Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey Has a Message for His School Bullies | E! News

Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey Has a Message for His School Bullies | E! News

You guys, I had to do a costume change because the sexiest man alive just showed up. Jonathan Bailey, how are you? This is the sexiest outfit alive. Don’t you think? I literally wore for you. Oh, really? You and Coleman Domingo. Oh, it’s making me blush because I know you guys always show up and you guys put some time and energy into what you’re wearing and looking good and smelling good. So, I just wanted to, you know, we got matching. You surpassed You surpassed. By the way, can we clear up something right now? Okay. because my group chats have been going nuts. Okay. Everyone thinks you’re retiring from acting that you’re giving it up. This is my final interview. Literally, everyone thinks this is your final interview. Can you tell the people at home right now what you meant? Um, no. Yes, it was a slight misquote, but there is truth in it. I did, you know, I finished doing Shakespeare in May and uh and I’m just taking a bit of a pause, but it’s um I’ll be back on set in 2026 and I’m very excited. It’s just uh it’s it’s been such an incredible few years and Wicked has been such a huge part of that and um it’s impossible to sort of explain what it feels like to start such a huge production and to know that in 3 years time there’d be a second part coming out and here we are and you know our got our posters on the Lincoln Center. I can just see all the sort of memories of all these amazing faces of these incredible creative people who have have just been given the opportunity to flourish and to utilize years of craft and it’s been you know it’s it means so much to so many people not least um you know the fans and also us who’ve made it and it’s an honor of a lifetime. So yeah I just I will be back so don’t worry you guys you hear that he will be back. I got to talk about your character because he goes through a transformation in part two. We’re like clinging on to spoilers now. No, but we’re like literally I could see it in the distance. No, no, I’m not going to say that. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a bit of a transformation. You know, he finds himself in part two. He does. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s uh the the thing that I was really I mean I just it’s such an amazing challenge um to play a character like Fiero who has these huge moments and huge decisions that um obviously directly affect this beautiful female friendship at the heart of of the film. Um and I just you know the opportunity is to just sort of mine as much as you can and to make it as nuanced and uh you know there’s so much that he communicates non-verbbally with the audience. Yeah. Um, but what I discovered about Fiero, uh, which did sort of surprise me, is that he’s far more serious than I thought. And, um, he was, yeah, and I think that’s what hopefully feels incredibly human that we start off in early life and we can be care careless and and mindless and brainless and uh, and and perhaps for Fier that was a a defense mechanism. when you wake up and when you when you smell the coffee and you meet someone extraordinary who is um who’s calling out injustice and sees the world in a far more kind and uh rooted way. you can’t look back and and part of that is then shedding you know all the um all the firework charisma that he has and uh and hopefully you know has this sort of quiet rebellion in the second film and and uh and ultimately is you know sacrifices himself for this extraordinary uh woman and cause and uh and it’s the most beautiful love story as well. So crazy. Now I have to ask you because you opened up about being gay and bullied in school as I as I was. I wonder. Yeah. Do you wonder where all you bullies are now watching you on Esquire magazine? They’ve got their tickets to the first night of Wicked. Can you believe? Can you even wrap your head around? They’ll be like, “Oh, when for good is playing, they’ll be like, “Yeah, it’s it’s so amazing because because I knew him.” No, no, that’s always my favorite. No, my favorite is I always knew you were going to be somebody big and I’m so proud of you, bro. And I’m like, wait, what are you talking about? It’s so crazy. you know, you got to allow it. Um, but it’s that extraordinary thing about, you know, it’s it’s it’s a very real and true story for everyone who is deemed other or um is it doesn’t fall into a a typical uh understanding of and and that is what Wicked is about. It’s about otherness and it’s about um identity and the power of that and uh and I just know that little us would have loved seeing us now doing this interview 100%. So, here’s to that. Cheers to that. Now, before I let you go, really quickly, you are everybody’s celebrity crush. Who was your first celebrity crush? Oh my goodness me. I mean, there were so many. I always say Prince Eric, but he obviously isn’t a real person. Uh uh, who was my Let me think about this. Robert Redford. Oh, yeah. By the way, Robert Refford and Indecent Proposal. Oh my goodness me. And the rest and Barefoot in the Park. Come on. Um, there’s so many. Hang on. I really want to go into this. Come on. Let’s get a good one. Hang on. Brad Pitt and meet Joe Black. Yeah. Um Amelio Estz. Emilio Estz. Um was a big one. Um yeah. Anyway, I could go on. That’s awesome. Well, have a good night tonight and congratulations. That got a bit weird at the end, didn’t it? But we loved it. We loved it. We loved it. We were like into the lake of my teenage horniness. Oh my god. You are the best, man. And congratulations on your 2025. It’s amazing that we made it to the end. This is the last one. Here it is. Thank you for being so lovely. Yeah. Come on then. We’re going to have martini. [Music]

‘Wicked: For Good’ star Jonathan Bailey exclusively joked with E! News at the film’s New York City premiere Nov. 17 what all of his old school bullies are probably saying now. ‘Wicked: For Good’ hits theaters Nov 21. Full Story: https://www.eonline.com/news/1424752/wicked-for-goods-jonathan-bailey-has-a-message-for-bullies

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