Shadowing Practice: Zendaya Got Cast in Spider-Man Without Reading the Script; Talks Joining MCU & Red Carpet Style - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Can I touch it?

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Can I touch it?

This is my first time seeing it in real life.

Oh, you mean, this or...

My mustache or Vogue?

I don't know.

It could be either one.

Yeah, you could do both, yeah.

This is...

You're on the cover.

You meant Vogue.

You're on the cover of Vogue.

I know.

And you haven't seen this yet?

No, this is my first time.

What do you think?

This is a big deal.

This is crazy.

This is like...

It really is.

That's...

It doesn't get much cooler than that.

It really doesn't.

No, no, no. And this is,

uh, this is a big deal,

because you have your first feature film.

Yeah.

But everyone knows you from the Disney Channel.

Yeah.

And so this is like a big breakout role for you here.

Who do you play in Spider-Man?

I play a character named Michelle.

Nobody believes me though, that that's my character's name,

but it really is Michelle.

It was so much fun.

Like I said, this is something I've been wanting to do for like a really,

really long time.

I wanted to get into movies and this is finally it.

And it's crazy that it's Spider-Man.

Like that's my first thing.

And did you know it was Spider-Man when you were auditioning?

Because they keep very quiet.

No, I did not.

I was auditioning for girl in movie girl in movie Feel good.

Yeah, yeah, no, it was great to get into character.

It really Become the girl,

okay, I'm a girl And I didn't actually even know what kind of character because my character is very interesting.

She's you know like kind of like a loner she's um

super intellectual very dark dry humor one-liners pops in pops out

and I didn't even know what kind of character I was gonna play till like I got there

and got to and sign a non-disclosure and then read the script.

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, and then you get the script.

And then you get the script.

And they don't found out.

And I was like, wow.

You got some great one-liners in this movie.

Thanks, man.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's great.

But you were saying that you were psyched to see other parts of the movie,

because you weren't in, the parts that you weren't in were all done.

And you're like, hey, that's what that looked like?

Exactly, because I was in,

you know, I'm in like the Peter Parker side of Spider-Man's life, right?

So everything that I shot,

when we were shooting, it just felt like I was shooting like this,

like awkward teen coming of age comedy kind of thing.

And then you realize, like,

wow, when the trailer started coming out,

like, this is a Spider-Man movie.

Like, this is, like, action.

Like, it's going down, you know?

Oh, yeah.

But this one, if I'm not,

if I might be wrong,

but this one is basically Peter Parker and Spider-Man are,

he's ready to up it.

He's not your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man anymore.

He wants to get into the Avengers.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's the Marvel Cinematic Universe, people.

This is it.

This is the Marvel Universe, man.

Get ready.

I love you.

I was talking to you backstage.

It just made me laugh because I was saying,

This is a giant movie that you're in.

And it's Spider-Man, and now this just got nominated for three Golden Globes.

And yeah, exactly, give it up.

I'm sure.

The Greatest Woman.

I said, you are a movie star,

and you go, yeah, I just don't,

sometimes I don't, sometimes I don't feel that you walk like a movie star.

And I go, what are you talking about?

Yeah.

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Well, I have to- You just came out tonight, that was perfect.

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That's how a movie star walks out.

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See, I know how to walk.

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I have, it's like a different persona,

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you know, that comes on when I'm on stage.

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Like, I know how to walk in heels,

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and, you know, I know how to do that,

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but in my day-to-day life,

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me and my dad walk the same.

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Which is not necessarily a great thing.

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No?

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We call it the Coleman Trudge, and it's kind of...

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I mean, I can't really do it in heels,

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because it's not as ugly.

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But my day-to-day walk is more of like this.

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That's your day-to-day walk.

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This is my day-to-day walk.

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Yeah, and how is it on the red carpet?

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And then this is my red carpet walk.

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Ah!

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The charge is it?

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Yeah.

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You're just kind of trudging through.

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Oh, see, now I get it.

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I understand.

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Uh, I want to talk about this.

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How did you end up in a Bruno Mars video?

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How did...

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Because I saw...

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Well, if anybody saw the lip sync battle,

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so I-I impersonated Bruno from my lip sync battle.

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And it was fun, and I-I feel that I did a pretty good job...

