Jeff Goldblum Confesses He Forgot Meeting Ariana Grande Before They Worked On ‘Wicked’: “She Told Me Halfway Through The Shoot”

Published Nov. 15, 2024, 12:42 p.m. ET

Who could forget meeting Ariana Grande? Jeff Goldblum, that’s who.

During a Friday morning appearance on TODAY, Goldblum revealed to Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie that Grande had “reminded” him while shooting Wicked of when they actually first met 20 years ago, per TMZ.

“I was doing this play called [The] Pillowman, and she and her mom, Joan, came backstage in Shubert Alley,” he recalled as pictures of their first introduction appeared on screen. “We took that picture. Those two pictures.”

Goldblum admitted that frankly he “hadn’t remembered that.”

“She told me halfway through the shoot,” he explained. “She said, ‘You know we’ve met.'”

Nonetheless, Goldblum had nothing but praise for the cast and crew of Wicked, especially Grande and Cynthia Erivo, whom he described as “the two greats of all time” who are “perfect” for their roles as Glinda and Elphaba.

“They give performances for the ages,” he gushed.

As for what it was like performing alongside “two greats” like Grande and Erivo, Goldblum, who plays the Wizard, noted it was “a dream come true.”

Photo: NBC/ TODAY

“I should’ve been intimidated, you know. But they were so cordial and sweet and generous, that we sang songs just like we did here,” he told Kotb and Guthrie.

Jon M. Chu‘s buzzy two-part movie musical also stars Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode and Ethan Slater.

Wicked Part 1 hits theaters on Nov. 22. Part 2 is slated to arrive in theaters a year later on Nov. 21, 2025.