The 'Bad Times at the El Royale' actress says she couldn't contain her emotions when they finished the filming because it felt like losing her best friend.
- Nov 10, 2019
AceShowbiz - Cynthia Erivo broke down in tears when she wrapped her new movie about slavery hero Harriet Tubman, because she felt she was losing a friend.
The British actress' latest character really got under her skin in a good way and she felt like she had a real connection with Tubman.
"Playing her made me want to be fierce," Cynthia said during a recent SAG-AFTRA Conversations event. "I thought I was determined and I thought I was strong physically. I thought I was intelligent. But then you play her... It made me learn that my determination pales in comparison and I've decided to distill what it really means to be determined in my life."
"I remember that last day, it was pitch black as we shot it in the dark, in the mud, in the middle of nowhere. After the film wrapped I felt a little bit sad, really. It was like letting a friend go because she had been part of my life for a really long time. I had been learning her and trying to find her and speaking to her and praying for her and thanking her."
The "Bad Times at the El Royale" star added, "I went and did two concerts afterwards, so I didn't really decompress until I went home to my mum. I went back to London and I was ill one day and all of a sudden I broke down in tears and was crying my eyes out. I just realised that I hadn't come up for air yet. I guess the decompression was forced upon me. I won't let that happen like that again."
And she always has at least one Harriet Tubman reminder with her at all times: "I still wear my ring that has her face on it and I have a chain that has her on it as well," she explained.