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Yeah.

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...at taking on his, you know, his swag and whatnot.

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Um, and apparently he saw that,

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and I guess that, in his mind,

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got, like, apparently he thought sexy girl in video from that?

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I don't know the correlation there?

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Well, yeah, maybe, yeah, okay.

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But either way, he called you up.

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But he called me, he was like,

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I got a text, and it was like,

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hey, this is Bruno, can I call you?

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And I was like, sure.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And so he called, and he was like,

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hey, you know, I'm doing this video,

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and I really want you to be part of it.

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And I was like, man, like, why?

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Why me from that video?

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Like, how does that strike gracefully to you?

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But it was awesome.

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It was really cool.

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He was so fun, and it was a good day.

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He's a talented guy. So talented.

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Well, I have a picture of you two cut side by side, one from.. one is you and one is Bruno.

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See if you can tell the difference.

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I don't even know.

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If you can tell the difference, it's just fantastic.

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That's not bad.

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That's not bad.

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And here you are, also,

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not only are you in music videos,

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but you're also doing The Greatest Showman.

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Hugh Jackman is one of the best,

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nicest dudes ever, and a great, great actor.

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But you knocked out of the park in this one, pal.

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Thank you, man.

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I appreciate it.

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You're fantastic.

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Uh, tell everyone who you play.

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I play this character.

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Her name is Anne Wheeler,

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and she's a trapeze artist, right?

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And she's a part of the circus,

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And I think, you know,

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at the time, obviously, this is the late 1800s,

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so we're dealing with a lot more issues,

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especially being a woman of color,

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a black woman at the time.

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And so she ends up falling in love with Zac Efron's character.

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And it's a forbidden love.

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It's not supposed to happen.

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It's not allowed.

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It's frowned upon.

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And I think that there's something very beautiful about that because it's,

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to me, a silent love story because they're not supposed to be seen,

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touched, or anything like that.

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So any moment when they're looking at each other or they just get to just touch a little bit,

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you know, and have a moment alone,

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I think, becomes more special for the audience and for the characters.

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And it was really nice for me to play because I feel like there's so many relevant themes in the movie,

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and I think for me,

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you know, when it came down to these characters,

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we're still dealing with those issues, you know?

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We're still dealing in a time where people want to tell people who they can love, you know?

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And so to me, it was a nice thing to share,

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and I'm lucky to be a part of it, yeah.

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You did a great job.

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Absolutely.

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Uh, you were fantastic in the film,

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as we were just talking about.

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Congratulations, you just got nominated for three Golden Globes today.

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That's a big deal.

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That's a big deal.

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That's a big deal.

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Uh, I-I would be scared if I...

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I know you're not scared,

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because you're young and, uh,

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you don't care about the stuff,

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but just going up over,

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probably, I'd say, if I stood on this desk, I'd be frightened.

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Uh, let alone being a trapeze. Have you...

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What was the training like?

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I mean...

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I mean, okay, so my.. our,

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uh, director called me, and he said, you know, listen...

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He was great, by the way. So amazing.

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And I don't know this director. So talented.

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Michael Gracie.

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Yeah. So amazing.

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He's gonna be huge.

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Yeah, he was great.

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But he called and he said,

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listen, you know, we want to workshop this like a real Broadway production.

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I'm like, cool, that's great.

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Then he's like, also, you might want to start working out because you have trapeze rehearsals when you get here,

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and I want to use the Sun Double as little as possible.

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So I was like, okay.

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So as soon as I got there,

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it started, you know, building upper body strength,

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which I don't have, and have not maintained either.

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Um, so don't ask me to do any trapeze when you see me,

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because it's not gonna...

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I don't have it anymore.

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I don't have it anymore.

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That was a different time.

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But it was a different time.

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It was a different time.

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But, um, it was a lot of training,

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a lot of just literally getting up there and just going for it.

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I remember I had been rehearsing on this specific rig that I was used to, you know?

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I had become normal with that height difference,

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and there was a net,

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and I felt good and comfortable,

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and I had been doing it for a while,

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and I was like, okay,

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cool, like, I'm a trapeze artist.

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I'm like, this is great.

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And then I show up on set, and, um...

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Yeah, the rig was, like,

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15 to 20 feet taller.

