang Bang”; Dangerous Woman became her first of four consecutive number-one albums in the UK.
Personal struggles influenced her trap-infused fourth and fith studio albums, Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019), both of which were critical and commercial successes. Sweetener won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and Thank U, Next broke the record for the largest streaming week for a pop album and was nominated for Album of the Year.
The singles “Thank U, Next”, “7 Rings”, and “Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” made Grande the first solo artist to hold the top three spots on the Hot 100 simultaneously and the first woman to succeed herself at the top of the UK Singles Chart.
Her 2020 collaborations “Stuck with U” with Justin Bieber and “Rain on Me” with Lady Gaga helped her break the record for most number-one debuts on the Hot 100, the later winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/ Group Performance.