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Ariana Grande Explains Why She’s Keeping Glinda’s Voice After ‘Wicked’
Ariana Grande’s voice might actually be changed for good.
The Wicked star—who is nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture at this weekend’s Golden Globes—recently suggested the vocal alterations she made for the film may be sticking around for the long term.
“I think that might stay,” Ariana told Variety of her higher register and crisper articulation in an interview published Jan. 2. “Galinda required a lot of vocal work for me. Certain things maybe won’t melt away. Some will, but I’m really grateful for the pieces that will stay with us forever.”
She added, “What a beautiful thing to be left with, and to feel the ghost of every day.”
The 31-year-old also emphasized that these changes were the result of intentional work from both herself and her costar Cynthia Erivo.
“Maybe people underestimate how long we spent finding and disappearing into these women,” Ariana continued. “So when certain inflections or mannerisms take time to melt away, sometimes people poke fun. But we had a job to do, and we had things to get lost in—because that’s what the piece required.”
And this isn’t the first time that the “One Last Time” singer—who began dating Wicked costar Ethan Slater after meeting on set—has addressed the naysayers commenting on the change in her voice.
“There is a part of the world that isn’t familiar with what it takes to transform your voice,” she told Vanity Fair in September, “whether it’s singing or taking on a different dialect for a role or doing a character voice for something.”
And amid the discourse about her voice she wasn’t afraid to speak her truth.
Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
“Part of why I did want to engage [with critics] is because I am really proud of my hard work,” Ariana explained, “and of the fact that I did give 100 percent of myself, including my physicality, to this role. I am proud of that, so I wanted to protect it.”
Keep reading to see more stars who underwent major transformations for their award-winning roles.
David Fisher/Shutterstock, Universal Pictures
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Was eating, as his onscreen wife Emily Blunt joked “like, an almond every day,” a bit nutty? Sure. But the Irish star really wanted to nail atomic bomb scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s appearance. “Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right,” he explained to The New York Times. “I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes.”
Hulu/Moviestore/Shutterstock; Dan MacMedan/WireImage
Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday
The actress lost almost 40 pounds to play the iconic jazz singer in the 2021 film, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images; Lacey Terrell/NETFLIX
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
To transform the actress into her role of real life Appalachian grandmother Mamaw Vance in the 2020 film, makeup and special effects artist Matthew Mungle pulled Close’s 2011 head cast from Albert Nobbs and sculpted her a new set of false ears and a false nose, according to Variety. The actress received an Oscar nomination for her role.
Moviestore/Shutterstock; Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Charlize Theron, Monster
At the 2004 Academy Awards, the gorgeous A-lister was honored with a Best Actress win for her chilling portrayal of real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
Moviestore/Shutterstock; Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Christian Bale, American Hustle
The British actor packed on more than 40 pounds for his Oscar-nominated performance as a beer-bellied con artist in 2013’s American Hustle. He put on the same amount to play former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 movie Vice, which also earned him an Oscar nomination. The star dropped 70 pounds for the 2019 movie Ford v Ferrari, in which he plays slender race car driver Ken Miles. For the 2011 film The Fighter, which earned him his first Oscar, he lost about 30 pounds while gaining muscle.
Jerritt Clark/WireImage; DC Comics/Warner Bros./Shutterstock
Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker
The actor lost 52 pounds to play the deeply disturbed Arthur Fleck, the man who would become Batman’s adversary.
Clive Coote/Paramount/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock; Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Nicole Kidman, The Hours
It took three hours (and an infamously large prosthetic nose) for makeup artists to render the Best Actress winner completely unrecognizable for the 2002 drama.
Snap/Shutterstock; TIMOTHY CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Tom Hanks, Philadelphia
The actor shed 35 pounds and shaved his head to play an HIV-stricken attorney suing his former firm for wrongful termination. Hanks took home Best Actor at the 1994 Oscars, and made a similar transformation for his Oscar-nominated performance in 2000’s Cast Away.
Todd Williamson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; BBC Films/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
Renee Zellwegger, Judy
The actress, who famously gained a reported 17 pounds to play the title role in Bridget Jones’s Diary, did not have to change her physique to transform into Judy Garland for the 2019 film Judy, for which she won her first Oscar. You can thank the makeup and costume department for her transformation.
“Renée was extremely emotionally and artistically involved in Judy, the movie’s costume designer, Jany Temime, who also worked on the Harry Potter films, told Vulture. “It was her film. I think she really got into Judy’s skin.”
Zellweger told the outlet, “Jany fit the costumes to Judy’s posture. So the dresses didn’t fit me unless I stood like I was supposed to stand. The zipper wouldn’t go up.”
Entertainment Pictures via ZUMA Press, Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Quite a departure from Robbie’s sultry character in The Wolf of Wall Street, several prosthetics, braces and wigs helped the Best Actress nominee bring the disgraced figure skater’s career-ending scandal to life in the 2017 flick.
Moviestore/Shutterstock; Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
The Academy recognized McConaughey’s extreme commitment to playing an HIV/AIDS stricken electrician with a Best Actor win during the 2014 ceremony.
Ash Knotek/Snappers/ZUMAPRESS.com; Moviestore/Shutterstock
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
The late actor received a posthumous Oscar in 2008 for his chilling and mesmerizing performance as The Joker in the second film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. His look as the iconic villain differed greatly from those previously seen on past actors onscreen.
“What would it be if this guy slept in his makeup, this psychopath?” makeup artist John Caglione Jr. told IGN. “If he didn’t spruce up his makeup for two or three weeks? He never changes his clothes It’s those kinds of organic details that really helped.”
He continued, “You think of a clown’s makeup and for the most part, they’re pretty detailed with sharp lines. But this had to be the opposite of that.”
Bill Matlock/Fox Searchlight/Kobal/Shutterstock; SGranitz/WireImage; Merie W Wallace/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry & Million Dollar Baby
The two-time Oscar winner dramatically altered her appearance to play real-life transgender man Brandon Teena in the 1999 drama, and then again in Clint Eastwood’s 2004 Best Picture winner.
Moviestore/Shutterstock; Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
In order to play British prime minister Winston Churchill, the 2018 Best Actor nominee spent upwards of four hours in the makeup chair every day and wore a “Victorian corset” style bodysuit.
Fox Searchlight/Kobal/Shutterstock; Luca Teuchmann/WireImage
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Before taking home Best Actress at the 2011 Oscars, the petite actress shed 20 pounds and trained up to 16 hours a day for her role as a mentally ill ballerina.
Anne Marie Fox/Voltage/Kobal/Shutterstock; Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Ever the chameleon, the 2014 Best Supporting Actor winner prepared to play a HIV-positive transgender woman by losing 40 pounds and only staying in character on set.
“I had done similar things with weight, but this was different,” Leto told E! News in 2013. “I think the role demanded that commitment…It was about how does that effect how I walk, how I talked, who I am, how I feel. You know, you feel very fragile and delicate and unsafe.”
Moviestore/Shutterstock; Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Brie Larson, Room
The Best Actress winner gained 15 pounds of muscle to play a mother who escapes years of captivity with her 5-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay) in the 2015 film. Larson said she even limited her exposure to the outside world, restricted nutrients like Vitamin D and tailored her eating habits to better grasp what her character experienced.
Moviestore/Shutterstock; George Pimentel/WireImage
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
At the 2012 Academy Awards, the typically fresh-faced starlet was honored with a Best Actress nomination for her performance in the thriller. Mara went as far as to pierce multiple body parts, bleach her eyebrows and chop her hair to transform into Lisbeth Salander.
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