Amanda Seyfried Says That "Popular" Video Wasn't For Wicked Audition

Amanda Seyfried is bursting one Glinda-sized bubble. The actor has been open about being in the running to play the good witch in the Wicked movie adaptation, but a video of her that has since gone viral was not actually a part of the audition process. Seyfried recently confirmed the clip of her singing “Popular” was made “in jest,” and not as a serious part of her bid to play Glinda.

Seyfried explained that she hadn’t even begun auditioning for Wicked when her friend recorded a video of her singing Glinda’s big number “Popular” behind-the-scenes at a photoshoot. After it was revealed that Seyfried was in the running for the part, the video went viral.

“I think it was during COVID. I was doing a Lancôme shoot in Long Island City. Elizabeth Stewart [was] my stylist,” Seyfried told People in a Dec. 14 interview. “I was not auditioning for Wicked yet, but I knew it was like coming up. So I was just f*cking around really, and I was like, ‘This dress is so Glinda. And Elizabeth was like, ‘Do it.’ And then she posted at some point.”

When the clip blew up after it was revealed Seyfried had not gotten the part, the actor admitted, “Maybe it would be better if it hadn’t been posted,” adding “it was truly just a fun, like, [behind-the-scenes] moment of my Lancôme shoot.”

Although the Wicked casting process was famously lengthy, Seyfried said she’s a fan of the final product, which stars Ariana Grande as Glinda. “I went hard for that, for sure. And it was a very long process. And everything happens the way it's meant to,” she said.

“It’s an extravaganza, which is what [Grande] does really well,” she continued. “[My kids] have been playing the soundtrack nonstop. And everything is as it's meant to be for sure.”

Seyfried first revealed she had auditioned for Glinda in a 2022 interview with Backstage.

“While I was playing Elizabeth [Holmes on The Dropout], on the weekends I was auditioning in person to play Glinda in the movie version of Wicked — because I wanted it that much,” Seyfried said at the time. “I literally bent over backwards while playing the hardest role of my life. But I think it also taught me how far I’ve come as a singer, which I really wanted to prove.”