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Wicked‘s release date is still months away, but considering the movie is the film adaptation of a Tony Award-winning musical, and is being released at the end of the year, prime film awards season, it’s perhaps not that surprising that the film is already considering how to handle any nominations. Specifically a plan is already in place regarding how to submit Oscar nominations for Wicked cast members Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
Despite the fact that the characters of Elphaba and Glinda are both essentially lead characters in Wicked, when it comes to the Oscars, THR reports that a decision has already been made to submit Elphaba actress Cynthia Erivo in the Best Actress category, while Ariana Grande who plays Glinda will be submitted in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Wicked’s Oscar Plan Gives It A Chance For More Awards
It certainly makes some sense. While both characters are major players, Wicked is certainly Elphaba’s story first and foremost, but there’s a reason this decision needed to be made. When Wicked was up for the Tony awards both Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba, and Kristen Chenoweth, who played Glinda, competed in the Best Actress category. Menzel ended up winning the award.
The decision to not submit both actresses for the Best Actress Oscar is likely two fold. First off, it’s somewhat unlikely that both actresses would successfully be nominated. There have only been five cases of two actresses from the same movie successfully getting nominated in the Best Actress category. The last time was when both Geena Davis and Susan Surandon were nominated for Thelma & Louise in 1991.
The other issue is that having two nominated actresses doesn’t increase the odds of winning. Of the five times it has happened, only once has one of the actreeses from the duel nominated film actually won, when Shirley MacLaine won the award for Terms of Endearment over co-star Debra Winger. There’s an argument to be made that two nominated actresses from the same film have the potential to split the vote between them, preventing either from winning.
Wicked’s Plan Leaves Ariana Grande Competing For A “Lesser” Award
This decision increases the chances that both actresses could potentially go home with an award. It also means that Erivo and Grande, who have been stunning on red carpets together, won’t need to campaign against each other.
Of course, it does mean that somebody has to end up getting the “smaller” award. Ariana Grande could arguably have competed for Best Actress, clearly the more prestigious award, but she’ll be relegated to Best Supporting Actress whether she likes it or not. At the same time, it could be a blessing. Grande will likely have the most significant role of any nominated actress in the category, which could help her chances of actually winning.
Of course, all his presupposes that Wicked is actually going to be a major awards contender or that either Cynthia Erivo or Ariana Grande gets nominated. We’re far from knowing any of that as Wicked is still more than two months from release. Of course, if the awards don’t work out this time around, there’s always Wicked: Part 2 where one assumes the award situation will be the same.