When a fake wedding announcement featuring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson popped up in a late-year print issue The Boston Globe, it looked like a star-studded romcom was underway. But “The Drama,” indie studio A24’s latest film, has stirred controversy, and most audiences don’t know what its about.
The film’s trailers, the first of which was dropped just a day after the wedding announcement, revealed a somewhat vague plot line—Zendaya and Pattinson play Emma and Charlie, a couple grappling with the aftermaths of a confession as they ready for their wedding.
Speculation on the film’s big twist ignited a flurry of conspiracies and theories online, ranging from mere cheating to violent crimes
“What the fuck did she do that made the whole fucking movie change,” a user commented on the YouTube trailer.
But as more information on the movie’s plot unfolded, controversy followed.
In March—weeks leading up to the film’s April 3 release—gun reform activist and the father of a victim of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, Tom Mauser, spoke out against the upcoming movie.
It turns out in the movie, Emma, while playing a game where friends admit to the worst thing they’ve ever done, admits to planning a school shooting but never going through with it—a twist that have left many, like Mauser, concerned over how the film deals with such a delicate subject matter.