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Um...

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And there was no net.

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What?

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No net.

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Oh, no. Because back in the day,

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they didn't have those yet.

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So I was hooked up,

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so I'm safe, but visually, that's a little...

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That's a lot to get over, you know?

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Oh, yeah, yeah.

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I would say, Hey, guys, it's called CGI.

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Look it up.

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Let's figure out this.

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Get this net right now,

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and we'll zap it out later, man.

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Airbrush it out, man.

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I don't care what you got to do.

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Tune around it.

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I need two nets, in fact.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Right.

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That was my thought process.

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And then as right as I was gonna go up,

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right, in the cherry picker to go up to the thing,

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and Hugh Jackman walked by and he goes,

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-"Sendaya, you're a badass." And I was like,

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-"Take me up." -"Take me up!

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I can do it!

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I can do anything!"

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-"I can do anything!" -"Hugh Jackman told me a badass." -"Hugh

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Jackman told me I'm a badass." That's all I need to hear, man.

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You and Zac Efron, we were saying earlier, great chemistry.

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You guys look like a great team.

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Like, you could actually go take this on the road.

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You can actually be in the circus.

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But no, it was great.

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Zac was such a great partner.

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We really had to, like,

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one of our first kind of getting to know each other sessions was like,

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OK, here you go.

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You know, you're harnessed together.

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Get up there and there.

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And so we really had to quite literally trust each other,

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because he had to hold my weight and I had to hold him.

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So it was just kind of like a great icebreaker.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Great icebreaker.

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That's the way...

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Guys, if you guys want a good first date,

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just join a circus and just figure out getting the trapeze together,

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see if it all works out.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the show.

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It's always good to see you guys.

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Uh, thank you for coming on together.

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Yeah.

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You have never worked together in-in a film,

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and now all of a sudden you're in three movies together?

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Yes.

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How does.. how does this happen?

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How does it all.. the drama,

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then you're in The Odyssey,

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and then Dune Part III.

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You wished on a star.

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Yeah, exactly, yeah.

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But which came first?

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Well, the drama first, obviously.

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And I think we were both kind of sworn to secrecy with The Odyssey,

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so we didn't really tell each other,

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but we kind of had, like, a look.

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She just kind of turned up on set,

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and I was like, hey!

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You guys were acting together for months.

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We're back together.

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You're not allowed to say anything about The Odyssey.

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Oh, no, no, no. So then you just end up there,

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and you go, okay. And then...

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Oh, you again.

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And then you're like, I'll see you at Dune.

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Yeah.

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Wow.

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Well, I actually did get a call about you for Dune.

335

Oh, you got him the job?

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Well, no. He already had the job,

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but I just wanted to make sure he wasn't,

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like, a diva or anything.

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Oh, yeah.

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No, he's very much a diva.

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No, he is not a diva.

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Yeah, you were like, oh, he's cool, right?

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Yeah, he's cool.

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Yeah, I know he is.

345

Zendaya, you also have Spider-Man coming out.

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We were talking about earlier.

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The trailer came out.

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This is exciting.

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You're talking about the trailer came out and it's already got over a billion views.

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What is going on?

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In, like, three hours.

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Yeah, in three hours, yeah.

353

How do you have the time to do all of these films?

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I have no idea.

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Good scheduling.

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Um, a good team.

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No, it was really...

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It was quite jarring, too,

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because while we were filming Dune,

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I would then kind of go off and do Spider-Man and then jump back into Dune,

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and then I'd jump back into Spider-Man.

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So it was like...

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And then I just came...

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Literally, the day I wrapped Euphoria,

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it was like four in the morning,

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and I had a flight in,

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like, the next few hours to go to Budapest to shoot Dune.

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So I was like, pack my whole life up in one night,

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and I was like, let's go!

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Yeah, let's go for it.

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We're gonna go, man.

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Don't stop.

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I love it.

374

Robert, did you get to visit the set of Spider-Man?

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Is Batman allowed to visit the set of...?

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I don't know.

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I think I'd be allowed...

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Yeah, I don't know if it's legal.

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We keep getting asked, like,

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who would win the fight, Spider-Man or Batman?

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I'm, like, legally not allowed to say that.

