Hugh Jackman is taken aback by Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked rehearsal time. Jackman and Erivo sat opposite each other on Variety’s Actors on Actors to talk about Wicked, Wolverine, and their future projects. Interestingly, the episode begins with Jackman’s shocked reaction, leaving viewers intrigued about their conversation.
Hugh Jackman reacts in surprise to Cynthia Erivo’s ‘Wicked: For Good’ rehearsal time
Hugh Jackman is shocked by Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked rehearsal time. He exclaims, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Four months of rehearsal?” Erivo calmly replies, “Yeah.” Jackman responds, “That’s heaven.” Erivo explains, “Before I come on stage, I ask for whatever I’m doing to connect with whoever it needs to connect with.” An impressed Jackman remarks, “Anyone who is studying acting, listen to this, this is the key,” as Erivo giggles.
Furthermore, the Wolverine actor prods, “You shot it all at once and that was how long? How long was the shoot?” The Wicked star replied, “The rehearsals started in August. We started shooting in December.” At this point, the 57-year-old actor interjected, surprised by her rehearsal time.
Erivo repeated, “It was delightful,” several times to emphasize its impact. “It was like being back in theatre,” she added. To which Jackman revealed, “We had nine weeks for Les Misérables, and I thought it was a lot. You guys had 16 weeks of rehearsals.”
The 38-year-old actress elaborated, “It was costumes, rehearsals, choreography, songs, the whole lot. We really had time to sort of dig in and find out what the arc was because we knew we were shooting it at once. We started shooting, we had that massive break because of the strikes, and then we came back in 2024. So we just had to find the time to make sure we understood what we were doing.”
Naturally, the conversation drifted toward musicals. The 57-year-old actor, best known for playing the iconic Wolverine, remarked, “I want the world to have movie musicals, and thankfully, they’re back.” Continuing further, he shared, “Any expectation I had, you just sailed [past]. It’s the Mount Everest of movie-making, musicals. I really think it’s the hardest thing to pull off.”
