Zendaya says she took on her 'dream role' in 'Malcolm & Marie'

Zendaya and John David Washington are about to bless our screens with their black-and-white love story, Malcolm & Marie, set to be released on February 5. Euphoria creator/writer/director Sam Levinson re-teamed with Zendaya and brought in Washington to tell the story of filmmaker Malcolm (Washington) and his actress girlfriend Marie (Zendaya), who return home after a movie premiere as he awaits his financial success. The evening turns from celebratory to critical as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, and the couple tests the strength of their love.

Zendaya and John David Washington spoke with etalk’s Tyrone Edwards, who revealed that he kept debating whose side to take after watching the movie twice. Was Malcolm or Marie right? 

Washington told Tyrone that the answer to that question depends on who’s asking it. “In your relationship with love, in your relationship with what you do, in this case, it’s film for Malcolm and acting for Marie. This movie brings up a lot of questions. It’s an examination of self, of relationship, and who you are in that relationship and what kind of support you’re looking for and what you’re actually willing to do for love.” 

He continued, “If you really love somebody, if you’re really into this idea of being with somebody forever, can you handle true and brutal honestly? Now, personally, I don’t have the same tactics, but I do appreciate the call and response to one another and how they do listen to one another and how they are honest with one another. Maybe going a little bit too far, but what does 'too far' mean when you’re in something meaningful?”

Zendaya is one of Hollywood’s hardest-working actors right now. From her Best Actress Emmy win last September for her work as Rue in Euphoria to her numerous magazine covers and projects she’s currently working on, the momentum just keeps going. She told Tyrone that she's "incredibly grateful" to be able to act for a living.

"I get to do the one thing in the world that most want to be doing, and I get to do it professionally. I get to call it my job, and that in and of itself is incredibly special and is a privilege," the Emminy-winner said. "I think I’ve only grown in gratitude for it through all of this. Now I cherish every moment that I have when I get to do it with people that I really care about and respect, specifically in this movie."

The 24-year-old actress said they created Malcolm & Marie "as a family." She continued, "We all put in our own money and produced it together. I think it was written for us and that’s something. When your dream role comes across, and it’s also written for you, I really couldn’t have asked for something more special. It’s a dream role. I knew that if we couldn’t do it now, it would be the next movie that I would want to do."

"All I can do in my world is just continue to try and be a better person and to do work that I’m proud of and do it the right way. Hopefully, the world will embrace that; that’s all you can really hope for," Zendaya added. "But as long as you do it from a space of love for what you do and gratitude for what you do, that’s at least how I try to do it."

Director Levinson told Tyrone that if COVID-19 weren’t an issue, he would have 100 per cent done Malcolm & Marie as a play on stage. Levinson also explained how they came up with the idea for a movie that brought their Euphoria team, including the crew, back together.

"We were shut down from Euphoria a day before starting Season 2, so all the adrenaline was there, all the excitement. We had spent so much time talking about Rue’s journey in Season 2, which was a pretty nutty journey. When we put a hold on it, there was this kind of silence that I think everyone was feeling.," Levinson explained. "We would just hop on the phone and talk about life and what was going on in the world. The more we spoke, the more we became interested in ‘how do we find a way to get back to work, to get our crew back to work' because these are people who are expecting paycheques."

He said that he was the one who told his crew members to not take other jobs because they were set and ready to film Season 2. "Part of it was an exercise just in 'can we tell a story that’s creative, that’s engaging with the bare minimum and at the same time how can we get our Euphoria team back to work?'" he added.

Levinson, who struggled with addiction when he was younger, said he wants to show the shame that people who battle addiction feel in characters like Rue and in the film, Malcolm & Marie. “The thing that I felt that I hadn’t seen in shows that dealt with addiction or characters that dealt with addiction is that shame, and how hard it is to unpack it and deal with it and the idea or concept of 'are you worthy of forgiveness? Can you forgive yourself?' Which are some of the toughest questions to wrestle with as a human being."

Levinson said that he was interested in showing a different version of Rue‘s story with Malcolm & Marie. “It’s a possible avenue of where she could go if she were to get her life together, get clean. I liked it as sort of an extension of that character but also sort of throwing in some other stuff but still dealing with things that are very personal and true to me.”

BEFORE YOU GO: Zendaya in talks to star as Ronnie Spector in new biopic

[video_embed id='2046075']BEFORE YOU GO: Zendaya in talks to star as Ronnie Spector in new biopic[/video_embed]