Zendaya Spent 2020 Rejecting Movie Scripts With Boring Female Characters

Zendaya has spent the past year turning down scripts that only feature the one-dimensional female character. the sole purpose of all those characters was to serve men.

The actress and the blockbuster stars in the upcoming Netflix film, Malcolm & Marie with John David Washington have already created Oscar buzz as early reviews love her performance. The movie was written and directed by Euphoria creator, Sam Levinson and will premiere on Netflix by February 5.

Malcolm & Marie was shot over a span of two weeks during the coronavirus pandemic. The movie is a black-and-white portrait of an up and coming filmmaker and his long term girlfriend. The couple confronts their relationship’s demons after Malcolm fails to thank Marie at his movie premiere.

The Netflix film takes place in a Los Angeles home as the focus is solely on the characters. Marie seems to be a rather compelling character from the trailer itself. However, this is not Zendaya’s first role which is multi-dimensional.

The actress plays a recovering drug addict in Euphoria named Rue and as Michelle Jones (MJ) in Marvel’s Spider-Man films. The two ventures are some of the actress’s standout roles. She opened up about her past year as she revealed that she spent 2020 turning down scripts that don’t have interesting characters.

According to an entertainment portal, Zendaya received a load of offers the past year but only a few of them piqued her interest. She shared how the female characters lacked having their own personal arcs. The actress said it majorly revolved around the men in the story.

Emmy-Winner Zendaya Will Choose Character That Push Her

Zendaya felt like the roles would not have pushed her as an actress because they were similar and repetitive. She said, “It’s not necessarily that any of [the scripts] were bad or something like that. I just felt like a lot of the roles that I was reading, specifically female roles, were just like, I could have played them all as the same person and it wouldn’t have mattered, if that makes sense.”

The Emmy winner further shared that the best way to describe it would be that they “usually serve the purpose of helping the male character get to where they need to go, do what they need to do.” She revealed how those characters feel very one-dimensional as there are not a lot of layers to them.

Zendaya added, “And they usually feel very one-dimensional in the sense that there’s not a lot of layers to them, meaning they all seem very kind of like the same person over and over and over again. It would have been great and it would have been fine, but I wouldn’t have grown at all.”

The actress is also a part of the upcoming movie, Dune, and can be selective. However, female actresses should not have be selective as they should be able to find complex roles, with their own arcs. Someone as young as Zendaya being selective about her roles is encouraging for the industry as well as women.

Her superhit ventures including Euphoria, Malcolm & Marie, and Dune is just the start for the Emmy winner. When it comes to choosing characters, Zendaya’s patience could surely get her an Oscar sooner than anyone.