HOLLYWOOD INSIDER

There is no stopping Zendaya now

Los Angeles — If there is one person you should be watching now, it's Zendaya.

On top of singing and acting, the talented 24-year-old is now also branching out to producing.

Charming and smart as well, the Oakland, California native started as a child model and a backup dancer. After landing memorable roles in movies like "The Greatest Showman," "Spider-Man: Homecoming" — and we can't wait for her in "Dune" — Zendaya is venturing out to produce her latest black-and-white romantic drama film, “Malcolm & Marie,” which is directed by her “Euphoria” director, Sam Levinson.

Zendaya portrays Marie, the girlfriend of filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington), who after the premiere of Malcolm’s movie, returns home and questions her boyfriend about a lot of things from his speech to his behavior to his film which ultimately tests their relationship and love for each other.

We were able to talk to Zendaya and below are some of her thoughts on being a producer, working with Denzel Washington’s son John David, her continuing collaboration with Sam Levinson, the importance of paying attention to the “little things in life,” and how she keeps herself entertained during the lockdown and pandemic.

You are not only the actress here but are also a producer. What drew you to this film?

Funny but it was me who drew to this film. I asked Sam (Levinson) during quarantine what we can do and after many ideas back and forth, he wrote this film. He showed it to me after 10 pages and we discussed it for hours on end. He wrote the script for me and for John (David Washington) and we had a lot of conversation. It was really special and I had a different approach to this film because I felt like I was living through it.

How different was it to shoot during the pandemic?

There was a lot of protocol put in place so that we could do it safely and make sure that everybody was taken care of. The whole experience was very different. We definitely went about it with no blueprint, we were creating our own mapping for how to do this safely. And there was a lot of precautions taken, we kind of created this bubble where once we all got to the location we weren’t allowed to leave.

That allowed for us all to live in the space together while we were quarantining before we started shooting. And it was such a small crew that we all just had to do five different jobs. I was doing my hair and makeup and I was trying to remember my continuity and I was helping on the script when we were working on it and I was bringing my own clothes for set dec if we need clothes and all these kinds of things…re-cooking mac and cheese when the take was over.

So it was really everybody had to multitask and had to help out and I think it even contributed to this family kind of feeling that was on set because we already kind of…it was already “Euphoria” family anyway.

But it was so nice everybody had each other’s back. Because otherwise, we would never be able to finish it or get anything done, but everybody really stepped up and helped out whenever it was needed.

This film also stresses that the so-called little things in life like a simple “thank you” or an acknowledgment count. Do you agree? 

What this experience taught me was that the “little things in life” are important like saying thank you, I love you and appreciating things.

When I see something beautiful, I try to take it in and appreciate it and not just take a photo of it with my phone. When my dog is barking, I try to play with him because that’s what makes life beautiful. Your conversations with your grandma or your best friends are important. We have to learn to take in those moments.

I read that during this lockdown, you tried to entertain yourself by performing at least one hour for your assistant by wearing a different costume and wig every day. Can you tell me more about that?

(Laughs) I am a performer and I miss acting so in order to make myself excited for the day, I put on a plethora of wigs and be a different person every day and I have different skits every day. I know it sounds ridiculous but it brings us a lot of humor every day.

How was the experience of working closely with John David Washington? Is he a funny guy? Serious guy?

John is so lovely, kind, sweet and a wonderful person. He is the complete opposite of Malcolm, the character he plays, who is combative or confrontational. He is so sweet. This is a testament to his acting. He can really transform his acting and be the character that he is supposed to be. He can also add humor in Malcolm as well. He is so beautiful to watch. He gave me so much to work with and he gave me reason to up my game.

You have worked with Sam Levinson in “Euphoria” and now “Malcolm & Marie.” What is it about Sam that makes you love working with him?

He is a great collaborator. He writes something and I question it. He does the same thing with my performance if I am not connecting. He lets me know. He tells me exactly what he thinks and that is how a good creative collaboration is supposed to go. He really ups my game.

Sam and I are incredibly close. I talk to him every day. And he really served I think, through the quarantine as kind of like a creative lighthouse for me. And I’m very grateful because even from “Euphoria” he’s seen me in every form, he’s seen me in my roughest days, in my most vulnerable moments and we’ve had so many conversations about pretty much any and everything.

