Zendayais reacting to the backlash directed at her new Netflix filmMalcolm& Marie.
Many of the film’s critics pointed towards Levinson, 36, being a white man directing a movie about black leads. In a review forThe Guardian, critic Robert Daniels wrote the film “initially has good intentions – defending black art – but once Levinson begins positing his gripes through Malcolm (Washington), a black man, his sincere aims trend toward being selfishly malicious.”
“If Levinson only used Malcolm to extricate white critical blindspots concerning interpreting the value of black art through a white lens,” Daniels continues, “Malcolm & Mariewould be a fresh dose of truth serum. Levinson, a white director, uses Malcolm as a black shield for his real target, not the critics who analyze black works, but the ones who interpret his.”
John David Washington and Zendaya inMalcolm & Marie.Netflix
Zendaya went on to say in herTimesinterview that the backlash towardsMalcolm & Marie"oddly mirrors a little bit" of her character’s struggles in the film.
“It’s like Marie saying the whole movie [Malcolm’s film] is also mine. But actually in real life, we do have the credit, this is ours, and John David, I, and Sam equally own this film,” she explained. “It’s not like it belongs to someone else and I just got cast in it. He wrote it for us too, and I think if you’re going to write something, you have to acknowledge experiences of the [Black] character you’re writing. I thought a lot of conversations I had with Sam came through.”
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Sam Levinson and Zendaya.Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Zendaya previously spoke out about criticism of the film last month when sheaddressed the 12-year age gapbetween herself and Washington, the 36-year-old son of Denzel Washington.
Washington alsoaddressed criticism of their age difference, tellingVarietyin January that he isn’t “concerned,” noting that, “People are going to see in this film how much of a woman she is.”
Malcolm & Marieis streaming now on Netflix.
source: people.com
