Crime Pays
Empire Australasia|September 2018

How Broadway star Cynthia Erivo landed one of the most buzzed-about film roles of the year in period-thriller Bad Times At The El Royale.

Terri White
Crime Pays

CYNTHIA ERIVO WAS already having quite the year when the script arrived. She was on the set of Steve McQueen thriller Widows — her first feature film — when she received the sides. Reading hungrily, Erivo was immediately moved by what was on the page. “I was really taken by all the twists and turns,” she tells Empire. “I thought it was a really special piece.”

There was just one snag: filmmakers were seeing several actors. And specifically, some very big names. But what Erivo lacked in a rich film CV, she made up for in one vital element: the singing. And that’s what the role demanded specifically: an actor who could sing live during filming, with director Drew Goddard determined to add nothing in the edit.

This story is from the September 2018 edition of Empire Australasia.

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This story is from the September 2018 edition of Empire Australasia.

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