Bowen Yang's 'mentally fraying' Wicked juggle
Bowen Yang says juggling filming on 'Wicked' and 'Saturday Night Live' was "mentally fraying" and even 'SNL' creator Lorne Michaels advised against it.
Bowen Yang says juggling filming on 'Wicked' and 'Saturday Night Live' was "mentally fraying".
The 33-year-old 'SNL' star spent months travelling between New York for the comedy sketch show and the UK for Jon M. Chu's upcoming movie musical in which he plays Pfannee and Bowen admitted even 'SNL' creator Lorne Michaels started to worry about him.
He told Vanity Fair: "This is when Lorne Michaels comes in. Whatever you think about the situation, however you think it’s unique to you, however you think you might be the exception to the rule, Lorne is here to be like, ‘Actually, it might not be so good on the body for you to fly back and forth between New York and London to go shoot a movie.’
"I’ll say ‘Wicked,’ for example. [It] was an incredible experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I really thought I could hack it. “I was like, OK, I’ve got my nootropic gels that I’m going to suck on the airplane, and I’m going to take my little CBD potions that are going to help me fall asleep and get over the jet lag. I had all these things in the armory, and then none of it really could beat back that tide.
"It really did get to me just on a somatic level — I was just like, Wow, my body is refusing to lift an arm, or whatever. It really got to that point that was a little mentally fraying. It was a tough summer, just between the strikes and the constant bouncing back and forth."
However, he wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
He previously told PEOPLE: "I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m, one, in Oz. Two, standing next to Ariana Grande and Michelle Yeoh, who are sharing a scene together. Three, in this film version of this musical that I love so much.' All of it was just these different braids of surreal elements coming together as one."
