Yahoo Lifestyle Watch Cynthia Erivo Get Elphaba Makeup Done in Dramatic Timelapse Video: 'More Than Just a Green Girl' (Exclusive)
Erivo says in a voiceover that she was given the option to do the makeup or have it be CGI — and it was a no-brainer
Cynthia Erivo didn't think twice about committing to sitting in the makeup chair for hours a day to become Elphaba in Wicked.
"I had the choice of whether to be green or to have it CGI and I wanted it to be practical. I wanted people to see Elphaba as more than just the green girl. I wanted to look back at her reflection and see a green woman in front of me," Erivo, 37, says in a new video shared exclusively with PEOPLE.
The timelapse video shows Erivo getting her green makeup done on set, which she told Elle sometimes took up to four hours.
Makeup and hair designer Frances Hannon, who oversaw the whole process, told PEOPLE that, on average, it was usually between two hours and 15 minutes and two hours and 45 minutes each day, it all just depended on how much of Erivo's skin they had to cover.
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba"I really wanted for her skin to feel textured. When you look at it, there’s freckles, and there’s tone, shade, just like skin would be," Erivo says in the video of her decision to do the green makeup. "She has these green eyes that come from the genetic makeup of who she is and it isn’t just on her, it’s in her — part of the essence of who she is."
Erivo's makeup was custom-created for her by Hannon and SFX pro David Stoneman, based on a discontinued eye shadow. For her look, Erivo's skin would be covered in a green primer, followed by a "Cynthia Green" airbrushed green makeup. Her eyebrows were transferred on like a temporary tattoo, and freckles were layered on with airbrushed makeup as well. Contour was added with more layers of green for dimension, and Hannon tells PEOPLE that Erivo would even be "interactive" with her makeup by sometimes doing her eyes.
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Another aspect of her glam that was vital to Elphaba's look was her nails — which Erivo brought to the table herself. Hannon says the actress walked in the door with her nails and told director Jon M. Chu that she wanted to "keep" her own look and incorporate her trademark.
"I was doing the research for this character, and I noticed that the original Wicked Witch had nails," Erivo says in a new video shared exclusively with PEOPLE. "I wanted a progression. How she grows as a witch and a woman. Some people wear makeup, I always have my nails done. It’s like another extended way of expressing myself."
Hannon agrees, saying, "Cynthia was bringing her Elphaba to it."
Much like Elphaba's micro-braids, which she told Elle were a nod to herself as a Black woman and helped her "fall in love" with Elphaba, Erivo was determined to pour every bit of herself into this character.
"I think there’s real wonder and defiance in this beautiful character," she says in the video. "There’s certainly wonder and defiance in me."
Go behind the scenes of Wicked with PEOPLE’s new special issue, available here.
