Here are some photos of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson at last night’s Paris premiere of The Drama. Zendaya loves a theme, as does her stylist Law Roach, so you can imagine what they’re doing sartorially for a film about a wedding. In my opinion, they’re kind of phoning it in? Oh, bridal white 24-7? Groundbreaking. It’s not that I dislike bridal looks or Zendaya, I just wish someone had more imagination than this. Zendaya’s dress at this premiere was Louis Vuitton – it’s fine. Robert even made more of an effort to look like a “groom” and some French person handed him a bouquet, which he gamely posed with like he was a bridesmaid who caught it out of the air.
*****MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW******
Meanwhile, now that critics and preview audiences have started seeing The Drama, the big “shock” at the center of the story has been revealed. The trailers edited around Zendaya’s character revealing the twist/spoiler, and just showed how her big reveal completely threw off everyone and everything ahead of the wedding. Well, now we know the spoiler: Zendaya’s character planned a school shooting but didn’t go through with it. That had been widely theorized, so I’m not super-surprised, and I’m still interested in seeing how that revelation is dramatized and how it plays out. You know who’s not eager to see it dramatized? Basically every person who lost a family member in a school shooting. A Columbine family member has already condemned The Drama:
Zendaya’s dark rom-com “The Drama” isn’t in theaters until next week … and its shocking twist is already being denounced by someone closely connected to a related tragedy. Here’s the deal … the A24 flick starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson is being marketed as a fun wedding flick … but a dark plot twist is shocking the hell out of early unsuspecting viewers … and the news has spread.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead!
Tom Mauser — whose son Daniel was murdered in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre — tells TMZ … he’s disgusted the movie’s twist is Zendaya’s character confessing to her fiancé, played by Pattinson, she planned a high school shooting — but got cold feet at the last moment.
Mauser — an outspoken gun reform activist ever since his son was murdered — says he’s completely floored that anyone would think a school shooting would be a good fit for a romantic comedy, even a dark one … and tells us it’s “awful” that of all the shocking twists to make someone rethink their partner … this is where the filmmakers landed.
Mauser tells us … he was particularly irked by Zendaya recently on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, where Mauser thought she was laughing off the twist — as Jimmy seemed to be talking how it would impact some viewers much more seriously.
Mauser feels the subject in a rom-com starring a beloved actress like Zendaya “humanizes” shooters — and “normalizes” the shootings. To reiterate … Z’s character did not go through with the shooting — and mass violence is not depicted in the film.
To be clear … Mauser doesn’t think anyone who has ever considered violence, but not gone through with it, should be condemned — on the contrary, he’s encouraging anyone who has had these ideations to go talk it out with a therapist. However, Mauser doesn’t want it to be used for entertainment. We’re out to A24 for comment … so far, no word back.
I also wonder how producers and A24 have prepared to answer questions about this issue, because they absolutely knew that they would get pushback, right? Did they believe that everyone would just keep the big spoiler to themselves and there would be zero commentary about this huge, tragic issue? Now, I don’t believe that the film is “playing it for laughs” – the story is clearly about how the big reveal affects everything, and how everyone in her life looks at her differently. All that being said, the families who lost children in school shootings have every right to feel however they feel, and they absolutely have the right to speak out and use this film to advance their own issues.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
