It should come as no surprise that Zendaya has plenty of ideas about possible upcoming Hollywood projects. After all, the former Disney star, 25, grew up in the industry so she’d know what stories were lacking or overlooked — and she’s not afraid to talk about it.
Now, not only is the Emmy-winning star gearing up for the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and the hotly-anticipated second season of Euphoria, but she’s also pitching a possible idea for her next project and we’re officially obsessed with it.
See also: The richest former Disney stars in 2021.
During a chat with her Euphoria costar Colman Domingo for Interview magazine, Zendaya suggested a Hollywood script that chronicled “a simple love story about two Black girls” that doesn’t revolve around hardships or trauma.
“I don’t want it to be rooted in anything other than just a story about two people falling in love and that’s it,” she said. “Something simple and beautiful that leaves you happy and wanting to fall in love yourself… [I] feel I just haven’t seen that without it dealing more with the traumatic side of things — which is really important to talk about, but I would love a coming-of-age story where awkward and funny things happen, just like when any other young person is trying to figure out who they are.”
Related: Disney-star to style icon: Zendaya’s style evolution.
According to the 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report, audiences are showing up more than ever for films featuring diversity. For example, films with casts that were at least 21 per cent minority had the highest online viewings among all racial groups in the highly-coveted 18–49 age category. In addition, women and people of colour saw a considerable increase in job opportunities including as lead actors, writers and directors. That being said, people of colour and women are still severely underrepresented as directors and are only typically at the helm of low-budget movies. Enter: Zendaya?
As the Dune star added in her chat with Interview, “Our existence is broad and expansive and beautiful, and to see all the different emotional colors of what it means to be a young Black girl — I would like to see that because I don’t think I’ve seen many depictions of it.”
We’d love to see that too, Zendaya. Consider our tickets purchased.
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