Cynthia Erivo in her new film Prima Facie Wicked star Cynthia Erivo is set to return to our screens later this year in her new movie Prima Facie. Based on the one-woman play of the same name, Cynthia takes the lead as a barrister, Tessa, a character originally played by Jodie Comer on both the West End and Broadway, who represents herself in a troubling sexual assault case. Following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sunday night, the movie sparked a range of different opinions – but the British actor’s leading performance has been repeatedly singled out for praise. Deadline’s review said that Prima Facie once again shows Cynthia as a “fine dramatic actor” who “does what she can with the ambiguity of a role where the legal chairs are suddenly shuffled”, but lamented that “in this more literal film version something may have gotten lost in translation” compared to the critically-lauded source material. The Hollywood Reporter agreed that the adaptation was a “misfire” and “a near-total muddle”, even if Cynthia …