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Do you know Tom at all?

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Yeah, I love Tom.

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Yeah.

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You've done stuff with...

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I've done three movies with him, too.

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What's going on with you guys?

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I mean, come on.

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He loves us.

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Yeah, he loved that.

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I just want to be involved.

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Robert, where did you...

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When did you first meet Zendaya?

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Do you remember?

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And was it a good first impression?

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I mean, you have...

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You think that something happened that didn't happen.

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Oh.

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No, no, just like, you said,

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we had a phone call when you were on Batman.

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I'm like, no, that's just not true.

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It is!

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It literally is.

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Okay, we have a friend in common,

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and they were FaceTiming while I was shooting Euphoria,

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but he was in Batman mode.

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And so I think he didn't...

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Did I have the color?

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You had the smokey eye.

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You had the whole thing.

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And I was like, I was like, Hey!

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And you were like, Hi.

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I don't even think...

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I literally thought he'd sneak you through.

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I'll call you later.

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I can't talk to you.

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I have to go fight crime.

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Please don't FaceTime me.

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I'd rather just do this over a regular phone call.

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Yeah.

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Uh, yeah.

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He was in the zone, so fair enough.

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When did you realize that it was gonna work when you guys had chemistry?

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Um, I mean, we had one phone call before we started shooting and I kind of went,

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I put the pedal to the metal of my anxiety and like every single day,

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I did the most extreme version of my personality,

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just like full frontal on a face.

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No full frontal.

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Oh my God.

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I know what I got.

431

You're in so much trouble.

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I know, I know, but you're in so much trouble.

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This is great for our show, trust me.

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No one's gonna clip that out.

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No!

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Surprise!

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But you put everything out there.

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I mean, you feel like, I like it.

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Emotionally.

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Emotionally.

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We got what you're trying to say, yeah.

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Yeah, she was very understanding.

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You're both pretty likable human beings.

444

But Zende, you were telling me that you had to do a dance scene where you thought that you really bonded.

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I think so, because I think,

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well, like I said, I don't want to talk for you,

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but Rob doesn't love that he had to dance,

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and I, you know, I'm a little more comfortable with the dancing thing.

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And so it was a nice,

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I feel like it was a nice bonding for us to kind of,

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our first day of shooting was literally doing our first dance.

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I think I've seen you dance in a bunch of movies.

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He dances in everything.

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Every single movie, it's like, it's a curse.

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It's like a test to see like,

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dude, how embarrassed is he gonna get us?

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They're just long, long dancing scenes,

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which require a lot of rehearsal as well.

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So this is one of the most important scenes in the movie.

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Do you usually have to freestyle,

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or is it more of like a choreo?

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That's what I call the line.

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OK.

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That's not doing that.

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There's no freestyle action.

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But when you were with Zendaya, she helped you.

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Did she say, hey, let's go to the right.

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Let's spin.

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Let's dip me.

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The scene in the movie,

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she's actually telling me the choreography during the scene.

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And it's very sweet.

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It's sweet.

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It worked out for the character.

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You were also telling me that sometimes you don't know when Robert's joking or being serious.

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Yeah.

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Can you give me an example of that?

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There was a comment you made the other day when we were,

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that apparently is a thing that you smell like crayons to yourself.

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I do smell like crayons.

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You smell like crayons?

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Smells like crayons.

483

Uh, you don't.. that does not smell like crayons.

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Do you mind if I...

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It's like kind of a vanilla.

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Bring it in.

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Bring it in.

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Bring it in.

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I just smell like crayons.

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Right?

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No, you don't...

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Let me get a second.

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I don't think I...

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Hey, hold on, come on.

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I'm kind of crayon.

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No, no, you smell very nice.

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You smell nice.

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I like the smell of crayons as well,

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but why would you think you smell like crayons?

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I smell like crayons to myself.

501

Oh, really?

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Maybe it's like your crayon.

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Oh, yeah, right, yeah.

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What color crayon?

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What color crayon, yeah.

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Blue crayon.

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Blue crayon. But what...

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Since you were a kid,

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did you feel that way?

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Or is it a new...

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Is it a new, uh...

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No, I can't...

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I'm very curious.

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I love the smell of crayon.

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I love also the smell of Play-Doh, by the way.

