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Watching @Zendaya in “Malcom & Marie” reminded me of watching Elizabeth Taylor in “Virginia Wolfe” — vibrant and raw, but also nuanced and subtle. Such beautiful work. It also reminded me of the time I met her and she made me a fan for life (thread):
When my kid was 6 or 7, she was a massive fan of “Shake it Up.” My BFF from film school was directing Zendaya and @bellathorne in a music video for the show and he invited us to visit the set. 2/
We get to set and my kid is geeking out. Bella very sweetly comes over to say hi. My kid had met her a few months earlier on the set of the show I was writing at the time. My kid was super excited but also wanted to meet Z, who she hadn’t yet met. 3/
After shooting a dance sequence, Z went to her dressing room, so it didn’t took like we’d get to meet her. But then this brother my age comes over and says, “your little girl reminds me of my daughter.” It was Z’s dad. 4/
Z’s dad asks if my kid wants to meet her. She nods, literally speechless. He tells me I can hang out with my buddy and he’ll take the kid to the dressing room. So I hang on set for a few as my buddy preps the next set up. 5/
But after a while, I’ve got that panicked look on my face that parents get when their kid has been out of view for too long. Suddenly this woman comes over and says “you’re the dad. I’ll take you to the girls.” It was Zendaya’s mom and she takes me to the dressing room. 6/
We walk in and I don’t remember what I expected to find, but what I did not expect was to find my kid sitting on Zendaya’s lap and cackling as the make-up artist tried to do touch-ups. I think there may have been older sisters in the room but can’t remember for sure. 7/
Anyway, I started to apologize because clearly the kid was distracting Zendaya. But Z looked up in the mirror and said “she’s good,” and told me they were having fun and she’d bring the kid back up when make-up was done. 8/
I was shocked, partly because teens that age don’t always love kids and also Zendaya was already a pro who had to do this all the time. But as we walked out, her mom said she loves kids and she knows how important it is for little girls to have role models who look like them. 9/
This was when Zendaya was probably 17. To think she was so generous to a random little girl because she knew how important moments like that could be was stunning and inspiring. And the thing is, she was right. My kid still says “best day ever” when she talks about it. 10/
But more importantly, after growing up watching Zendaya and @skaijackson and @marsaimartin on screen since she was little, my kid just shot her first scene in a movie last week (Covid protocols and all) inspired by all of these young Black girl role models. 11/
This wasn’t meant to be about my kid’s acting. That’s her own story to tell. My point is that Zendaya was a generous and thoughtful young woman backstage as a teen and she’s brilliant on screen as an adult and I’m rooting for her and she’s great in M&M and in real life. Ok done.
