Zendaya on Her Disney Channel Movie 'Zapped'

I'm here at Young Hollywood, joined on the sofa by the lovely Zendaya. How are you?

I'm great. How about you?

You're fabulous. Thank you. That's what you are. You're You are. Your outfit, the whole energy you bring to the studio, it's great.

Thank you. It's great.

You're always working. You're a busy young lady. You do like to work.

I do. I like to work. I like to stay busy. I mean, I love what I do, so I like to be constantly doing something because sometimes I don't know what to do with myself when I'm not doing something. And it's like, I either find myself doing random stuff, like cleaning my room, which is something I never do. You know I'm bored when I start cleaning my room. Or I sleep.

Okay, so what have you You commit. You either commit to busyness or commit to sleep.

Yes. Okay.

There's no in-between for you.

No in-between.

Um, but while you are working, you've got Zapped. Yes. Which is uh Disney Channel Original Movie. Very exciting. What is with your phone? You have an app that controls boys. It's very exciting.

I think um it happened at a time where I just finished Shake It Up and Dancing with the Stars. And I didn't really want to leave like my Disney Channel family. I have a very young audience. So, I think it was important to kind of keep that alive and not just like peace out. When Shake It Up ended, there were so many kids that were like, No! Like, what's happening? You know? And so I couldn't couldn't leave him out like that, you know? So, Zapped came along and I thought it was just a really cute storyline. And I think although, you know, obviously there's not gonna be a magical smartphone app that you can control boys with unless Apple gets there, you know what I mean? Who knows? Every month it's changing. That's what I'm saying. Unless there's a new update that I'm not aware of. But I think the underlying story is really real, you know? It's about a girl who's going into a new situation, having stepbrothers and and all these things in her life that are a big change. You know, going to new schools. I think there's so many young girls, young boys, anyone who can really relate to dealing with that change and how what it takes to kinda cope with it and make the best out of your situation.

Right. When you were in school, which wasn't that long ago.

No.

Um, was there an activity that you struggled with?

I went to an art school, so we had in the middle of like the day or I mean, the hard thing for me is I was really shy. So, we would have to like perform these like really deep monologues in Like, that was the hard thing for me. It was just breaking out of my show cuz I was still kind of like, even though people don't know it, I was like petrified of going up in front of the class. Like, and I got over it. And now I'm not shy. I'm only shy in front of like, I don't know, my friends. Like I get shy in front of my friends sometimes.

I can't believe it. I don't believe it. I don't believe that you could ever be shy.

It's true.

And this was based on a book. The movie's based on a you coming to the book first?

I didn't know about the book, but the book was called Boys Are Dogs. Which I thought was a harsh title.

That's exactly why I love that title.

Yeah, It's a very harsh title. A mean title, isn't it?

Yeah, the story was very cute, but, you know, we didn't want to make the boys feel like they couldn't watch

Especially the lovely Spencer Boldman, who's in the movie. Yeah. Exactly. He's far from a dog. We were in Vancouver Island and we were in a place called Cowichan Bay. We got to do fun activities and really spend time with each other. Like we we got to go kayaking together and all this stuff and, you know, really bond with someone that you're not only working with, but actually becoming even closer as friends. So, that was really cool. And he's just a super cool dude, so whenever we're together, we're pretty funny. Like we're we're dynamic duos.

I can see that. And you mentioned the iPhone app, obviously, that's a big part of this this movie. What's the last app that you downloaded?

So, basically, literally all I have is like the, you know, the essentials. The Twitter, the Facebook, the Instagram. My Instagram pictures have to be really dope. So I'm like, I have to put them through like eight different filters just to get one good picture. That's just, you know, it's dedication.

So, what you see You're committed once again, you're committed whatever you do.

What you see, I'm committed. I go 100%. 100% in.

In the movie we mentioned how crazy the app is that you can, you know, command boys. Yes. So to speak. If you could create any app, what would it be?

I have a few apps I would create. I would say the the teleportation app, which would get you to places like that. You just put in your destination and you're there. Um, what else? I would have a food app that I could just have whatever food I want. Um, and then moving on from Zapped, another massive important project that is everywhere right now. You've been cast as Aaliyah. That's huge. Very exciting.

Yeah. I'm very excited because Aaliyah is one of my influences throughout my entire career. Everything that has to do, you know, especially with music. That's all her inspiring it. And I think she was one of, you know, the first people to really do like the triple threat, sing, dance, act, and and do it well. And unfortunately, you know, she didn't have enough time to show the entire world. But what she did do in 22 years is amazing. And no one could have stopped her. And I think it's amazing that her name still is so relevant. And she she's still like her legacy, you know, is living on. And that's all I want to do is really honor her and all the things that she was able to accomplish.

Well, that was great. You sold me on it. I'll be watching it when it comes out. But for now, Zapped Disney Original Movie. Check this young lady out. And Spencer Boldman, cuz we love him as well.

I know he's awesome. So just watch both of them.