Its an amazing, almost inspiring thing, what happens when Zendaya gets in front of a camera.
From moment to moment, she morphs into Veruschka, Twiggy, Naomi, Linda.
)are breathless, in part because they can barely keep up.
ON A CLOUDZendaya wears a custom dress, veil, necklace, and bouquet from Schiaparelli Haute Couture, designed by Daniel Roseberry.Fashion Editor: Law Roach.
The scene is mesmerizing, total magic…but it all seems pretty exhausting too.
This iswork,full stop.
Pausing to cool down, she intently reviews her results, scrolling through Jacobss images on a monitor.
BACK TO IT“Something about her felt very, Oh, damn,” Zendaya says of Tashi inChallengers, which opens in theaters on April 26th. “I was kind of scared of her.” Giambattista Valli Haute Couture dress.
A pro, in other words.
Truthfully, I shouldnt have been so surprised.
Zendaya had warned me about this, the kind ofcreatureshe turns into when shes having her picture taken.
GO FOR MARIGOLDZendaya treated the rigorous tennis training forChallengers“like dance,” she says. Dior Haute Couture dress and shoes.
This is Z off-duty: cozy, quiet, immediately disarming.
(She greets me, sweetly, with a hug.)
Also jet-laggedshed arrived in Paris late the night before and been in fittings all day.
WALL ARTZendaya admits she can put too much pressure on herself. “Sometimes it’s a bit crippling.” Custom Louis Vuitton cape and dress.
She takes over andshedoes the carpet.
I have tobuyher, she says.
I have to buy that this woman exists, or that this fantasy exists.
BLUE MOONThis May, Zendaya serves as a co-chair of the Met Gala. Jonathan Anderson, one of the evening’s honorary chairs, also created the costumes forChallengers.Loewe dress. Bulgari High Jewelry necklace.
Januarys Schiaparelli couture show couldnt have been a more fitting precursor.
Regional productions ofCaroline, or ChangeandOnce on This Islandfollowed.
I was kind of scared of her.
ON HER TOESShe’s been studying directors and how they work in the hopes of “not being afraid, and trying to do it myself.” Fendi Couture dress.
Giambattista Valli Haute Couture dress.
People were like, Oh, shes so fierce.
And, yeah, she is, on the inside.
TULLE TIMEDress from Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture by Simone Rocha.
Zendaya doesnt go much for partying.
This is the time youre supposed to be in college!
hed be swiftly rebuffed.
Shed be like, If you dont sit down and be quiet… he remembers with a laugh.
The funny thing about that little girl is that she has always been the same person.
When I was younger there was less pressure, she says.
Within a few years theyd be singing Beyonce songs together in Zendayas trailer.
Shes still one of my biggest inspirations, and I think shes just so incredibly talented.
Undercover;the charming but manipulative addict Rue inEuphoria;the acerbic introvert Michelle, a.k.a.
MJ, inSpider-Man: Homecoming.
Shehasto be in the movie.
And then we found out she was a totally famous person, and felt really stupid.)
(Art himself is somewhat less committed to this goal.)
GO FOR MARIGOLDZendaya treated the rigorous tennis training forChallengerslike dance, she says.
Dior Haute Couture dress and shoes.
Sent Kuritzkess script by Pascal, Zendaya remembers finding it really, really strong and a little crazy.
She was also just bowled over by Tashi.
Typically, I play the person that ultimately is easier to empathize with, she says.
(The films second trailer is set to the song Maneater by Nelly Furtado.)
There was something about her that felt very,Oh, damn, Zendaya adds.
Even I was kind of scared of her.
It also casts her, for once, as an actual adult: amom,no less.
Was that…weird for her?
Shes been playing teenagers for about as long as shes been working.
Im always in a high school somewhere, she says.
And, mind you, I never went to high school.
So, to break away from that was refreshing.
Aint no 30 years old just yet, okay?
This is 27 years old.Waitaminute.
Its the looks, its the glances, its the tension, she says of his work.
