Photographer: Raen Badua
Stylist: Joshua Alan Clark
Makeup: Kathy Santiago
Hair: Roxy Grande
Lighting: James Valdez
Photo Assist: Kena Kapri

Editor-in-Chief & Words: Miles Holder

Ethan Slater returns to cinemas this week in Wicked: For Good, the second chapter of the blockbuster reimagining of Wicked: The Musical. Though the role marks his most prominent screen performance to date—one that has firmly placed him in the cultural spotlight—Slater’s roots remain in the theatre, where he became known for standout turns in Good Night, Oscar, The SpongeBob Musical, and Spamalot.

Next year, he returns to the stage with Marcel on the Train, a project he both stars in and co-writes. The production chronicles a young Marcel Marceau risking his life to smuggle Jewish children to safety during the Second World War. It’s a story of courage, resilience, and the unshakeable humanity owed to every child—one Slater feels is painfully timely.

We sat down with Ethan Slater to discuss his transformational performance as Boq, the upcoming premiere of Marcel on the Train, and of course, his FAULTs.

FULL LOOK by DENZIL PATRICK

SHOES by JIMMY CHOO

FAULT Magazine: You filmed filmed Wicked:For Good back-to-back with the first installment, so I’m eager to see how your approach shifted, if at all, following the transformation scenes. Did you tackle Tin Man as a separate entity and character from Boq, or did you find a line between them?

Ethan Slater: It was really important to me that he’s Boq the entire way through. We changed to calling him the Tin Man because audiences know the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, but in this story, that’s Boq – he’s just suddenly made of tin. It was really important that the character feels like the transformation starts before the physical transformation.

From the beginning of the movie, he doesn’t recognise himself. He doesn’t recognise Nessa. He feels isolated, full of growing resentment. Even though his heart is shrinking from the spell, it’s really been shrinking the whole time. He’s been losing his capacity to love or see the good in people.

So for me, the moment he gets turned into the Tin Man is as much a magic spell as it is the culmination of something emotional, suddenly he doesn’t even recognise Elphaba. He’s been told by someone he knows is lying that she’s a bad person. He knows the Wizard is lying because he knows her, and yet he believes it so strongly that even the glimpses of clarity that she saved his life, that she cared, begin to twist in his mind. He becomes his own conspiracy theorist.

It’s relatable; it’s a very human thing. This is what’s happening to Boq, it’s not two different characters.

Physically, I did do a lot of work on what it feels like to move when you don’t recognise your limbs or your body. A lot of the movement and walking took work. Will Loftus, the associate choreographer along with Chris Scott, worked with me a lot. We spent time in an empty airplane hangar, I would put on the suit and we’d walk in front of a mirror, trying to feel what it would be like. It was a lot of work in that way.

COAT by MICHAEL NGOSHIRT

TROUSERS by GOODFIGHT

FAULT Magazine: When looking through the character beats and thinking about who Tin Man might represent in a modern context, did you find yourself sympathising with him more or less for his inability to see through the haze?

Ethan Slater: You’ve got to love who you’re playing, it’s one of my top rules of acting. I’ve always empathised with Boq. I think it’s heartbreaking that he can’t see through the haze, heartbreaking that he’s so blinded by loneliness, resentment, and rage that he becomes this person.

I don’t think he’s justified, but I do sympathise.

FAULT Magazine: What would you say was the greatest creative challenge specific to this part of the project?

Ethan Slater: There are a lot of ways in which, over 20-plus years on Broadway, the role of Boq has become something audiences sometimes see as two-dimensional. Not the performances, but the perception. So I wanted to make sure he felt enlivened, rich, and empathetic.

One challenge was that in the first film, it was important that Boq genuinely cares about Nessa. How does that care transfer into the second movie? Early on, he tries to say, essentially, “I loved what we had, I’m glad I could be there for you, but this isn’t working.” Keeping that genuine love alive even as it becomes twisted was a creative challenge – though I’m not sure if that’s the definitive answer.

FULL LOOK by SIVAN

BROOCH by JOB DACON

FAULT Magazine: Going from prominent stage roles to cinema isn’t new, but musical theatre on cinematic film is a completely different challenge. Was it difficult to find balance between both disciplines?

Ethan Slater: It’s all about knowing who your audience is. On stage, the audience is the whole house, you play your angles, make sure your voice carries, and your emotions are big enough for everyone to see.

On film, your audience is the camera. You still play your angles, but the camera is catching you differently. It’s the same goals with different techniques.

Someone once said something to the effect of, “On stage, the audience hears what you say; on film, they hear what you think.” I think that’s true, even in a musical.

“March of the Witch Hunters” didn’t feel challenging because he’s performing to an angry mob. But “Wicked Witch of the East” required almost an internal soliloquy that still needed to be sung out. There were technical challenges, but I trusted the camera as the audience.

Calibrating natural volume and emotional volume is key, just like talking to someone close versus across a room. I think the go goal of the actors to calibrate not only volume, but volume of emotion.

FAULT Magazine: Also…the camera can’t clap or boo.

Ethan Slater: The camera can’t clap, but Jon’ Chu certainly can.

FULL LOOK by SIVAN

BROOCH by JOB DACON

SHOES by JIMMY CHOO

FAULT Magazine: Let’s talk about Marcel on the Train. You’re returning to the stage in February as both performer and co-writer. What was your first spark of interest in a project like this?

