The upcoming A24 movie starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson is receiving significant attention due to a controversial plot twist. The Drama depicts the unraveling of an engaged couple when a major secret is revealed.
This secret comes out during a game in which the couple is goaded to admit the worst thing they have ever done. A confession from Zendaya’s character shocks and disturbs her fiancé, sending their wedding week into chaos. Fans are curious about what her secret in The Drama may be, with various popular theories circulating the internet. However, A24 is carefully concealing the central twist.
The Drama has had intimate early screenings ahead of its wide release on April 3. In an apparent effort to prevent spoilers, reviews are embargoed until March 31 (via The Guardian). However, a recent report from TMZ may have revealed the film’s central secret.
The Latest Reports On The Drama May Have Preemptively Revealed Its Plot Twist
According to TMZ, a father whose son was murdered in the 1999 Columbine High School shooting has expressed outrage at the film’s twist, which reportedly involves an abandoned plan for a school shooting.
Tom Mauser lost his son Daniel in the Columbine shooting and has since been an outspoken advocate for gun reform. Daniel was one of 13 people killed in the mass shooting on April 20, 1999. Mauser’s concern suggests The Drama’s big plot twist is that Zendaya’s character planned but did not go through with a school shooting.
Mauser reportedly feels that centering a planned school shooting in a star-studded popular film could normalize such shootings and humanize their perpetrators, according to TMZ. Mauser expresses particular concern about this sensitive subject matter being included in the plot of a romantic comedy.
The Drama’s genre is unclear, but it appears to include both romantic and comedic elements. Zendaya has described the film as a mix of genres.
“It is a romantic comedy in many ways, but it’s also a drama,” Zendaya said on Jimmy Kimmel Live, “Everybody has their own kind of feelings leaving the theatre, especially with the big twist. There’s so many conversations that are had after you watch it.”
It is unclear whether Mauser has received confirmation of The Drama pot twist, or if he is reacting to the heavily supported audience theory that the twist involves a school shooting.
The Reported Plot Twist Would Explain The Drama’s Trailers & Story Teasers
While The Drama has not officially confirmed a school shooting-related plot twist, it would align with the trailers and teasers.
In the trailer, the couple and their friends each admit the worst thing they have ever done, and Zendaya’s confession elicits horrified responses from the entire group, including her fiancé. Following this scene, the couple struggles, and Robert Pattinson’s character appears afraid of her.
The reported twist, that Zendaya’s character planned a school shooting, would certainly be adequate cause for a falling out between the couple. However, Mauser reportedly feels that it would be wrong to use this as a plot device to stir up drama between an engaged couple in a romantic film.
Online fans have developed several theories for The Drama’s potential plot twist, and the “school shooting theory” has amassed particular traction. Proponents of this theory cite additional press materials outside of the official trailers as evidence.
An engagement announcement for the fictional couple, published in The Boston Globe, notes that Zendaya’s character’s father is a decorated veteran. That detail could be used to explain her proximity to weaponry growing up.
There’s also been casting calls for actors to play high school students and the casting of YaYa Gosselin as a young Zendaya. This evidence, coupled with the TMZ report, seems to expose The Drama‘s heavily guarded plot twist.
Regardless of The Drama‘s true plot twist, Mauser has introduced an ongoing conversation concerning how, when, or if certain films should center on a school shooting, considering the impacts and implications of this sensitive subject matter.