SPIDER-MAN Producers Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige Had No Idea Who Zendaya Was When Casting Her
Zendaya was a star well before becoming a member of the MCU, breaking onto the scene as a Disney Channel star in the series Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover, also having appeared in Beyonce’s Lemonade, as well as becoming a runner-up on Dancing With the Stars. But apparently none of these projects were on the forefront of Marvel producers Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige’s watchlists.
Pascal admitted in Vogue magazine as part of its Zendaya cover story:
“To be honest with you, neither [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige nor I knew who she was. She was wearing no makeup and she was just dressed like a regular girl, and we were like, ‘Oh my God, she’s amazing. She has to be in the movie.’ And then we found out she was a totally famous person, and felt really stupid.”
Feige and Pascal have produced all three of Zendaya’s Spider-Man movies, two of which have grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The films pair Zendaya opposite Tom Holland in the title role. Because Zendaya was already a star prior to entering the MCU (even if Feige and Pascal had no idea), the additional fame that greeted her thanks to Marvel wasn’t too destabilizing for her personal life. The same wasn’t true for her co-star.
“We were both very, very young, but my career was already kind of going, and his changed overnight,” Zendaya told Vogue. “One day you’re a kid and you’re at the pub with your friends, and then the next day you’re Spider-Man. I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him. But he handled it really beautifully.”
Both actors are likely to return in a fourth Spider-Man movie, although there’s no telling when that might be as neither Sony nor Disney have officially announced their Spider-Man 4.
via: Variety