Last month, a January, 2023 video of Amanda Seyfried singing the song “Popular” from Wicked resurfaced on TikTok with the caption that it was her audition tape for the role of Glinda. Predictably, people started arguing in the comments (and around the Internet) about whether she should have been cast in the role over Ariana Grande. It was bad enough when Cynthia Erivo tried to make her own blind item by shading two other women she auditioned with. The Internet needs no encouragement in both the facts and unsolicited opinions departments.
Anyway, at an event recently, Amanda was asked about the alleged audition tape. She clarified that while she did in fact audition “hard” for Wicked, that video had nothing to do with it! In fact, it was shot by her stylist for fun while she was backstage during a photo shoot in Queens back in 2020, before the Wicked audition process even started.
The Mamma Mia! star, 39, spoke to PEOPLE exclusively at the Make It Cute x Babylist Holiday Event on Tuesday, Dec. 10 in Beverly Hills, Calif. During the event, Seyfried took a moment to set the record straight about a recently surfaced video that features her singing the song “Popular” from the musical Wicked while wearing a silver princess dress— specifically addressing rumors that it was an audition tape for the role of Glinda in the 2024 film.
“I think it was during COVID. I was doing a Lancôme shoot in Long Island City. Elizabeth Stewart [was] my stylist,” Seyfried told PEOPLE.
“I was not auditioning for Wicked yet, but I knew it was like coming up,” she continued, adding, “So I was just f—— around really, and I was like, ‘This dress is so Glinda. And Elizabeth was like, ‘Do it.’ And then she posted at some point.”
Seyfried noted that while she loves her stylist, “maybe it would be better if it hadn’t been posted,” because “it was truly just a fun, like, [behind-the-scenes] moment of my Lancôme shoot.”
However, the Les Miserables actress admitted that even though the video was “in jest” she did, in fact, later audition for the role of Glinda in earnest — a part which eventually went to Ariana Grande.
“I went hard for that, for sure. And it was a very long process. And everything happens the way it’s meant to,” she revealed, adding that she thought the film turned out “fantastic.”
“It’s an extravaganza, which is what she [Grande] does really well. And [my kids] have been playing the soundtrack nonstop. And everything is as it’s meant to be for sure.”
Well, hearing how lovely she sounded just goofing around and not even knowing all of the words, now I am curious to see Amanda’s actual audition. I’ve seen her in Mamma Mia and Les Misérables but I always forget that she has a good singing voice. I feel badly that her lighthearted moment was taken so out-of-context almost two years after it was shared on Instagram that she has regrets about letting Stewart post it in the first place. As for the actual audition, there’s no doubt that Amanda “went hard” for the role. I would have too if I were her. Reneé Rapp and Dove Cameron also auditioned for Glinda. She’s right about everything working out the way it should have because Ariana surprised most of us and kicked ass as Glinda.
Photos credit: IMAGO/Eventpress Kochan/Avalon, DNPhotography/Abaca Press/INSTARimages, Michael Stewart/INSTARimages.com