“The Drama” First Trailer: Something Mysterious Lurks Beneath Zendaya & Robert Pattinson’s Perfect Relationship

The first trailer for writer/director Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama starts off with a dream pairing—it’s Zendaya (playing Emma), and Robert Pattinson (playing Charlie) as a young couple preparing for their wedding. They’re beautiful, they seem kind, and, charmingly, they seem a bit nervous. They’ve arrived at a photographer’s studio to get some pre-wedding shots, but their nerves have them a little too tight for the photographer’s liking. So, she tries to loosen them up by asking them to describe what they love about the other person. Cue a litany of flattery—about her laugh, about his caringness—with cuts to the dashing couple having what appears to be a beautiful relationship. But one look at their faces in the photo studio, and one glance at the title of the film, and you know there’s more afoot. “Just smile naturally,” the photograph implores them. They can’t seem to do it. She tries again, asking, nearly begging Charlie, “just a completely natural smile…just like how you would smile in life.”

Charlie and Emma’s life, which we only glimpse in brief cuts, definitely has some drama. Borgli’s film, which was produced by Ari Aster, a filmmaker known for revealing horrific intimacies on screen, is also an A24 film, so with all these ingredients, you know that whatever revelation is lurking here will likely not be for the faint of heart. Borgli, the writer/director of the excellent 2023 film Dream Scenario, which featured an increasingly unhinged Nicolas Cage (is there any other kind?) dealing with the fact that strangers kept seeing him in their dreams, knows his way around the off-kilter and sublimely bizarre.

Pattinson and Zendaya are joined by Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, and Hailey Gates. Upcoming for Zendaya is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which hits theaters next summer. Pattinson was just in Lynne Ramsay’s wild Die My Love, starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence, and also has a role in Nolan’s upcoming epic.

Check out the trailer below. The Drama unfolds in theaters next spring.

Featured image: Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in “The Drama.” Courtesy A24