‘Malcolm & Marie’ Trailer: Zendaya Enters Oscar Season After History-Making Emmy Win

Zack Sharf
·2 min read
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Zendaya is moving from one awards season to the next as the upcoming Netflix launch of her feature film “Malcolm & Marie” follows her surprise Emmy win for “Euphoria” in September. Zendaya’s performance in the HBO high school drama took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, making her the youngest performer to ever win the category. Now with “Malcolm & Marie,” Zendaya is being campaigned for the Oscar race.

“Malcolm & Marie” stars “BlacKkKlansman” and “Tenet” favorite John David Washington and Zendaya as the title characters. Malcolm is a film director and Marie is his girlfriend. The two are forced to confront the nature of their relationship after they return home from the world premiere of his new project and await the critical reviews to begin pouring in online.

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Sam Levinson, the showrunner of “Euphoria” and a frequent director of the series, reunited with Zendaya for “Malcolm & Marie,” which they shot together in secret over the summer amid the pandemic. The cast and crew filmed the movie in a quarantine bubble under script safety precautions. The film only stars Zendaya and Washington and is set entirely in one location, which allowed the production to maintain the quarantine bubble the entire shoot. The film marks Levinson’s first feature since 2018’s “Assassination Nation.”

Following the production of “Malcolm & Marie,” Levinson and Zendaya went back to work on special episodes of “Euphoria” that will serve as a bridge between the first and second seasons of the HBO series. Production on “Euphoria” Season 2 was scheduled to begin in March, but the pandemic delayed the shoot until early 2021. In the meantime, Zendaya and Levinson shot “Malcolm & Marie” and two “Euphoria” special episodes. The first special, centered around Zendaya’s Rue, aired December 6 on HBO.

“Malcom & Marie” is a last minute addition to Netflix’s robust Oscar slate for the 2020-2021 awards season. The streaming giant picked up the black-and-white drama in September in a deal reportedly worth $30 million. The streamer is campaigning for Zendaya for Best Actress, but she’ll face tough competition from fellow Netflix contenders such as Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman” and Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

“Malcom & Marie” will begin streaming February 5 on Netflix. Watch the trailer for the drama in the video below.

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