‘Malcolm & Marie’ first reactions: Zendaya, John David Washington Soar

‘Malcolm & Marie’ first reactions: Zendaya, John David Washington Soar

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The latest feature from “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson offers a powerful black-and-white showcase for his actors.

Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm & Marie” premiered on Friday night on Netflix in a special exhibition co-hosted by AFI, and the first reactions are strong for this two-handed player starring Zendaya and John David Washington as a couple in crisis. Shot during the pandemic, the film is a showcase for the two protagonists while, over a long dark night of the soul, they unravel and separate. The slogan “Madly in love” is no joke. Check below a sample of the first scenes of the film.

Washington plays an insecure filmmaker returning home to his girlfriend (Zendaya) after the film’s premiere, and his initial excitement about what he perceives to be the film’s imminent success is finally dashed when striking truths about their relationship surface. Working with cinematographer Marcell Rev, the creator of “Euphoria” Levinson created a film that can easily be called an ode to the works of John Cassavetes. The first reactions suggest that Zendaya should fall directly into the conversation of Best Actress.

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After the screening, Netflix hosted a question and answer session moderated by playwright Jeremy O. Harris (who read the script in the spring) with Washington, Zendaya and Levinson. “This is such an insane feat,” said Harris of the film’s production, which took place on an agile set in Carmel earlier this year for a month and a half. Levinson said he wanted the film to “speak where we are now, locked up, at home, in relationships, dealing with the love and hurt, and the joy of it all.

But Levinson, whose last film was 2018’s “Assassination Nation”, said his new film comes from a particularly personal place.

“At the same time, I needed a catalyst for this: what is a really terrible thing that a person can do to his partner? Here’s the truth: I forgot to thank [Ashley Levinson, his wife] at the premiere of ‘Assassination Nation’, which was a brutal film to edit, and she was upset. I felt very guilty about that. Supposedly, we only talked about it on the drive home. In my head, I imagined that we had 1,000 conversations about it. I took that as the catalyst for this piece. “

Ultimately, Levinson led a large part of the film, and it paid off, with Netflix winning the title for an incredible $ 30 million over the summer. The filmmaker worked closely with his “Euphoria” star, Zendaya, to build the film, and she said, “As soon as [Levinson] I talked about filming in black and white, trying to create a skeleton crew, it sounded incredible and just as terrifying, because I never had the opportunity to be involved with anything from the beginning. “

Washington, reflecting on a cold call he received from Levinson asking him to star in the film, said that the sinking of the pandemic of his film “Tenet” left him in “an unknown place and eager for discovery, for myself and for my art. . ”This enabled him to take on the project. “Ironically, it was the perfect time to do something like that, given the unknown of this different type of film that was being released,” he said, referring to “Tenet”.

“Malcolm & Marie” will be officially released on Netflix on February 5th.

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