How Artist Lisa Hunt Discovered Her Passion While Working a Full-Time Job

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about." —Wendy Mass

"Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty." —Anne Herbert

"You can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!" —Anne Frank

"Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience." —Evelyn Underhill

"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace and a soul generated by love." —Coretta Scott King

"Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary." —J.M. Barrie

"The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey." —Sarah Fielding

"Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud." —Maya Angelou

"We are all neighbors. Be kind. Be gentle." — Clemantine Wamaryia

"You’ve been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens." —Louise L. Hay

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference." —Barbara De Angelis

"Kindness is always in stock." —Katy Perry

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference." —Amelia Earhart

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." —Princess Diana

"Be kind to yourself so that you can be happy enough to be kind to the world." —Misha Collins

"One honest voice is louder than a crowd." —Reese Witherspoon

"It's a great thing, getting older. You are who you are; you say what you mean." —Reese Witherspoon

"I do believe that if you want to change the world, you have to be responsible for it." —Reese Witherspoon

"Every day you have to choose and cultivate your own happiness." —Reese Witherspoon

"Spend less time tearing yourself apart, worrying if you're good enough. You are good enough." —Reese Witherspoon

"There's no bad consequence to loving fully, with all your heart. You always gain by giving love." —Reese Witherspoon

"I’m just trying to matter and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody." —Reese Witherspoon

"I've realized that life is too short to spend my time with anybody who doesn't appreciate me, treat me with respect or bring value to the relationship." —Reese Witherspoon

"Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward." —Reese Witherspoon

"There’s something timeless and important about making people laugh, about being the right spot in their day." —Reese Witherspoon

"I’m trying to take the stigma off the word [ambitious] so we encourage more little girls to be ambitious, because I do think that’s how society will change." —Reese Witherspoon

"I want to make my life, not just my job, the best it can be. The rest will work itself out." —Reese Witherspoon

"I encourage women to step up. Don’t wait for somebody to ask you." —Reese Witherspoon

"All we can do to create change is work hard. That’s my advice: Just do what you do well." —Reese Witherspoon

Stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, as well as director Jon M. Chu, welcomed the cast with open arms — literally. "[They] would hug everyone who came in," he says. "The first day I think every actor had a minimum two-hour meeting with Jon just to walk through all of the designs and all the things and talk about character. And so from from the very beginning, it just felt like it's really safe...This huge movie is something that we've been waiting for for 20 years on a big scale with the biggest stars in the world, it could have felt really intimidating and it felt really familial immediately."

And part of that family dynamic meant there was a lot of laughing, even if there weren't too many pranks. "There was a lot of just hanging out and giggling on set. I think Jon and Michelle [Yeoh] have a real special — they go back and so they were really funny...All of the people in this cast from afar are so intimidating. It's Michelle Yeoh, like, it's Jeff Goldblum. And then in person, they're just down to clown and it was so fun. I don't know if [there were] pranks, I was too nervous to do pranks. And I think people were kind and didn't prank me, but there was a lot of giggles."

With Ariana Grande's natural humor and SNL star Bowen Yang, it's no wonder some of the funniest moments happened during the Shiz University scenes. "I cannot wait for like the roll out of everything that Bowen said that isn't in the movie, or Ari, honestly, said that isn't in the movie. Just take after take."

"It's hard not to [laughing while filming]," he continues. "I think we were pretty good. But the moments where somebody broke, it was always great. There's one that's seared into my memory of, in Doctor Dillamond's classroom, I don't remember what Ari said but she got Cynthia and it's just the two of them across the way and they're staring at each other and she got her so good. There's something really wonderful about breaking. It's delightful."

Another standout scene featuring the Shiz students is "Dancing Through Life," and the number's rehearsal is one of Ethan Slater's most memorable days on Wicked. "We had a rehearsal with, I don't know, maybe 100 dancers working on 'Dancing Through Life' and Jon came down, this was really early on and he gathered all the dancers around and he gave this speech [where] he basically told the story about how he fell in love with filmmaking," he says. "And it was because of dancers and it was because of the collaboration between dancers and the camera. And he was like, 'We're all in this together. And if you need anything, find me. I'm in the director's chair, but I'm accessible.' And he was, I would sit next to him and watch take after take and he would like point things [out]. He was just so generous."

Is directing something Ethan himself would be interested in? "There's so much I have to learn, but I'm excited to learn it," he says. "And I write and I love writing for the screen and all of that someday I would love to take that on. But I think I'm self aware enough to know that it might be a little ways down the line."

Now, bringing it back to the "Dancing Through Life" of it all, I couldn't help but dance in my seat throughout the song, and Ethan Slater promises it was just as fun to film as it is to watch. "[Jonathan Bailey] the most charismatic human on the planet, it's nuts," he says. "That whole scene was so fun and it was fun. Jonny and Ari are so funny, they're just an incredible duo and they're so funny individually."

"What you can't see is that even in the shots that I'm not in, I'm like, just right here [off camera]," he continues. "I'm just like really close by just out of frame which is like a little Easter egg just for me, you know, watching it and be like, 'Oh I was there!' But I just got to sort of be around in their orbit. They're magnetic, both of them."

While his character Boq spends the whole film nursing a huge crush on Glinda, Ethan Slater actually swept Ariana Grande off her feet IRL. The duo made headlines when they reportedly coupled up while filming, but Ethan says he still feels like a middle schooler when it comes to romance — and that "just existing" means he embarrasses himself in front of his crushes.

"I definitely am a person who suddenly can't speak or just be like, 'Oh my God, good morning and thank you for coming,'" he says, pretending to tear up. "That is kind of my MO and always has been. I think I've never left the place of feeling like a 7th grader." I guess we're all just fools in love!

"Dancing Through Life" is just one number Wicked fans have been looking forward to — "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" are two of the most recognizable showtunes, and they're so recognizable that a line from "Defying Gravity," "Everyone Deserves The Chance To Fly," became the tagline for the film.

"The message that 'what makes us different makes us unique' is really powerful, and I think it's two-fold," Ethan Slater says. "One is, it's empowering to each person that you do deserve it, you deserve happiness, you deserve to be seen and you deserve to do the great things that you want to be doing. But also as a directive, you know, the way that we treat others. It's not just me that deserves that, it's you. And making sure that you treat others the way that you would want to be treated, or to acknowledge the humanity in others that it's so easy to acknowledge in yourself. So I think it's both things. I think it's both empowering and it's like a good way to treat people."

What does Ethan pick when he wants to sing? (No, it's not Spongebob). "Honestly, if I just want to like belt at the top of my lungs, I go to Jesus Christ Superstar. I do "Heaven On Their Minds." It's so good. It's incredible. Talk about a great movie musical."

While the fan (and theatre kid) reactions have been incredible so far, Ethan Slater says he loved talking to the original Wicked cast. "I've become very close with Chris Fitzgerald, who was the original Boq and with Norbert Leo Butz who is the original Fiyero," he says. "So after they saw it, I got to talk with them a little bit about what it was like to see and that was really meaningful. Not just because they're friends of mine and not just because I look up to them, but because it meant a lot to me that I took care of Boq, this role that Chris created. And he's, the best of the best so that was really cool."