Zendaya, Give Us The Drama
Guys fighting over Zendaya seems to be a licence to print money in movies these days, whether she’s Mary Jane, getting guys to duel on tennis courts, or Dune Girl. Now it’s Robert Pattinson’s turn as they co-star in The Drama.
Rising comedy director, Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself, Dream Scenario) has matched the two in his rom-com, which centres on a pair of young Boston professionals who find their relationship and pending nuptials put to the ultimate test after playing a drunken game of “What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done?” As stupid little things can do in a fresh relationship, it sends the seemingly perfect couple spiralling into doubt and chaos as they try to make it to “I do.”
“You think you know someone, and they can say literally one sentence that maybe they don’t even realise they are saying,” says Pattinson. “Suddenly, everything has changed, and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
“In your closest relationships, you should be able to share everything, from how you actually feel to who you actually are,” says Borgli. “The Drama is about that idea getting stress-tested between two people who are head-over-heels in love, and who maybe never considered there could be more to the other person. It’s about the power of love – an emotional state you don’t get to control, and how complicated that becomes when your feelings are at odds with your rationale. When that balance slips, you find yourself inside a crucial dilemma.”
Kristoffer Borgli did not set out to write a romantic comedy, or a wedding movie. “The idea for the movie came from reflecting on the ups and downs of romantic relationships, and the quiet negotiations we all make between our emotions and our logic,” says Borgli. “I was interested in exploring how love can feel both undeniable and destabilising at the same time.” Borgli began writing the movie as a journal of his thoughts. Born in Sarpsborg, Norway, the filmmaker became interested from a young age in how people act in different cultural environments.
Borgli, who currently lives in Los Angeles, adds an additional layer to Charlie (Pattinson) by making him an expatriate, examining American society and culture through the perspective of an outsider. “I’m from Scandinavia, and while some of the topics and themes in The Drama are uniquely American, I wanted to bring a Scandinavian sensibility to an American setting,” says Borgli. “Shooting the movie in Boston made sense, because it feels intimate, historic, and human in scale – closer in spirit to a Scandinavian capital than a sprawling American metropolis.”
For Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie, going through the rituals of wedding planning, the revelation isn’t a deal-breaker at first. “You don’t fall instantly out of love when something like that is revealed – it becomes this inner conflict and you begin to see the true image of what you’ve fallen in love with,” says Borgli. “We all carry parts of ourselves that we keep hidden. Secrets, mistakes, fears – things that we worry might change how others see us, even though they fundamentally shape who we are. There’s real clarity that comes from living in your truth, but there is also a risk in that. That tension fascinates me.”
“Being vulnerable and sharing difficult parts of yourself, including the struggles and challenges you’ve had in life, can be a great bonding experience.”
Borgli wanted to explore how two people in a relationship react when love is tested. “There’s no objective solution to Charlie and Emma’s dilemma, but we are not our own worst mistakes,” says Borgli. “There should be room for error in relationships – and some leeway and forgiveness with the people we choose to share a life with. We can disagree with our own past behaviours and actions, but you still have to be that same person over time.”
The Drama co-stars Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, Hailey Gates, Zöe Winters, Sydney Lemmon, Jordyn Curet, Michael Abbott Jr., and Anna Baryshnikov.