And I think a lot of that kind of also was part of these conversations that “Malcolm and Marie” deal with and he wrote it, not because I asked him to really, I was like, 'I want to create something and maybe we could do something in my house or whatever.'

And once he had that idea, he wrote it for me and John David and he also wrote it too, I think the woman that he’s growing to see…like grow in front of his eyes and who I’m becoming. I think that although there are a lot of things that are different with Marie and myself there are a lot of similarities.

I also at times, not proud to admit it, I think we all find ourselves a little bit in Malcolm, we must admit. So Sam is also equally parts Marie and then it’s also part fiction so it’s about finding and navigating that. And I think I’m incredibly grateful for that collaborative process that all of us had together to really just dig through the material.

And he has no ego in that sense; he just believes that the best idea wins. And he invites people to challenge his work and to ask the questions that need to be asked. And we’re very honest with each other, if he writes something that I think is B.S. I’ll tell him and vice versa if I do a performance that he feels isn’t right or isn’t connecting or I’m not giving what I need to give, he’ll tell me and I think that honesty is really crucial to be able to have a real productive creative relationship. So I’m very grateful for that, it’s very open.

How do you deal with fame?

You know, it's interesting because I don't know. It's been so much a part of my life because I started this when I was like 13 years old so it's kind of just been my normal in a lot of senses but I have a fantastic support system. 

I have a lot of siblings, wonderful parents, people who just protect me and love me and I think those people are the ones that make what I do possible because it's not always easy so that support system is really important and if I ever need to talk to anyone or I always know that I have someone I can call; someone that I can reach out to; someone that has my back. So I'm very lucky in that sense that I have that grounding and I have that level of support.

The responsibilities of a teen idol — are they a burden or a blessing?

I choose to look at it as a blessing. I think if you look at it as a burden it's going to feel like a burden. I'm incredibly grateful for the people that I've been able to grow up with and have watched me grow up and watched my career from when I was a child and I think that when you have people sometimes from all ages kind of come up to you and say that they've connected to your work or that something that you did without even knowing it was able to kind of positively affect their life or connect with them, I think that is like such a gift. 

That's so special that there's somebody in the world who felt moved by something that you did and I think we all kind of have that. You know, there's our favorite movie or song or something that's gotten us through a tough time or felt like helped us feel a little bit more seen and less alone. 

I mean, it really is that stuff is special, and it means something to someone so I think that definitely gives me purpose in what I do and I definitely choose to look at it all as a gift because I get to live my dreams. There's not a lot of people that get to say that they get to do their favorite thing in the world for a living. I'm so lucky so I have nothing to complain about.

What gave you the idea to write a book called “Between You and Me” and who is it for?

I did that when I was quite young. I didn't know that I could write a book and I think it was just something that I wanted to take on. It seemed like a cool thing that I could do. I think it's good for how old I was which is probably like 16 or 15 years old when I did it so hopefully it's not too embarrassing now looking back at it (laughs) that now that I'm a grown up but, it was cool then and it's cool to say that like at 15 I was able to do something like that.  It's weird looking back at it because it was so long ago.

The movie is one of the best movies about love. Since it is almost Valentine’s Day, tell us your idea of love?

(laughs) Well, love is something that you can’t really control sometimes. It’s just this feeling that is special and I know that I feel it for a lot of different things. I feel it for my work, I have a true love for my work, I have a deep love for my family, my friends, and I think a key factor in love, which is a huge kind of point to this movie, is acknowledging the people that we love. And sometimes we fail to do that, and I think it’s important for us to reflect on that and make sure that we do acknowledge those people in our life who make life worth living. 

It could mean a partner for you or it could be like your parents or your best friend or your child, whatever that looks like for you, just reaching out to those people and having gratitude for those people is so important and that’s part of love, is sharing that gratitude and acknowledging each other.

I like your name and I heard there is an interesting story behind it. Can you please share it with us?

(laughs) It’s interesting because I wish it was even more fascinating than this, but it really is just this: My parents wanted a name with, and they wanted it to come from an African language, they did a lot of different research about that. And then there was a word from a specific language that meant to give thanks. But then my dad has this thing for Zs, because a lot of other siblings have Zs in their names, and he wanted a Z in there.  And he was also studying martial arts at the time, so Zen kind of played in there. And it kind of ended up becoming this like fictional name.  (laughs) So it’s part made up, part fiction, part true. — LA, GMA News