Who exactly is Zendaya playing in "Spider-Man: Homecoming"? She was rumored to be playing Mary Jane Watson, opposite Tom Holland's Peter Parker. But maybe not? Zendaya just talked to The Hollywood Reporter about her role, and the backlash to the idea of her role, and the way she described her character may make you rethink everything.
Here's part of her Q&A:
Is your character — whoever she may be — romantically involved with Peter Parker?
"No [laughs]. My character is not romantic. My character is like very dry, awkward, intellectual and because she's so smart, she just feels like she doesn't need to talk to people, like 'My brain is so far ahead of you that you're just not really on my level.' So she comes off very weird. But to me, she is very cool because she's deep. She's always thinking about something, always reading. I like that. And I also like that I don't really have to do anything for hair and makeup. I just get to walk in and walk out."
In the comic, Mary Jane Watson was an aspiring actress. Gwen Stacy, another one of Peter's major love interests, was the one known for her good grades, who went on to study biochemistry at university. Maybe Zendaya's character is a bit of both? Someone else from the comics? Someone entirely new?
Here's Z's reaction to the "controversy" over her possibly playing an African-American Mary Jane:
"People are going to react over anything. But nothing [about who she is playing] is fact. It's like, you guys are just making sh*t up at this point and then reacting to it. Whenever we were on set, one of us gets some random character name [on the call sheet]. [Bloggers were] like, 'Oh they must be so and so.' And we just crack up about it, because it's like, 'Whatever you want to think. You'll find out.' It's funny to watch the guessing game. But of course there's going to be outrage over that because for some reason some people just aren't ready. I'm like, 'I don't know what America you live in, but from what I see when I walk outside my streets of New York right now, I see lots of diversity and I see the real world and it's beautiful, and that's what should be reflected and that's what is reflected so you're just going to have to get over it.'"
"Spider-Man: Homecoming," the 16th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is scheduled for release on July 7th, 2017.
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