Future Evil the film has caused quite a bit of controversy online, with fans and cast members sharing their reactions to the film’s original poster versus the Broadway musical vs. the fan edits that are popping up on social media.
Based on the beloved musical of the same name, Evil will transport audiences back to Oz on the backs of a stacked cast including Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Evil follows Elphaba (played by Erivo), a green-skinned woman who – for better or for worse – is known as the Wicked Wicked Witch of the West.
Bad poster drama explained
The actors are guns as new debutants Evil the movie poster becomes the center of a major online controversy.
The poster with Ariana Grande’s Glinda whispering into Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba’s ear is a direct reference Evilthe Book‘s classic cover and Broadway musical branding from its original series.
However, some have felt that it doesn’t mimic the Broadway marketing material closely enough, prompting fans to take matters into their own hands and make their own adaptations of the movie poster.
Some of these fan creations include liberal use of generative AI to produce results, adding fuel to an already raging controversy.
The most viral of these fan-made posters is Erivo’s face in shadow, like his character from the Broadway poster. It also raises Grande’s hand slightly to cover her nose, again like the Broadway original, in a photo courtesy of @arianatorswildt on X (formerly Twitter).
See the image below for a comparison between the original Evil movie poster and popular fan edit on its way online:
These edited posters prompted some of the film’s cast members to publicly denounce the changes, including Cynthia Erivo herself.
In his now-defunct personal Instagram Story on October 16, Erivo penned an impassioned statement to fans, saying: “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I’ve seen:”
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I’ve seen, same as the horrible AI we’re fighting, same as people asking ‘is your ***** green. None of this is fun. None of them are cute. It humbles me.”
He went on to claim, “Without words we communicate with our eyes” and “Hide my eyes is to wipe me:”
“I’m a real-life person who chose to look straight down the barrel of a camera at you, the viewer…because without words we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is a tribute, not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me and it’s just deeply offensive.”
Erivo’s reaction to the edits has not been well received by the fans. A certain number of social media users expressed dismay at Erivo’s comments, claiming that calling the film’s poster a slight change to the Broadway original would be an understatement.
This happens when fans have taken a movie poster and run with it, creating not only fan edits of the still image, but (occasionally) offensive AI-generated videos to accompany the promotional piece.
Erivo’s actress Ariana Grande also joined the poster controversy and shared her thoughts on the AI-generated videos plaguing the film’s marketing.
Grande told Variety during her appearance at the Academy Museum Gala, “I find artificial intelligence so contradictory and difficult,” calls for advances in artificial intelligence technology “something so much bigger than us:”
“I think it’s very complicated because I find AI so contradictory and awkward at times, but I think it’s just such a massive adjustment period. This is something that’s much bigger than us, and the fans are having fun and making their own edits.”
He went on to say that sometimes things can go too far and that his heart goes out to Erivo during this controversy:
“I think so. And I have so much respect for my sister Cynthia, and I love her so much. It’s just a big adjustment period. It’s so much stimulation from something that’s so much bigger than us.”
Erivo has posted several of these fan creations directly to his Instagram story, calling out their creators.
One of them is a piece that superimposes the actor’s face on the famous Thousand Yard Stare meme, a satirical image usually used to represent a blank, unfocused stare or a stress-induced breakup.
However, not everything has been negative, but Erivo had something positive to say about one particular thing Evil-themed edit worn by music artist Charli XCX (via Instagram).
The photo shows a crudely Photoshopped Grande whispering into Charli’s ear just like she does in the movie poster, and was used to promote the recently released remix of Charli XCX’s “Sympathy is a Knife” featuring Grande.
Evil hits theaters Friday, November 22.
