Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and the Art of Promoting Everything at Once
‘The Drama’ costars have two more blockbusters together this year — a flex, and a warning, about modern stardom
Today’s long-awaited debut of A24’s The Drama brings an end to weeks of film-nerd fretting about being spoiled for the movie’s much-hyped, still-semi-secret twist. (I still haven’t seen the film, about a couple whose relationship becomes unmoored after a secret is revealed before their wedding, so keep it to yourself!) But The Drama’s arrival will also conclude what’s been an undeniable highlight of these early days of spring: yet another all-timer celebrity press tour.
Robert Pattinson and Zendaya have both been pounding the pavement hard on behalf of the movie from director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario), which will be A24’s latest attempt to subvert the rom-com formula after their quiet hit Materialists last summer (Celine Song’s rom-dram grossed more than $107 million worldwide). Zendaya surprised people at a Vegas wedding chapel — and convincingly seemed as excited as the regular people there — and she’s, of course, also been wearing eye-popping red-carpet looks imbued with all kinds of symbolism. (I’ll count her reluctance to confirm her marital status with Tom Holland as part of The Drama‘s promotional tour, too.)
Pattinson, meanwhile, has been getting increasingly loopy in what should be rote interviews and running a real risk of making his press tour better and more memorable than the movie he’s promoting.
This also happened just a few months ago, when he and Jennifer Lawrence hit the circuit hard to promote Die My Love, their exceedingly challenging marital drama that Mubi had picked up for a whopping $25 million at Cannes. The stakes were high, and Lawrence and Pattinson put their all into it, doing joint interviews that showed off their excellent chemistry and ease with each other. Unfortunately, it didn’t translate into results, as Die My Love grossed just $11 million worldwide and received no major award nominations. (Not that a movie about Lawrence’s character having a nervous breakdown while her ineffectual onscreen husband, played by Pattinson, pops in and out of the narrative screamed mass appeal anyway.)
The outlook is a bit better for The Drama, which could open with as much as $15 million in North America as counterprogramming to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. If the film is a hit, it will be yet more proof that movie stars really can still sell movies — coming as Ryan Gosling continues to lead Project Hail Mary to box office heights and just a few months after Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s own press tour hustle helped get the oddball adaptation of Wuthering Heights to $236 million worldwide. The Drama is probably unlikely to get that far — especially if the film’s central twist is too much for general audiences to bear — but no matter what, it’s laying the groundwork for what’s ahead: You’d better like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, because they’re about to be everywhere.
The Drama is the first of three movies the stars have together this year, though the only one that will be sold entirely on their presence. They’re part of the massive ensemble of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, opening July 17, although there’s no guaranteeing how much screen time either of them will have with a cast that includes Matt Damon, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron and more. Then there’s Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three, which, while led by Timothée Chalamet (also booked and busy!), promises more of the action-star intensity Zendaya brought to the second Dune film, and then also Pattinson looking like a clone of Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner. (Will his character have a weird voice? You can basically guarantee it.)
On top of all of that, Zendaya has the new season of Euphoria coming in just a few weeks, and will also be back with Holland for a fourth Spider-Man adventure, with Brand New Day opening just a few weeks after The Odyssey in July. (Holland is also in The Odyssey, so if the two of them really did just get married, the press tour may count as part of their honeymoon.) Pattinson is settling for being in just two guaranteed blockbusters this year, but he’s also got the Netflix heist movie Here Comes the Flood on the horizon, in which he co-stars with Denzel Washington and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Writing all of this out does make me feel a little concerned that while we do still have movie stars, we might not have enough of them to round out all these all-star casts — I didn’t even get into Anne Hathaway, who, yes, is also in The Odyssey and four other movies this year. (More on one of those titles shortly.) Zendaya herself has been joking that she’ll have to “go into hiding” after this run to make sure audiences don’t get sick of her, and though that doesn’t feel possible right now, she knows that genuine stardom is a commodity you can’t overextend.
Still, that’s in the future. For now, congratulations to Pattinson and Zendaya and the architects of their press tours, their stylists and whoever came up with that relationship hotline idea. You have reminded us of the power of stardom and hopefully sold your movie — plus several other blockbusters coming later this year, which A24 has nothing to do with — in the process.
I really cannot get enough of the spooky (maybe even witchy?) promos we’ve been getting for A24’s Mother Mary, the next film from the chameleonic director David Lowery (A Ghost Story, Pete’s Dragon) with the aforementioned Anne Hathaway in the lead role. The latest tease includes one of many original songs written for Hathaway’s pop star character — this one, “My Mouth Is Lonely For You,” is by FKA Twigs, who also has a role in the film. I’m not really even clear on what this film is about beyond the complex relationship between the characters played by Hathaway and Michaela Coel (who, with The Christophers out in April, is also having a big spring) — but I don’t even care! Bring me more spooky vibes that feel like Lowery’s The Green Knight brought to modern times, and I’ll be seated.
If there is a movie star shortage that’s forcing Hollywood to rotate so many of the same ones in and out of this summer’s blockbusters, it might be because a lot of them are still heading over to TV. From the looks of this first trailer for Apple TV’s Cape Fear limited series, the pulpy story is definitely being elevated by the presence of Amy Adams, Patrick Wilson and especially Javier Bardem. The Oscar winner is brave enough to step into the psycho killer role of Max Cady, which has already been played by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 thriller and Robert Mitchum in the 1962 original. I wouldn’t say we exactly needed another Cape Fear, particularly in the limited series format that threatens to drag out and diminish the gruesome tension that makes the first two so special. But as a huge fan of Bardem going way over-the-top in an entirely different genre (Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile hive, where you at?), I confess I am really looking forward to spending my summer watching him go truly nuts in this one. Launching June 5, Cape Fear is landing right outside this year’s Emmy contention window — all the better to enjoy its thrills guilt-free.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie may be booting Project Hail Mary off IMAX screens this weekend, but never fear, projectionists of the world — you may still have your chance to capture your own viral photo of the giant screen. The Wrap reports that IMAX intends to bring the Phil Lord and Chris Miller film back to the large-format screen in the coming weeks, presumably in a manner similar to how Sinners kept returning to IMAX theaters throughout last year. With The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three both promising to be their own giant IMAX events later this year, there may be precious few weeks this year when you can’t see something incredible on large-format screens. Moviegoing is still facing its challenges, sure, but that’s a damn good incentive to keep audiences coming back.