How Ariana Grande found her fairytale ending amid Wicked personal drama

IT is her bigg­est movie moment ever – a “dream” role in a much-hyped film tipped to bag her an Oscar – but it has not been with-out cost for Ariana Grande.

The 31-year-old music superstar has gone from pop princess to bona fide Hollywood leading lady, playing Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked.

Ariana with co-star Cynthia Erivo, who plays fellow witch Elphaba in Wicked[/caption]

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Ariana in 2010, the year she landed her big break as Cat in Victorious[/caption]

Ariana shot to fame at just 16, starring as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon TV series Victorious and its spin-off Sam & Cat.

Despite dominating the charts and selling out arenas worldwide for a decade, she had to relearn how to perform for the big screen.

Ariana said: “It is so different (to being a popstar) for a multitude of reasons. I’m not telling my own story, I’m telling Glinda’s.

“I get the opportunity thank­fully to disappear fully into someone else in a way that I never do when I am performing or singing.

“For me that was every single part of it, from my voice to my physicality and finding her. I was learning how I could offer myself to her to the best of my ability — finding that balance between honouring the Glinda we know and love for 21 years and bringing my own truth to her somehow.

“It was very different for me as I have never been required to do all of that at once while being someone else. With pop music I am telling my stories, it is me.

‘We had quite the ride’

“This is completely, obviously, the opposite. It was the most amazing honour of my life. We had quite the ride.”

The film may also give Ariana another chart hit, as she will feature on Wicked: The Soundtrack, released via Republic Records/Verve Records on November 22.

It will include her version of the play’s standout tracks — Popular and a duet with Cynthia on stage epic Defying Gravity.

In what will no doubt become a divisive move for fans, the film has been split into two, with the second instalment due to be released in Novem­ber next year.

Before then, Ariana will return to live music.

Our source added: “Ari has no desire to embark on a huge world tour but a number of arena-sized dates have been pencilled in for 2025 including shows in the UK.

“It’s a perfect time for her to hit the road for a short while in between the two Wicked films.”

Tickets for UK screenings of Wicked: Part One go on sale on Friday, with it set to be one of the biggest films of the year.

Early pre-sales in the US esti­mate a domestic opening week­end take of $133million to $164million.

Gladiator II drops on Novem­ber 15 in the UK and its star Paul Mescal said he hopes it and Wicked enjoy a box office battle to rival last year’s Barbie vs Opp­enheimer, which was dubbed Barbenheimer.

In development since 2012, Wicked was shot at Sky Studios Elstree, North London, and is one of the biggest movies ever filmed on home soil.

While CGI and green screens play a vital role in bringing the West End tale to life, most of the set was built from the ground up — including nine million tulips being planted to create the fields of Oz.

Ari has no desire to embark on a huge world tour but a number of arena-sized dates have been pencilled in 2025 including shows in the UK

Sun source

Director Jon M Chu said: “We wanted this place to be physical.

“We had a 16-ton Emerald City train that actually moved on tracks and they could jump on to and we had planted nine million tulips.

“The studio was like, ‘Do you really need to plant nine million tulips?’. We built the Emerald City. You could walk through the Emerald City, go into the bakery shop and look at what kind of sweets they had.

“You could go into the salon and sit in the chair — you could see the shampoo and the bottles which said they were from Oztec — so many different things.

“And of course, Munchkin Land and Shiz University where boats come in.

“This is a spectacle on a huge scale. Of course we have great GCI artists but the two coming together is where we meet.”

And no doubt, just like one of the film’s hit songs, Ariana will feel like she is defying gravity on Oscars night — and heading to a fairytale ending.