Zendaya Confessed She Was Figuring Things Out as She Went While Filming ‘Spider-Man’
When it comes to huge blockbusters, even actors can get a little overwhelmed by what a huge spectacle they are. 23-year-old Zendaya is no exception to this rule. While she has established herself as a household name amongst a certain demographic thanks to her Disney projects, her time onset of the Spider-Man films was an entirely new experience for her.
When it was first announced that Zendaya was going to playing Mary Jane in Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans were interested to see what she would bring to the character. Traditionally, MJ has been more of a cookie-cutter character, so bringing in Zendaya was a chance for the franchise to completely re-imagine the character.
Zendaya reflects on filming the ‘Spider-Man’ movies
In a recent interview with Variety, Zendaya spoke about how exciting it was for her to land a well-known role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Though her role in the first film wasn’t huge, she got more speaking opportunities in the subsequent sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home. But, Zendaya wasn’t too concerned with how big her role was, she was just excited to be a part of the film. This was especially true considering the first Spider-Man movie was one of the first films she did independent of Disney.
Of course, filming a huge blockbuster was drastically different from much of what Zendaya has done in the past. She shared that what made filming Spider-Man: Far From Home so unique was the sheer amount of travel the movie called for. She also got mentioned that since the movie required so many special effects, she had to rely on her imagination a great deal for the films.
The movies required lots of traveling
“We got to travel so much for that last movie. I spent most of my time in London, and when you wake up at three in the morning, I’m literally running outside the Tower of London before it opens. I get to run from these killer drones that nobody can see because they’re not there yet,” Zendaya revealed.
The 23-year-old also shared that the experience of filming Spider-Man is a much bigger production than she’s used to. Because the MCU has such a huge following and encompasses so many storylines, there’s a lot that’s kept under wraps. Even when actors are given their scripts, tons of information is left out to avoid information leaks and spoilers. These unknowns made for a particularly interesting environment in which Zendaya was challenged to think on her feet and improvise a bit.
The secrecy of ‘Spider-Man’ and the Marvel Cinematic Universe
“It’s massive. It’s very different from Euphoria, where it’s close and you have more time. Whereas on something like Spider-Man, it’s such a huge thing. And there’s so many secrets, and half of the script you can’t even read because there’s too many spoilers for, at the time, Endgame and all these other things. It’s like, you don’t really know what you’re doing. It’s just so big that you’re like, ‘I’m just going to figure it out as I go,'” Zendaya shared about filming the Spider-Man movies.
What’s next for Zendaya?
Filming Spider-Man was likely an exciting new challenge for Zendaya, but she certainly rose to the challenge. Certainly, her experience working on the films helped propel her to new things like Euphoria. We will be watching to see what else she chooses to take on throughout the course of her career.
