“Wicked holds such a special place in my heart,” Bronwyn James begins. “It was the first show I ever saw on the West End as a kid, and since then I’ve seen it about seven times. It never gets old.” It’s easy to imagine how landing a role in Jon Chu’s hotly anticipated silver screen adaptation of Wicked—a musical that’s practically theatre royalty—would top any actor’s bucket list. But for the English actor, this “pinch me” career milestone also comes with a taste of dream come true.

“When I knew there was going to be a movie adaptation of Wicked, I thought, ‘I HAVE to be part of this.’” Stepping into the role of Shen Shen, one of Ariana Grande’s Glinda’s closest confidantes, James brings to life a love-to-hate friendship triangle, hand-in-hand with Bowen Yang’s Pfanee. “They’re obviously sycophants to Glinda (Ariana Grande), but more like toxic devotees,” she laughs. “I kind of see them as little yipping Chihuahuas you keep in your purse.”

As we wait on the edge of our seats for one of this year’s most anticipated cinematic productions, with Wicked releasing on November 22nd, Wonderland caught up with James to discuss character preparation, her creative upbringing, and life beyond the Land of Oz. Keep scrolling to read our full interview…

Hi Bronwyn! Thanks so much for chatting with us today. How are you? How was your summer?
Hi, thank you for having me. I’m very good thanks, my summer’s been lovely. I very much enjoyed the 5 minutes of good weather that we had!

Let’s go back to the beginning. Tell us a bit about your upbringing and what sparked your interest in acting in the first place.
I’ve always wanted to be an actress ever since I was a kid. I remember going to see the local Christmas Pantomime with my Great Grandad Don every year and thinking GOD I want to do that, I want to be on stage, I want to perform. So, I joined every am-dram group I could, did every school musical I could. Performing has been something that I’ve always loved and wanted to do for a living.

Do you remember who some of your early influences in the industry were? What made you fall in love with the craft?
It’s got to be Emma Thompson at the top! I think it’s such a wonderful thing to have an actress that’s not only beautiful, but a comedy powerhouse and able to nail such a huge variety of different character styles. The same thing with Bette Midler. The number of times I’ve dressed up as her character from Hocus Pocus for Halloween through the years! I can’t count how many times I’ve watched Beaches as well; I could recite it from memory, start to finish. Catherine O’Hara is definitely another of my favourites. So amazing, so hilarious! I definitely have an affinity for theatrical, funny actresses. Those are the kind of roles I look for as well.

Congratulations on Wicked! Before we dive into your role, could you give us a brief rundown of your previous experiences and how they’ve shaped the actor you are today?
Thank you very much, it’s been nothing short of a joy to be part of Wicked! I’ve been really lucky in my career that I’ve had the opportunity to play a big variety of roles. So, I’ve gone from historical dramas, to fantasy, to sketch shows, to police dramas. I really love playing both ends of the spectrum. I’m always up for playing around with anything really.

Tell us a bit about your character. How do you connect most with Shen Shen, and what about her first caught your attention?
So, Shen-shen is definitely the embodiment of every high school bully you’ve ever met. She’s conniving, she’s fake, she flip-flops whose side she’s on all the time and really rides on the charisma of other people. That’s what makes her so much fun to play! When myself, Bowen Yang (Pfannee) and director Jon Chu first started working with the characters it was a lot of fun playing with how shady they are. They’re obviously sycophants to Glinda (Ariana Grande), but more so like toxic devotees. Like, they’re going to praise you and love you, but only if you do it the way they see it in their heads. I kind of see them like little yipping Chihuahuas that you keep in your purse.

Working with Bowen in that regard was an absolute blast! He’s so funny and quick witted, so having someone like that to bounce your character off is amazing.

How was your audition process for this role? What are some of your favorite memories from that time?
The audition process was loooong, which is a good thing. That’s how you know they aren’t playing around when it comes to making the film perfect.

For myself I think it was a total of 6 auditions in total. There was a self-tape, an in person reading with casting, another in person meeting including Jon Chu, a dance audition, and then 2 or 3 rounds of an improvising audition where they paired people off together to play around with the scenes.

I remember stepping into the dance audition, and being totally freaked out. I’m not from a big dance background, apart from when I was a kid, so when I got there and there were 60 incredible, professional dancers kicking their legs up to their ears and spinning like tops I thought ‘OH I’M IN TROUBLE!’ But the choreography team right across the board were so wonderful in making sure everyone was comfortable/ confident in the dances; it ended up being one of my favourite parts of the filming process.

Did you always dream of being part of a major production like Wicked? Have you always been a fan of the show?
Absolutely. When I knew that there was going to be a movie adaptation of Wicked, I thought I HAVE to be part of this, I don’t care what. I’ll be in the background, I’ll get people’s coffee, I just HAVE to be involved. So, getting to audition for an actual role was amazing!

Wicked holds such a special place in my heart, it was the first ever show I saw on the West End as a kid, and since then I’ve seen it about 7 times. It never gets old.

How was your experience on set with the Wicked team? What excited you most about working with them?
Every single person on set was so incredible, walking in everyday and having the space be filled with nothing but gratitude and love of the source material is very unique. I was so excited to work with Jon Chu, he has such a skill for capturing the grandness and scale of a stage production, but in film format. He was so generous with us being able to explore our characters, and improvise funny things where appropriate. That’s the dream scenario!

What are your expectations for the release, and how do you hope people will connect with your character?
I really hope that people will love to HATE Shen-shen, there’s nothing better than a shady, funny villain! As far as the release goes, as a super-fan of Wicked, I can safely say anyone who loves the music, or the stage production, or the world of Oz, are going to have their expectations blown out of the water! I think, even in 20 years’ time, it will still be considered a classic.

Moving forward, what’s next for you? Are there any roles you dream of playing?
I’d love to do another musical, they’re just really fun more than anything. Or I’d love to incorporate music into my acting. I’m a musician as well but it’s not been something I’ve been able to explore in my career yet. Fingers crossed!

Next year, the How To Train Your Dragon-live action is being released where I play Ruffnut, which I cannot wait for! It’s another franchise, like Wicked, that I’ve loved since I was a kid.