New friends, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson appear on-screen together for the first time in A24's latest film, 'The Drama' - ahead of a gargantuan year which will also see the duo starring in the upcoming blockbusters, 'The Odyssey' and 'Dune: Part Three'.
In 'The Drama', Pattinson and Zendaya play a happily engaged couple, and Zendaya shares: "Charlie and Emma have to decide if it’s worth all the drama that comes with falling in love, settling down, and getting married. This is Kristoffer Borgli’s version of the romantic comedy, asking us how much we’re willing to accept from another person in the name of love. When everything is out on the table between two people, what’s left over in a relationship on the eve of saying ‘I do’?"
Zendaya further explains: "'The Drama' is funny, but it’s also deeply uncomfortable, and kind of scary - before it gets sweet and romantic, and then scary again. Kris is uniquely talented at writing about the things we’re not supposed to laugh at - and while we might feel uncomfortable with Charlie and Emma’s situation, it’s also easy to love them and feel hopeful for their future. 'The Drama' of it all is that it’s hard to wrap a relationship up into one thing."
And Pattinson says: "In romantic movies, a lot of ones I've read anyway, it's kind of more about the individual characters growing in themselves. And I thought this was just so romantic because they're not really falling apart, they're always trying to be in love with each other, and they're both very committed to being in love, and obstacles are getting in the way of that. I could be completely wrong, but I think there's something that feels unusually romantic in it, rather than just, 'Oh, they're growing as people,' and then what they learn is that the relationship is the most important thing to them."
Pattinson adds: "You can't really choose who you're in love with, I don't think... or maybe you can! <laughs> I don't know... What I found really interesting about the story was not only [that] the morality is very subjective and kind of subject to the milieu that you're in and the people, it's like, 'What does everyone know? And then I'll decide my morality.' Your personal morality is different to your group morality, and I think few people want to really admit that, but I think that it's more true than we like to admit."
While Zendaya and Pattinson were in Paris recently, Coup De Main spoke to our new favourite duo ahead of the film's release...
COUP DE MAIN: What can you tell us about 'The Damage' book written by Harper Ellison, which Emma is shown reading when she first meets Charlie? Kris' official website says: "The Damage is still taking shape in ways that aren’t yet defined." Is this a new film idea?
ZENDAYA: Oh yeah! <laughs>
KRISTOFFER BORGLI: No, it's just a title that's been popping up in a lot of my work. In my Norwegian feature, 'Sick Of Myself', there's an art exhibition called 'The Damage', and it's an inside joke with myself.
ZENDAYA: You just sprinkle it in.
ROBERT PATTINSON: Originally, people thought it was an adaptation. I remember when there was some clip that came out, or an image of that book, and everyone was like, "Oh yeah, it's an adaptation of 'The Damage'."
KRIS: I mean, good luck finding it!
"This was one of those scripts I went after because it felt so strikingly original - it was a page-turner that grabbed me right away," says Zendaya. "I felt connected to Charlie and Emma and their relationship, and I wanted it to work out for them no matter what happened - but as I read the script, I wasn’t sure what the outcome was going to be."
About her character, Zendaya says: "Emma is someone who is desperately seeking to belong and fit in - she wants to be part of Charlie’s life. From childhood, she’s been somebody who never quite found their tribe or community, instead finding that belonging in Charlie and his friend group... Charlie and Emma are both over-thinkers, and that’s where another messy line in this movie gets drawn - between the things you’ve done in your life and what you’ve thought about doing. These things that build up in our thoughts sometimes become scarier than what actually happened."
And Pattinson hints: "From Charlie’s perspective, Emma is this archetype of perfection. He can’t imagine she could possibly do anything wrong... You think you know someone, and they can say literally one sentence that maybe they don’t even realise they are saying. Suddenly, everything has changed, and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle."
"With every project that you take on, the idea is to explore something new in yourself, and I do think that each character teaches me something new about myself and unlocks something emotionally new," observes Zendaya. "With Emma, she has a fragility that I enjoyed trying to uncover, and there's a permanent or perpetual little girl in her that just really is seeking to be loved and accepted, and trying to balance that with also being a grown woman who has a life and is getting married and seeing that crack, and starting to see that very innocent, vulnerable childlike thing come out of her sometimes. I think we all have that - emotionally, we all kind of revert to our childlike selves. And whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't really know, but I think that was something that I enjoyed playing around with."
For his part, Pattinson says he wouldn't have been interested in a non-subversive romantic comedy: "You always look for something... I mean, you don't want to be prescriptive about how you want the audience to feel about something - I think the only thing you can do as an actor is try and find something where it's like, 'Ooohhh!' If it's pressing my buttons, then you can only hope it will press an audience's buttons as well, and create a frisson."
Zendaya also highlights: "I get a front-row seat to watching the transformation happening, which is really cool because I got to know Rob as Rob, but then I also got to meet Charlie, and then I've met his character on 'Dune', and they're so vastly different. You [Rob], maybe feel like, 'Oh, I don't know what I'm doing!' To me, it looks like a fully formed thing that he's created. I really enjoy watching you just fully fall into a new creation, and it's really cool to see, not just on camera, but in real life."
And some final words from Zendaya about the film's plot-twist: "There’s going to be a lot of interest around what Emma’s big revelation is in the movie, and while I think that revelation is important and pivotal, it’s about so much more than that. What happens to Charlie and Emma in the wake of her confession becomes the ultimate test of love and acceptance in a relationship, and what you’re willing to do in the name of love... 'The Drama' is an emotional rollercoaster without a clear-cut happy ending or resolution - every time I see it with family and friends, there’s a long conversation afterwards about Emma’s plight. You will have debates about love, acceptance, morality. There’s so much in the movie to talk about and wrestle with."
'The Drama' is playing now in New Zealand cinemas.
Watch the trailer below...
