Ethan Slater had nothing but praise for his girlfriend, Ariana Grande, while discussing her turn as Galinda in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked.
“She’s a comedy genius,” Slater, 32, said of Grande, 31, during an interview on the Monday, November 4, episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. “She’s so funny. I mean, she’s amazing in this film.”
The Broadway actor went on to praise the entire Wicked cast, which also includes Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage and Bowen Yang.
“Everyone’s amazing in this film,” he told host Jennifer Hudson. “Cynthia and Ari bring depth to these roles that you can find on stage — the women who have played these roles on stage are incredible — but when you’re doing a film, you’re so close.”
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Slater noted that Hudson, 43, has experience with the challenges of adapting a stage musical for the big screen, having appeared in her share of movie and Broadway musicals.
“The difference between when you’re doing a role on stage and on film and you’ve just got to think those thoughts,” he shared. “They were so beautiful and nuanced and unbelievable. And Ari’s hilarious. I can’t wait for people to see the takes that didn’t make it in.”
News broke last summer that Slater and Grande sparked a romance following their splits from respective spouses Lilly Jay and Dalton Gomez. Both actors denied that they cheated on their then-partners amid widespread speculation.
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Last month, Slater opened up about the drama in an interview with GQ, noting that it was difficult to become the subject of so many rumors after keeping a much lower profile.
“Obviously, it was a really super big year, and I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public,” he explained in October. “There were a lot of big changes in private lives that were really happening, so it’s really hard to see people who don’t know anything about what’s happening commenting on it and speculating, and then getting things wrong about the people you love. So just to address that part of it, that feels really hard.”
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He added, “But, of course, it was an amazing year and a really beautiful thing, and I’m just really excited.”
In the same interview, Slater praised his girlfriend’s work on Wicked, which hits theaters Friday, November 22.
“I’m just really, really proud of Ari and the work she’s done on this,” he said. “She’s poured herself into it. I’m really proud that I got to be there for that part of it, and I’m really excited to be there for this next step of it when the world gets to see the amazing thing that she did.”
