Zendaya and RPattz together in New York

The Drama opens Friday, and due to scheduling—we’re dark on Friday and the screening was too late in the week—my review won’t come until next week, but… We’re definitely talking about this one.

Spoilers for the drama within The Drama have been circulating online for weeks, but what I am really pondering is how all the media questioning #MeToo, or the work of third-wave feminism, or even just the basic idea of autonomous women existing outside of men, keeps putting the problem on women, not interrogating male dominated spaces and systems that demand obedience from women (see also: After The Hunt, Tár). Men keep making movies about badly behaved women as if it is some kind of gotcha. It is getting boring, my guys!

Anyway, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are making their final press push for The Drama. They were in New York yesterday, making multiple appearances. Zendaya was at Good Morning America in the morning, in a cute tulle overlay outfit:

Outside the studio, she wore a feather-and-tweed ensemble. This is looking less bridal and more “recent widow arriving at the will reading”.

Later, RPattz and Z appeared together on The Tonight Show. RPattz is predictably chaotic, but I genuinely believe Zendaya enjoys him. I mean, I hope she does, they have like a million movies coming out together this year, they’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.

You know what’s crazy? We’re almost at the 20^th anniversary of Twilight. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as we creep toward that milestone, because Twilight is what brought Lainey and I together. But also—reject the progress of time like I reject men making movies about problematic women!

Definitely movies about problematic women can and should be made, these are interesting stories to tell, and depths to plumb. I’m just real tired of dudes thinking that a movie centered on a difficult woman is some kind of big statement, especially when there is nothing to back it up but aesthetics. Like I’m now more concerned about Mother Mary, which comes out in a couple weeks and is also being released by A24, except they are not promoting it at all. I generally have more faith in David Lowery than I do most other filmmakers, but the lack of promotion, and my near-total exhaustion with men telling stories about difficult women like merely showing bad behavior proves something, is making me worry. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of The Drama.