Zendaya used pandemic lockdown as inspiration to create Malcolm & Marie with Euphoria’s Sam Levinson
She admitted to struggling with her identity off camera.
And Zendaya used time away from a conventional studio to create a role of a lifetime with Euphoria’s Sam Levinson for the two-person film, Malcolm & Marie.
The 24-year-old actress sought out various forms of expression during the pandemic lockdown as she chatted with GQ about diving down deep into who she is outside of the big screens.
Hard at work: Zendaya used time away from a conventional studio to create a role of a lifetime with Euphoria’s Sam Levinson for the two-person film, Malcolm & Marie
While the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown most of the country at one point or another, the film and television industry was not exempt from needing to figure out ways to safely operate.
Zendaya made herself a priority during the lockdown and found new ways to work on her art.
‘It was my first time just being like, “Okay, who am I without this?”‘ she said. ‘Which is a very scary thing to confront and work through, because I don’t really know Zendaya outside of the Zendaya who works. I didn’t realize how much my job and my art were a part of my identity as a human.’
Boss: The 24-year-old actress sought out various forms of expression during the pandemic lockdown as she chatted with GQ about diving down deep into who she is outside of the big screens
Perfecting her craft: Zendaya made herself a priority during the lockdown and found new ways to work on her art
Long talks with her friend and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson sparked interest in working on a drastically ‘stripped down’ movie.
Zendaya recalled Levinson’s informal pitch: ‘”What if I just stripped everything away? There’s no gimmick, no anything. What does that look like? What if it’s just a relationship piece? What if it’s just two people, one’s upset because the other one didn’t thank them for something, and they’re in one place? And that’s all it is.”‘
Levinson went on to create Malcolm & Marie, a black-and-white film about an unhappy couple exploring their relationship behind the walls of their own home.
‘It was my first time just being like, “Okay, who am I without this?”‘ she said. ‘Which is a very scary thing to confront and work through, because I don’t really know Zendaya outside of the Zendaya who works’
‘I didn’t realize how much my job and my art were a part of my identity as a human,’ she said
Actor: Levinson went on to create Malcolm & Marie, a black-and-white film about an unhappy couple exploring their relationship behind the walls of their own home
The movie was filmed in two weeks in a single location with a mostly Euphoria-backed crew, and also stars John David Washington.
‘[Marie] gave me an opportunity to use these words in a way,’ Zendaya said of what drew her to the role. ‘I don’t yell. I’m not a very argumentative person, but it’s nice to just release sh** and be able to … I don’t know, I guess emate would be the word? To just use her as this vessel to just get sh** out that maybe I had pent up or hadn’t said.’
Zendaya recently became the youngest woman to win an Emmy award for lead actress in a drama for her role as Rue in Euphoria, an honor she doesn’t take lightly.
‘In a lot of ways it feels like proving something to myself personally, yeah, but I feel like, I feel good about it for all of us,’ she said. ‘It feels like recognition that maybe we aren’t just like that little crazy show with the crazy kids, you know what I mean?
Star power: Zendaya recently became the youngest woman to win an Emmy award for lead actress in a drama for her role as Rue in Euphoria, an honor she doesn’t take lightly