Can’t wait to watch these two and this movie. ~ Vida
The Hollywood Reporter’s awards columnist reacts to the official unveiling of Netflix’s latest hopeful for the 93rd Academy Awards.
Sometimes good things really do come to those who wait.
During normal times, Oscar hopefuls must show their hands by the time the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Day. But, in light of the ongoing pandemic, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extended this season’s submission deadline to Feb. 28. As a result, a handful of rumored hopefuls have still yet to be seen by the vast majority of voters or members of the public, leaving open the possibility of an unusually late-arriving contender upsetting the race.
On Friday, such a contender emerged — or at least became un-embargoed among the awards press — in the form of Malcolm & Marie, a Netflix drama written and directed by Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya (the Emmy-winning leading lady of Levinson’s HBO series Europhia) and John David Washington (Denzel’s son, who was heretofore seen in BlacKkKlansman and Tenet).
In the film, Washington and Zendaya are a couple living together somewhere near Hollywood. He plays a promising young director and she plays an actress still waiting for her break. Their relationship is tested after they return from the world premiere of a movie that he directed, which could make or break his career, and begin pushing each other’s buttons while waiting for the reviews to come in. It all starts because he forgot to include her in his thank-yous — in other words, he Chad Lowe’d her — ahead of a movie that, it turns out, was inspired by her past struggles.
On Netflix February 5.
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