Ethan Slater: I was doing research on silent film comedians because I love silent film – Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin. While researching Chaplin, I came across a young Jewish kid who loved him, Marcel Marceau, then named Marcel Mangel, growing up in southern France.

He became the world’s most famous mime, but before that, at 20, he joined the French Resistance and smuggled orphans from an orphanage in Limoges to the Swiss border on a train. He used his whimsy what he learned from Chaplin to keep them entertained, quiet, and safe from Nazis.

I learned this about four years ago. My co-writer and one of my best friends, Marshall Pailet, had just had his first son. I called to check in and said, “This is not the time, but I have an idea for a play.” He told me to just tell him, so I did, and we started writing it from there.

It’s a story I didn’t know, despite growing up knowing every Jewish baseball player and all about Jewish immigrants’ contributions to the film industry. I didn’t know this one.

And as time has gone on, it’s become more relevant not necessarily for the reasons you would expect. It’s about saving children from being hunted by people in power. We live in a time where children are still being killed by militaries or secret police. Protecting children should be a human right.

The story feels important a way of communicating the inherent humanity and rights of children.

COAT by DENZIL PATRICK

SUIT by KENNETH BARLIS

SHIRT by GOODFIGHT

SHOES by JIMMY CHOO

FAULT Magazine: It’s quite fitting tragic mixed with humour is the life of a mime, really.

Ethan Slater: Exactly. Marceau would do these little vignettes that start funny. One famous one, “The Mask Maker,” begins with him painting a mask, putting it on, taking it off – playful and silly. Then suddenly the mask gets stuck. He’s smiling on the outside but emotionally breaking inside. Eventually he mimes pulling it off revealing a face in tears.

This silly six-minute piece becomes a story about masking your emotions and pretending to be someone else at your own expense. It becomes tragic, beautiful poetry.

That’s what we’re trying to capture – a fun night at the theatre that’s also a bit of a thriller.

COAT by DENZIL PATRICK

SUIT by KENNETH BARLIS

SHIRT by GOODFIGHT

SHOES by JIMMY CHOO

FAULT Magazine: Is there much dialogue in the show?

Ethan Slater: Yes, it’s not mime. There’s dialogue, wit, humour. He was a funny guy, and the play reflects that. There’s a little mime, but not much.

FAULT Magazine: As a co-writer telling the life story of a real man, do you feel a lot of pressure to get it right?

Ethan Slater: Yes, there’s pressure, mostly to do justice to the heart of the story. Much of the play is theatricalised: it’s one train ride instead of dozens; four children instead of many more. That’s the nature of theatre.

So the responsibility is to honour what really matters about his art and the story. And of course, there’s responsibility to the play itself to doing a good job.

FAULT Magazine: When developing the project, was it always a play in your mind?

Ethan Slater: We first wondered if it was a high-stakes thriller film. But for this version of the story, the form that made the most sense was a stage play partly because Marceau did so much onstage, and partly because of how we wanted to explore flashbacks and flash-forwards…We do have a film version ready to go, though.

SUIT by DENZIL PATRICK 

SHIRT by GOODFIGHT

FAULT Magazine: Does returning to theatre after such a large film project feel like coming home?

Ethan Slater: It does. The last thing I did on stage was the Spamalot revival about a year and a half ago. I love theatre, so it does feel like coming home. But I also love film and TV. I don’t feel like I’ve been away that long.

FAULT Magazine: Your creative journey is diverse. Has that been by design or chance?

Ethan Slater: Mostly chance. I love trying new kinds of characters playing a supervillain in Gen V, playing Boq, all of it. But ultimately, as an actor, you hope your skills match the projects that come along. I’ve been lucky that they have.

FAULT Magazine: How are you dealing with the growing celebrity element of your career?

Ethan Slater: What’s been rewarding over the past six months is that as more projects have come out, people are seeing more than just Boq. I don’t think I’m that recognisable, I’m pretty niche, but the more people see the different roles, the more they remember I’m playing characters.

It feels like the roles are moving to the forefront and Ethan is receding a little, which is nice. I feel lucky to be doing more things.

FAULT Magazine: From this visibility, you also get to tell important stories like Marcel on the Train, which feel more personally resonant.

Ethan Slater: Yes, and I get to take risks. Doing an off-Broadway world premiere is thrilling. It’s my first New York production of a play I’ve written. I’m proud of it, and it feels important.

SUIT by DENZIL PATRICK 

SHIRT by GOODFIGHT

FAULT Magazine: What do you foresee being the biggest creative challenge with Marcel on the Train?

Ethan Slater: In writing it, the challenge was balancing tension and thrill with lightness and humour. It’s high-stakes, but it’s also children and a comedian. That juxtaposition became the artistic through-line and ultimately, it’s connected with people.

Another challenge is always making sure audiences know what kind of night they’re in for and making it worthwhile. It’s an engaging show, part thriller, part heart. Marshall is a brilliant director, if you don’t know his work yet, you will.

FAULT Magazine: What is your FAULT?

Ethan Slater: I have a lot of FAULTs. I’m not good at responding to text messages. It can make it seem like I don’t care about people I love, but it’s really about overwhelm. I struggle separating the anxiety of everything coming through my phone from the messages that genuinely matter.

I definitely have a fear of being misunderstood, and that feeds into it. I feel frequently misunderstood, but you know, that is what it is.

Follow FAULT Magazine on Instagram for more film updates