Zendaya Says She Wants to Direct ‘Love Story About Two Black Girls’

With Dune shaping up to be one of the biggest hits of the year, and Spider-Man: No Way Home arriving in theaters later this month, Zendaya’s acting career is thriving. But as she told her Euphoria costar Colman Domingo during a chat for Interview’s new cover story, she already has her sights set on directing. Specifically, Zendaya said she wants to helm what she described as a “simple love story about two Black girls.”

“I’ve never really thought, ‘I have to do this by this time and I want to do this by that time,’” Zendaya said of her desire to one day direct. “I just want to do the things that make me happy and bring me joy and fulfill me as an artist, as a person. So, I keep that loose, because if one day it turns into a completely different career path, then I would allow myself to do that. The idea of trying to direct in the future excites me. That’s why I’m on set so much. When I’m not in it, I’m right there trying to learn.”

The superstar actor has previously spoken about her directorial aspirations and goal to prioritize Black women as leads, and elaborated here that she doesn’t want her dream project to be “rooted in anything other than just a story about two people falling in love and that’s it.” Instead, she wants it to be “omething simple and beautiful, that leaves you happy and wanting to fall in love yourself.”

“I haven’t seen that without it dealing more with the traumatic side of things — which is really important to talk about, but I would love a coming-of-age story where awkward and funny things happen, just like when any other young person is trying to figure out who they are,” she said of the hypothetical project.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on Dec. 17. Check out Zendaya’s full interview with Colman Domingo here.