{"id":250557,"date":"2026-04-03T21:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250557\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:04:07","slug":"he-means-so-much-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250557\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He means so much to us\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The \u201cChallengers\u201d actress said she\u2019s been a fan of Coogler\u2019s since \u201cFruitvale Station,\u201d his debut film depicting a real-life tragedy in Oakland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Could two Oakland powerhouses bring us our next big cinematic moment? <a href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/topics\/zendaya\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Zendaya;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Zendaya&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Zendaya<\/a> wants to see it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While being interviewed on \u201cThe Jennifer Hudson Show,\u201d the \u201cDune\u201d actress revealed that the director she\u2019d like to work with next hits close to home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/topics\/ryan-coogler\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ryan Coogler;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Ryan Coogler&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Ryan Coogler<\/a>. And for years, I\u2019ve felt this way\u2026since \u2018Fruitvale Station,\u2019 because I thought that was such a beautiful and powerful film. But, I\u2019m from Oakland, and I remember when that happened,\u201d she said, referring to the film\u2019s real-life inspiration, the story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, a Black man who was beaten and fatally shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201c[Coogler] means so much to the world, but he means so much to us, too,\u201d Zendaya told Hudson. \u201cI always joke, \u2018I know I don\u2019t know you, but I feel like you\u2019re my cousin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Some online seem surprised to hear the \u201cChallengers\u201d star pinpoint Coogler, but it\u2019s not the first time she\u2019s shown love to the Academy Award-winning director. Following the release of \u201cBlack Panther\u201d in 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Zendaya\/status\/968001446514868224?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:she hosted a free screening;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;she hosted a free screening&quot;}\" class=\"link \">she hosted a free screening<\/a> in Oakland for over 300 kids in the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And aside from being hometown heroes, Zendaya and Coogler have some crossover potential. Both are Marvel darlings; Zendaya has portrayed MJ in the \u201cSpider-Man\u201d franchise since 2017, and Coogler directed \u201cBlack Panther\u201d and \u201cWakanda Forever.\u201d The two are also responsible for bringing us some of the most talked-about films over the past few years, from \u201cSinners\u201d to \u201cChallengers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Zendaya has her hands full with projects this year; she\u2019s starring in \u201cThe Drama\u201d alongside Robert Pattinson, \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d \u201cDune: Part Three,\u201d \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d and the final season of \u201cEuphoria.\u201d She said herself that she\u2019s doing plenty, and plans to lay low after what will be a blockbuster 2026 for the 29-year-old actress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI just hope you guys don\u2019t get sick of me this year because I\u2019ll tell you what \u2014 I\u2019m disappearing for a little bit. I\u2019m going to have to go into hiding for just a little bit,\u201d she said in an interview with \u201cFandango.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Maybe, after a well-deserved rest, a Coogler project will be there waiting for her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">More must-reads:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cChallengers\u201d actress said she\u2019s been a fan of Coogler\u2019s since \u201cFruitvale Station,\u201d his debut film depicting a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[34372,111514,143,145,144,14952,109422],"class_list":{"0":"post-250557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-black-panther","9":"tag-fruitvale-station","10":"tag-oakland","11":"tag-oakland-headlines","12":"tag-oakland-news","13":"tag-ryan-coogler","14":"tag-zendaya"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}