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Ah.

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When I was a kid,

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I would try to eat it because it tastes.. it smells so good.

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Smells so good.

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It's got a sweet smell.

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Yes, I love it.

522

Play-Doh?

523

Yeah.

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I thought it deliberately smells bad so kids don't eat it.

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No, it smells good.

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No, it smells fantastic.

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And it's a problem.

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It tastes terrible.

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It just smells like Play-Doh.

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Yeah.

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Kids at home, don't eat Play-Doh or crayons.

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But I've done both, and look how I turned out.

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Okay?

534

It works.

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Yeah, it works.

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Ah, thank you.

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Uh, a little bit damaged, but I'm fine.

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Uh, it's...

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It's hard stuff.

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Let's talk about the movie, uh, the drama.

541

Uh, it's a.. it's a dark movie, I would say.

542

Uh, and you-you play a couple about to get married.

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It's-it's not your typical romantic movie.

544

No. Not at all.

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Um, I mean, there-there are aspects of romance,

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and we do have the beginning of the film,

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the real tight beginning allows for a little bit of romance

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and for you to really fall in love with the characters

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before the rug is pulled out from underneath the characters and the audience,

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and I think you're just kind of on this really emotionally vulnerable ride with them the whole time,

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and it just, like it's all gas until the end.

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And yeah, it's chaotic, it's very intense.

553

Yeah.

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It's definitely, hopefully gonna spark a lot of healthy discussion.

555

I noticed that you're wearing a beautiful blue gown tonight.

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This is very on theme.

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I kind of knew that you were gonna do this.

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I was hoping for this because when you go to your premieres,

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Zendaya, I don't know if you know this,

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you sometimes dress to the theme of your film.

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And so on this, you wore something old,

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something new, and something borrowed.

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Yes.

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Which one, yeah.

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Thanks.

566

What was the something borrowed? Which one?

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Something borrowed is this one.

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And who was that borrowed from?

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It was from the one and only Cate Blanchett.

570

Really?

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Cate Blanchett?

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I know!

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That's rad!

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It's a dream come true, honestly.

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Cause when we kind of,

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this whole idea came together,

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she was one of the first people I thought of.

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Cause I remember both Law and I remember when she wore this dress for the first time.

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And we both texted, she was like,

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oh my gosh, she looks amazing.

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This dress is fabulous.

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And I was like, oh,

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I wish I could wear that dress.

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Like, oh, what a dress.

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It's your dream.

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But when it was like an opportunity to maybe borrow a dress,

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I was like, what if we ask her?

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And I was like, hang up,

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I gotta go start making calls.

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And he called her team and she said yes.

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She's fine.

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Which is, that's so lovely.

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I just thought it was such a kind thing to share.

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And yeah, I just was very paranoid about like spilling or breaking or doing anything wrong.

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Oh, to the dress, yeah.

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To the dress, yes.

597

Did you let Robert know that you're wearing a team?

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No. I literally ask her every single day through this thing.

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I'm like, what are you gonna be wearing?

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I told you.

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What are you gonna be wearing tonight?

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I don't know.

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I haven't planned it.

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Are we doing like a metal theme?

605

Like, are we doing like Dune theme?

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What are we doing here?

607

It's like, you did not plan borrowing Cate Blanche's dress the day before.

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No!

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There's no way.

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We must have planned this out.

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It's like, I'm so chill about everything.

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There's no plan. But here's the thing.

613

Here's the thing.

614

He was asking me while we were shooting Dune.

615

No. And I was like, I don't know yet.

616

Like, I don't have any idea.

617

And then when I came up with the idea,

618

he was like, You knew all along.

619

And you didn't tell me.

620

And you didn't tell me.

621

And you didn't tell me.

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What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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ShadowingEnglish.com – English Shadowing Practice

Speak English fluently using the Shadowing technique. Listen to native YouTube videos, repeat sentence by sentence, and build real pronunciation and fluency — used by IELTS learners worldwide.

Shadowing Practice: Zendaya Got Cast in Spider-Man Without Reading the Script; Talks Joining MCU & Red Carpet Style - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing Practice: Zendaya Got Cast in Spider-Man Without Reading the Script; Talks Joining MCU & Red Carpet Style - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?