The Drama star Jordyn Curet says playing young Zendaya is 'dream come true'

Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Drama

Walking on to set after landing your big breakout role is a nerve-racking moment for any actor.

Doing so while playing the younger version of Zendaya, one of the biggest names in the industry, is a core memory moment for US actress Jordyn Curet.

A24's latest dark romantic comedy, The Drama, sees Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play Emma and Charlie, a soon-to-be married couple whose relationship is tested after a surprise revelation in the days before their wedding.

Curet tells BBC Newsbeat she did feel "a lot of pressure" portraying a young Emma and taking on a serious subject matter, but was "so excited and proud" to be part of the production.

The 17-year-old jumped at the chance to apply when she spotted an open casting call on her Instagram to play a young Emma.

After submitting an audition, she received a call back from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli over Zoom, before being flown out to Boston a few days later to meet the crew - it was here that she found out in person that she'd secured the role.

Curet says it was a "dream come true" to work alongside Zendaya as she loves the actress "so much", but this also raised the stakes.

"I mean, Zendaya is incredible, she's like a role model to everyone, and it's a lot of pressure to try and play a younger her," says Curet.

"But I had to remember I'm playing young Emma and Emma is completely different than Zendaya and is definitely different [to] me."

'Redemption and forgiveness'

The film features a major twist when Emma reveals to her fiancé and two friends that she once planned a school shooting when she was 15 years old, but backed out at the last moment.

The story is told through memory flashbacks where Curet's younger character can be seen practising shooting and attempting to create a manifesto video on her webcam.

Gun violence is a fixture in American life, but the issue is a highly political one.

The twist has received mixed reviews from critics and started many conversations, with some who have been impacted by school shootings pushing back at the subject being brought into a dark romantic comedy.

Curet, who was 15 when filming the project, says the subject is "definitely a part of our country" and she "felt like the message needed to happen".

But she was conscious of the subject matter and "definitely felt a responsibility to handle the topic with care", she says.

However, Curet feels the film is more about "redemption and forgiveness" between Emma and Charlie and whether she can get a second chance.

"I think there can be some redemption in humans," she says.

"And I think a lot of it is, oftentimes, we uphold people to one thing that they did and we kind of let that define them.

"I think that some humans deserve forgiveness and, maybe, second chances."

Curet has been acting since she was seven years old, including appearances in 2019's Marriage Story and US sitcom Home Economics, but says she was able to bring her own experience of teenage awkwardness into her latest role.

"I felt like I could lean into my personality, being online and in the social media world," she says.

"Especially during Covid I learned a lot about internet culture and I made a lot of online friends.

"So I think that I kind of tapped into that area of my life when trying to figure out young Emma's personality."

She explains that she also did a lot of research into the type of "awkwardness and loneliness" the young Emma is experiencing at school during the film.

"I think a lot of teenagers can relate to being a little bit lonely, especially at that time in their life," she adds.

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