Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie Trailer Unites Zendaya & John David Washington in a Complicated Romance

Netflix has released the first trailer for Malcolm & Marie. The movie stars Zendaya and John David Washington as a couple exploring their past relationships together. Euphoria writer/director Sam Levinson teams up with Zendaya and Washington for an achingly romantic drama, which was shot in secret during the ongoing public health crisis. Working with cinematographer Marcell Rev, Levinson created a movie of rare originality; an ode to the great Hollywood romances as well as a heartfelt expression of faith in the medium’s future.

Malcolm & Marie finds filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend (Zendaya Coleman) as they return home following a celebratory movie premiere as he awaits what’s sure to be imminent critical and financial success. The evening suddenly takes a turn as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, testing the strength of their love. The trailer is tense at times as the couple try to navigate their relationship in a new expression from Sam Levinson. There are already whispers of an Academy Award nomination for Zendaya, thanks to her emotional performance in the movie.

When asked about taking on the role in Malcolm & Marie, Zendaya Coleman revealed that she wanted to get back to work. “It’s basically kind of birthed within quarantine conversations Sam [Levinson] and I had in wanting to create something safely,” she said in a recent interview. “I really wanted to be creative and I hadn’t worked in a long time, through that year anyway. The last thing I acted on was Euphoria, and I had a year of not really doing any acting. I really missed what I loved.” Levinson and Zendaya were also able to work on two special Euphoria episodes during the pandemic, which are currently streaming on HBO Max.

Zendaya went on to say that Sam Levinson had more than a few ideas about how they could get away with shooting Malcolm & Marie safely. One of those ideas was to shoot the movie in Zendaya’s home. “We could shoot in my house and see if we come up with something. But it kind of turned into something a little bit more special than that… He called me one day with this beautiful idea of these two people in a house, a relationship piece… like a play.” Everything went smooth and they were able to shoot the movie in secret, with little to no interaction from the outside world.

Malcolm & Marie will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix beginning February 5th. It was written and directed by Sam Levinson, with Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, Levinson, Zendaya, and John David Washington serving as producers. The movie is executive produced by Will Greenfield, Aaron L. Gilbert, Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, and Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi. You can see the first trailer for Malcolm & Marie above, thanks to the official Netflix YouTube channel.