I feel he creates that visceral environment.
After that came the prep.
What she knew about the world of tennis was Serena and Venusthats all I connected to.
And probably Roger Federer.
Learning the game was tough.
The first little while was getting the basics, trying to just hit the fucking thing, she says.
One day youd be like, Oh, shit, I cracked it.
I figured it out.
Come back in the next day…Poof,it was gone.
WALL ARTZendaya admits she can put too much pressure on herself.
Sometimes its a bit crippling.
Custom Louis Vuitton cape and dress.
The time helped to establish the complicated, three-part chemistry between her, OConnor, and Faist.
So everything then became shadowing, she explains.
At the end of the day, the job was to fake it, so fake it she did.
I swear that after an hours session, she had it down, OConnor reports.
She looked like a pro.
It was a real miracle.
I mean, listen, she takes the shit to a whole new level, she says at last.
In her words, sometimes its a bit crippling, the pressure she puts on herself.
What do you need?
Shes just always running shit, and nobody is taking any of that off of her shoulders.
Everybody needs something from her, I suggest.
Yeah, Zendaya says.
Shes making all the decisions.
She is doing all the stuff.
So I imagine that shes really just calling all the shots.
Shes, like, everybodys mom.
As they began working, I saw pretty quickly just how famous Z was, Faist says.
It really hit her how much her life had kind of changed.
BLUE MOONThis May, Zendaya serves as a co-chair of the Met Gala.
Jonathan Anderson, one of the evenings honorary chairs, also created the costumes forChallengers.Loewe dress.
Bulgari High Jewelry necklace.
I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him.
But he handled it really beautifully.
Im going to attempt to see as many shows as I possibly can.)
Well, the powers that be didnt really want them there: The feedback was, Its already busy.
You might make it worse.
It was actually fine, Zendaya says now.
I just gotta be totally cool with it and just live my life.
It was one of the coolest experiences ever, she says, her eyes flashing like a childs.
It was likeNight at the Museum.
And what does my future look like?
Am I going to be a public-facing person forever?
And when she isnt shooting, shell wander around with her handheld camera and observe scenes she isnt in.
TULLE TIMEDress from Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture by Simone Rocha.
A little bit, she says.
I think there could be more.
I keep to myself a lot, which is my own fault.
I think that that is something that is crucial and necessary.
What impresses her about the Williams sisters most?
Fucking all of it, she thunders back.
And you have to win…andbe nice about it.
About six weeks later she is repeating much of this to Williams directly.
Were on a Zoom with the tennis legend, proposed and organized by Zendaya herself.
At one point, Williams bemoans Tashis decision to go to college instead of immediately turning pro.
This makes me wonder: Both Williams and Zendaya began their careerssoyoung.
Did they ever worry about what they would do if things didnt work out?
That was my question as well for Zif its okay for me to call you that, Williams says.
(It is, Zendaya indicates, very much okay.)
What was the other option for you?
What were your goals growing up?
Hmm.Its funny, Zendaya says, because its something that Im figuring out now.
I dont know how much of a choice I had.
Inevitably, that tunnel vision cost her the pleasure of perspective.
And I wish I went to school.
As it turned out, the options were there; they always had been.
She just had to find them on her own.
Williams asks more questions.
How does going to school on a television set work?
(To hear Zendaya tell it, only barely.)
Does Zendaya find acting healing?
(In a way.)
Why has she mostly stopped using Instagram?
(Because it was making her very unhappy and anxious.)
Toward the end of the hour, Zendaya poses the billion-dollar query of our post-pandemic age.
How do you balance work, and life…
Williams snorts with laughter.
…and family, and your own personal passions?
Because thats something Im still really trying to.
Ultimately, Williamss answer is with people you trust to lighten your loadand with boundaries.
Shes been the precocious neophyte, the intriguing ingenue.
Now that her star is shining more brightly than ever, how will she use its light?
Choreographic direction by (LA)HORDE - Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, Arthur Harel.
The May issue featuring Zendaya is here.
