Everyone has their quarantine projects. For Zendaya, John David Washington, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, and a small crew, that "quarantine project" meant creating an entire movie. While major productions have struggled to get back up and running during the pandemic, the aforementioned team managed to get together quietly to film Malcolm & Marie at the Caterpillar House. The location not only fit the team's needs for a venue, it also managed to be compliant with WGA, DGA and SAG regulations for filming during the pandemic.
Because the production's been so secretive, we know next to nothing when it comes to details on the film. While there have been whispers of comparison to Marriage Story, the only thing we know for sure is that the film only needed the one location to shoot. While it feels pertinent to note that said "one location" happens to be on 33 acres of land, those two factors have led to rumor that we'll likely be something quarantine/pandemic themed coming from the team.
The unique film also ended up being bankrolled in a unique way. Since everything came together so quickly, there was no time to fundraise for the film. Because of this (and because the team wanted full control over the cast and crew's safety), Malcolm & Marie was bankrolled by Zendaya, John David Washington, Sam Levinson, Ashley Levinson (producer of Bombshell, and more) and Kevin Turen.
Filming during quarantine meant following a strict set of rules while shooting, during personal time, while in production offices and more. Temperature checks were a daily occurrence, as were all the other common precautions advised by health professionals. You can see the full list of set rules on the Deadline report.
