The Craziest 2024 On-Screen Movie Transformations: Cynthia Erivo, More

Several stars took things to the next level when transforming into their roles for 2024’s biggest films.

Cynthia Erivo spent several hours being painted green to play Elphaba, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West, in Wicked. “It would take about two hours and 45 minutes to four hours depending on how much we were doing before we got on set,” the actress explained in her Variety’s “Actors on Actors” conversation with Angelina Jolie in December.

Erivo said “everything” was painted green, from her hands to her “whole head.” Finishing details included green-colored contacts, green nails and freckles.

“I wanted to because I also wanted to see the transformation. I wanted to see someone green,” she shared, noting that some people on set never saw her out of her Elphaba makeup. “I would walk on set and that would be the first time they met me, as Elphaba, but they wouldn’t have met me as Cynthia at all because I would have to start [makeup] before we rehearsed,” she stated.

The surprise of seeing her green is something Erivo said added to both her performance and the performances of her fellow actors. “I loved that because it meant that when we’d start shooting, I was her, and they didn’t know anything but her,” she told Jolie. “So, their reactions were always [genuine].”

Scroll down to see some of this year’s biggest on-screen movie transformations: