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 Zendaya, 24, whose work on the
young adult drama "Euphoria" made her the
youngest woman to win a best actress Emmy, stars
with John David Washington in the film arriving
on Netflix on Friday.
The couple play a rising filmmaker (Malcolm) and
his girlfriend (Marie) over the course of one
tense night after a showbusiness event in which
Malcolm forgets to thank Marie for inspiring his
movie.
"Now that I have done this movie, I will never
make that mistake," laughed Zendaya.
While the coronavirus pandemic continues to
upend the movie industry, "Malcolm & Marie" is a
film that would not have been made without it.
Shot last summer entirely in a private home in
northern California, it was the first major
movie to be conceived and completed entirely
under pandemic restrictions, at a time when
production, including on "Euphoria," was shut
down.
"I definitely wouldn't have made this movie
under normal circumstances," said Sam Levinson,
the creator of "Euphoria," who also wrote and
directed "Malcolm & Marie."
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 "This movie was born out of the
idea of, can we tell a story given the
restrictions of COVID? Can we get our 'Euphoria'
family back to work? Can we make a movie that
doesn't compromise in terms of emotional scope,
cinematic scope?" he added.
Levinson and the 22 cast and crew became
pioneers in establishing testing protocols,
social distancing and quarantine procedures that
have since become standard for filmmaking in
Hollywood.
"I felt like the entire town was watching us...
so there was a kind of pressure," said
Washington.
The financing was structured so that all the
crew, and the charity Feeding America, would
have a cut of any profits.
"The fact that we were able to get back to work
at all in any form was hopeful, but it was
important that we also take care of other
people," said Zendaya.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Rosalba
O'Brien)
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