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Cynthia Erivo has hit out at fans who digitally altered her image in the poster for movie musical Wicked, saying: “It degrades me.”
The official poster for the upcoming film was released last week, showing Erivo in character as Elphaba looking directly at the camera. Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, is whispering in her ear.
The image is very similar to the illustration used to promote the original Broadway musical, although fans were quick to point out certain key differences. In the illustration, Elphaba’s eyes are covered by the brim of her hat and her lips are a bright shade of red, arranged in a smirk.
The Instagram account @wickedmexicofans was one of many fan accounts to post an edited version of the film poster that more closely resembled the illustration.
This drew the ire of Erivo, who reposted the image on her own Instagram Stories along with the following statement: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful Ai of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘is your ***** green.’
“None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.
“The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer… because, without words we communicate with our eyes.
“Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.”
Erivo followed up by posting an image of the unaltered film poster, with the caption: “Let me put this right here, to remind you and cleanse your palette.”
Wicked is set to be released in UK and US cinemas on November 22. A second instalment is expected to follow next year, although there has been speculation online that the movie may have been recut into a single film.
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Fans detected what appears to be hesitancy in positioning Wicked as the first of a two-part series as nowhere on the promotional materials does it say “part one.”
Additionally, those who know the Broadway musical well are claiming that the film’s trailer features scenes that take place later in the show, which is leading to speculation that it will be just one film. It’s because of this that some fans are wondering whether Universal has scuppered plans to split the film into two.
